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The Migration of the Amerindians

The Western World became known to man sometime during the fourth Ice Age, about 50,000 years ago.
Recorded history of the Caribbean officially began with
advent of the Europeans in the West. The theory that supports this is simple. It states that humans
came to the Caribbean from Asia.
With respect to the map in Fig. 1, it can be seen that the Bering Straits separate Asia and the Americas.
The Bering Straits stretches fifty-six miles and consists of three islands with twenty-five miles being
the maximum distance between them. In addition, the Bering Sea is only 120 ft. deep and during the
Ice Age, it was speculated that some sort of 'land bridge' was formed between the two continents.

Fig. I. Migration pattern of the early Amerindians

The early AMERINDIANS continued to migrate and spread throughout the Americas, They were the
ancestors of many tribes we know of today such as the Eskimo, Blackfoot, Notka, Apache, Sioux,
Huron and Iroquis of North America, the Aztec and Maya of Central America, the Inca of South
America and the Arawaks and Caribs of the West Indies.
The early Amerindians brought a few skills with them such as making fire, stone and bone tools, they
could trap larger animals by pit traps and smaller ones were caught with several types of snares. They
used dogs as beasts of burden, which they brought from Asia with them. The Amerindians followed the
herds of caribou, buffalo and seals as they moved to different feeding grounds. This nomadic lifestyle
meant that they could not have a permanent camp or bulky possessions. The numbers of each group
was kept small to ensure that not too many animals were killed and thus making sure that the group did
not starve. A sizable population was not possible until a settled way of life, based on farming was
developed.
The earliest of the Caribbean People were called "Sibonays (or Ciboneys)", a thousand years before
Columbus. These people were thought to have lived in parts of Jamaica and the Bahamas. The rest of
the western Caribbean was the home of the Arawaks, while the eastern Caribbean was shared between
the Arawaks and the Caribs.