Timeline
429 entries · Prehistory — 1492
c. 5230 B.C. - 470 B.C.: Radiocarbon measurements from Trinidad sites indicate a long-term Ortoiroid presence in the region during its transition from the mainland. These coastal peoples developed specialized…
c. 5000 BC: The Banwari Trace site in Trinidad is identified as representing one of the earliest known human occupations in the Caribbean region. This period, often labeled the "Lithic"…
c. 5000 BC – AD 1492: The Lesser Antilles represent a region of immense variability in size, geology, and climate, which dictated the unique histories of its various island communities.…
c. 5000 BC: The first human populations reached the Caribbean islands during the fifth millennium BC, marking the beginning of the region's anthropogenic history. Despite the importance of this era,…
c. 5000 BC – AD 1492: The dispersal of human populations across the Greater Antilles initiated a long history of contact with a vast array of ecological environments. As these…
5000 BCE–Present: (The Mechanical Line of Technological Descent: Loom Weaving of Textiles, the Second Important Technological Trajectory Tracing from Ancient Forms of Production to Strategies Still Employed Today, Cotton Textiles…
6000–5000 BCE: (Still Another African First: the Earliest Evidence of Cotton Processing in the World, Spindle Whorls from the Khartoum Culture of Sudan Dating to the Sixth Millennium BCE, About…
Before 5000 BCE: (The Donkey: Africa's Gift of the First Multi-Purpose Beast of Burden in World History, an Animal Domesticated for Carrying Loads, for Riding, and in the Middle…
5000 BCE: (Who Domesticated the Donkey: Genetic Evidence Pointing to Two Separate Domestications by Cushitic-Speaking Peoples in the Horn of Africa, One in Somaliland and Another Along the Red…
6000–5000 BCE: (Maceheads: First Appearing in Burials in Sudan in the Sixth Millennium BCE and Only After That Becoming a Common Grave Good in Upper and Middle Egypt, the…
6000–5000 BCE: (The Westward Spread of Nilo-Saharan Agropastoralism Across the Sahel: In the Sixth Millennium Descendant Nilo-Saharan Communities Spreading with Their New Economy of Cattle Herding and Grain Cultivation…
9700–5000 BCE: (Culture and Belief in the Age of Incipient Agriculture: Africa Introducing New Directions for Rethinking the History of Ideas, a Common Western Presumption Being That Monotheism Emerged…
7000–5000 BCE: (The Spread of the Religion of Divinity Across Language Family Boundaries: Around the Seventh or Sixth Millennium BCE the Idea of Divinity Spreading from Nilo-Saharan Speakers to…
4500 BCE: (Nabta Playa: A Major Ritual Center with Astronomically Oriented Megalithic Arrays Built by Nilo-Saharan-Speaking Peoples in the Middle Fifth Millennium BCE, Located 300 Kilometers Southwest of Aswan,…
4500 BCE: (Nabta Playa's Political and Social Implications: The Site in All Likelihood Already the Ritual Center of a Polity of Some Kind in the Fifth Millennium, Very Possibly…
4190 B.C.: A Lithic-age deposit was identified at the Levisa rock shelter in Cuba, representing one of the earliest dated human settlements. This site provided evidence of early inhabitants who…
c. 4000 BC: The Barrera-Mordán site in the Dominican Republic provides evidence of early stone-working complexes within the Greater Antilles. This site is significant for documenting the presence of "Lithic…
c. 4000 BC: Archaeological evidence from the Barrera-Mordan site in the Dominican Republic highlights the early presence of specialized stone-working groups in the Greater Antilles. These "Archaic Age" inhabitants are…
c. 4000 BC – 1000 BC: Lithic Age assemblages in Cuba and Ayiti are primarily defined by unretouched macroblades struck from fine-grained chert prismatic cores. In contrast, early inhabitants in…
c. 4000 BC – 2000 BC: While the flaked-stone complexes of the Greater Antilles are well-documented, the "Archaic Age" is more often characterized by a greater diversity of ground-stone and…
c. 4000 BC – 1000 BC: The "Antillean Preceramic" period is characterized by a "collector" mode of life, where early maritime pioneers established mobile settlements to harvest seasonally available resources.…
6000–4000 BCE: (The Direction of Cultural Flow: More Often Than Not the New Features of Culture Had Their Origins in the Southerly Areas Among Nilo-Saharan-Speaking Peoples, Ceramic Styles Evolving…
4500–4000 BCE: (The Stellar Alignments of Nabta Playa and Their Connection to Old Kingdom Egyptian Cosmology: One Alignment Pointed Toward the Heliacal Rising of Sirius Which in Ancient Egypt…
4000 BCE: (Linguistic and Ethnographic Reconstruction as Complement to Written Records: These Approaches Applying Also to Regions with Early Writing, Adding Nuance and Detail to What Often-Scant…
6000–4000 BCE: (The Emergence of New Positions of Authority: One Global Consequence of Demographic Growth Being the Emergence of Inherited Ritual and Political Positions Passed Down in Particular Families,…
4000 BCE: (Native Copper Use Preceding Metallurgy: Copper Being Put to Use Before the Development of Actual Metallurgy Because It Also Exists in the Form of "Native Copper"…
4000–3800 BCE: (Preferential Parallel-Cousin Marriage and the Origins of Semitic Patriarchy: In Proto-Semitic the Word for Father-in-Law Derived from the Ancient Proto-Afroasiatic Word for Father's Brother, This Meaning Shift…
3630 B.C.: The Vignier III habitation site in Haiti was established near the coast by early Casimiroid peoples. This site contained a high concentration of shells, suggesting that maritime resources…
6000–3500 BCE: (Social Differentiation as Foundation: What These Histories Tell Us Being That Social Differentiation and Political and Religious Elite Classes Were Not De Novo Creations of the Highly…
3400 BCE: (The Climatic Catastrophe That Created Pharaonic Egypt: Around the Thirty-Fourth Century BCE a Further Major Climatic Decline Shifting Large Parts of the Eastern Sahara to Extremely Arid…
4000–3300 BCE: (The Route of Levantine Crops to the Horn of Africa: Lexical Evidence Showing That Wheat, Barley, and Chickpeas Reached the Ethiopian Highlands from Egypt via the Red…
6000–3300 BCE: (The Middle Nile Culture Area's Landscape: Rainfall Decreased but Still Supported Continuous Steppe and Semidesert Grassland Extending Across Middle and Southern Egypt and Far South into the…
3500–3200 BCE: (The Kingdom of Qustul: A New Growth of Political Scale in the Middle and Second Half of the Fourth Millennium Across the Middle and Northern Parts of…
3500–3200 BCE: (Bruce Williams and the Qustul Polity: Williams First Turning a Spotlight on This Polity Four Decades Ago, Pictorial Documents at Qustul Depicting Victorious Incursions by Qustul Forces…
3500–3200 BCE: (The Extent and Structure of the Qustul State: In the Mid-Fourth Millennium the Qustul State Held Cultural and Political Hegemony over a Wide Expanse Along the Nile…
3500–3200 BCE: (The Qustul Incense Burner and the Paraphernalia of Pharaonic Rule: Qustul Elites and Ruler in the Second Half of the Fourth Millennium Participating Together with Their Counterparts…
Before 3100 BCE: (Henotheism as the Original Religious System of Predynastic Egypt: The Gods of the Particular Nomes of Egypt Making Historical Sense as Relics of a Pre-Old Kingdom…
6000–3100 BCE: (The Not-So-Deep-Time Story of Egypt's Foundations: A Major Era of Cultural Reformulation Across the Span of Lands Extending from Modern-Day Sudan Through Nubia and Upper and Middle…
6000–3100 BCE: (Linguistic Evidence of South-to-North Cultural Flow: Words in Early Egyptian for a Number of Important Cultural Items Borrowed from Nilo-Saharan Languages, the Evidence of Word Histories Providing…
6000–3100 BCE: (Nilo-Saharan Loanwords in Early Egyptian: Specific Words for Important Cultural Features Borrowed from Eastern Sahelian Languages of the Nilo-Saharan Family, Including ds "Jar" from Early Nilo-Saharan *DoS…
6000–3100 BCE: (African Crops Spreading North to Egypt Alongside Middle Eastern Grains: While the Diffusion of Grain Crops of Ultimately Middle Eastern Origin Southward to Middle Egypt Is Well…
3300–3100 BCE: (The Decline of Qustul and the Rise of Upper Egypt: The Qustul Kingdom Declining in Wealth and Power Between 3300 and 3100 BCE as Desiccation Caused the…
3100 BCE: (Hor-Aha and the Destruction of Qustul: Hor-Aha Either the First or Second King of the First Dynasty Sending His Forces Southward to Destroy the Remnants of the…
3100 BCE: (Retainer Burial as a Nilo-Saharan Ritual Practice Adopted by the First Dynasty: Royal Tombs at Abydos Containing the Graves of Rulers and Large Numbers of Adjacent…
5000–3100 BCE: (From Nabta Playa to the Old Kingdom: Social Stratification Already Underway in the Nilo-Saharan-Speaking Lands Around Nabta Playa and Adjacent Parts of Nubia in the Fifth Millennium…
c. 3000 BC: Archaeological investigations in Haiti have revealed the presence of sophisticated lithic workshops characterized by the production of large flaked-stone blades. These sites, such as those in the…
c. 3000 BC – 1000 BC: In Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, all known Archaic Age sites have been categorized under the "Ortoiroid" series by established archaeological frameworks. Within…
c. 3000 BC – 200 BC: Archaeological data suggest that the Ortoiroid series, which originated in Trinidad, gradually spread through the Lesser Antilles toward Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.…
c. 3000 BC – 2000 BC: Early Archaic Age sites on Antigua, such as those found along the northeast shore and at Flinty Bay, were strategically located to provide easy…
c. 3000 BC – 2000 BC: The settlement patterns of the early Archaic Age in the Lesser Antilles were dictated by a strategic move between specialized resource outposts and more…
6000–3000 BCE: (The Fourth Age: The Era of Agricultural Exchange, Farming Peoples Spreading Their Methods into New Lands, Agricultural Systems Innovated in Distant Regions Coming into Contact and Transforming…
6000–3000 BCE: (The Social Consequences of Agricultural Exchange: New Crops and Domestic Animals Enriching Productivity, the Proportion of Diet from Cultivation and Herding Progressively Growing While Foraging Declined, Population…
3000 BCE–300 CE: (The Fifth Age: The Era of Kingdoms, Empires, and Long-Distance Trade, Strikingly New Developments in Society, Culture, and Economy, the Spread of Agriculture into Previously Marginal…
Before 3000 BCE: (The African Agricultural Exchange with Arabia and South Asia: West African Crops Reaching Southern Arabia by or Before 3000 BCE, Then Transported by Sea from Oman…
Before 3000 BCE: (Two More West African Contributions to World Agriculture: The Country Potato and the Roselle Spreading Along Sea Routes to Asia and Beyond, Plectranthus rotundifolia Reaching India…
Before 3000 BCE: (The Tamarind and the Castor-Oil Plant: Two More African Gifts to the World, the Tamarind as a West African Fruit Tree That Became Particularly Important in…
4000–3000 BCE: (The Donkey Reaches Mesopotamia: Spreading Northward from Cushitic-Speaking Peoples via Egypt to Southwestern Asia, the Cities of Ancient Mesopotamia and the Levant Acquiring a Valued Means of…
4000–3000 BCE: (The Donkey as Catalyst for the Domestication of Camels and Possibly Horses: African Donkeys as the Likely Model and Impetus for the Subsequent Domestication of the Camel…
7000–3000 BCE: (The Balance Sheet of Agricultural Exchange: Africa as Active Contributor, Sending Far More Outward Than It Received Back, at Least Eleven Food Crops Plus the Castor-Oil Plant…
5000–3000 BCE: (Interregional Connections Within Africa: The Varied Origin Lands of These Thirteen Contributions Revealing That by or Before 5000 to 3000 BCE Interregional Connections Were Increasingly Shaping Cultural…
7000–3000 BCE: (What Africa Received from Eurasia: Goats and Sheep Diffusing from the Levant to Northeastern Africa as Early as the Seventh Millennium BCE and Eventually Spreading Widely Across…
4000–3000 BCE: (The True Geographical Heartland of Ancient Egyptian Civilization: The Foundational Developments Lying in Lands Extending from Several Hundred Kilometers South of the White Nile and Blue Nile…
4000–3000 BCE: (Physical Anthropology Confirms the African Character of the Founding Egyptians: Cranial and Dental Features from El-Badari and Naqada Showing No Demographic Indebtedness to the Levant and Their…
3000 BCE–1600s CE: (African History as Counterweight to Patriarchal Presumptions: Mature Women's Authority in Social Governance Already Existing During the Early Bantu Expansions of the Third to First Millennia…
3000 BCE–present: (Bride Service and Female Authority in Africa's Southern Savanna Belt: In Matrilineal Societies Across the Southern Savanna a Young Man Seeking to Marry Had to Be Approved…
6000–3000 BCE: (The Age of Agricultural Exchange: A New Global Period Beginning from Around the Middle of the Holocene as Expanding Early Agricultural Systems Increasingly Came into Contact with…
5000–3000 BCE onward: (Africa's Agricultural Exports to Eurasia: A Large Number of Crops and One Animal of Northeastern African Origin Spreading in the Opposite Direction Across Eurasia from 3000…
6000–3000 BCE: (Society and Social Relations in the Age of Agricultural Exchange: What Gives Coherence to This Period Being Their Effects on the Histories of Social, Political, and…
6000–3000 BCE: (Agricultural Exchange Enriching Productivity and Driving Demographic Growth: The Adoption of New Crops and Domestic Animals Further Enriching the Productivity and Variety of Agricultural Practices in Receiving…
5500–3000 BCE: (Technological Innovation in the Age of Agricultural Exchange: This Period Also Being a Global Age of Notable New Technological Developments, Histories Long Tending to Give Primary Attention…
5000–3000 BCE: (The Global Map of Independent Weaving Inventions: Cotton Weaving in Sudan by or Before 5000 BCE as the Earliest, Independently in India Around a Millennium Later, Independently…
6000–3000 BCE: (Technology, Social Differentiation, and the Origins of Inequality: The Development of New Technologies Possibly Stimulated in Part by Emerging Social Differentiation as Growing Agricultural Productivity Allowed Differential…
6000–3000 BCE: (The Demand Spiral: Social Stratification Driving Demand for Prestige Metals and Textiles, Growing Availability of Copper and Later Iron Lowering Costs and Shifting These Metals into Tools…
3000 BCE–300 CE: (Global History Period Five: The Last Three Millennia BCE and First Several Centuries CE, an Age in Which Agricultural Ways of Life Spread to Nearly All…
3000 BCE–1000 CE: (The Malayo-Polynesian Expansion as Global Parallel: Communities Speaking Malayo-Polynesian Languages Spreading First to the Philippines Then Across Almost All of Indonesia and Along the Northern Edges…
3000 BCE–300 CE: (Environmental Constraints and Alternative Paths to Food Production: In the Farther Northern and Southern Portions of the World Environmental Differences Commonly Delaying the Expansion of Food-Producing…
3000 BCE–300 CE: (Early Unequal and Stratified Societies: A More Familiar Theme Being the Rise of Early States Towns and Highly Unequal and Stratified Societies, These Developments Taking Place…
3000 BCE–300 CE: (River Valleys and the Rise of the First Oppressive Societies: Early Dense Populations with Social Stratification Developing Most Strongly Along River Valleys with Rich Soils and…
3000 BCE–300 CE: (Gender in Comparative History: The Rise of Highly Unequal Societies Raising the Question of Consequences for Gender Relations, Comparative Ethnographic Evidence Indicating That in Earlier Ages…
3000 BCE–present: (Africa as Counterevidence to the Stratification-Equals-Patriarchy Thesis: In Several Parts of Africa the Rise of Social and Economic Stratification Not Automatically Bringing Female Subordination, the Kandake of…
3000 BCE: (A Separate East African Domestication of Cowpeas by Southern Cushites: A Separate Domestication of Cowpeas by Southern Cushitic-Speaking Peoples in East Africa Appearing to Have Taken Place…
c. 2140 B.C. - 620 B.C.: The Ronquinan Saladoid subseries inhabited the Orinoco Valley, primarily settling on natural levees that were renewed by annual silting. They practiced slash-and-burn agriculture and…
c. 2000 BC – AD 145: The Courian Casimiroid subseries represents a significant grouping of Archaic sites on the island, characterized by the persistence of macroblade technology. These sites have been…
c. 2000 BC – 500 BC: The Krum Bay complex on St. Thomas provides a detailed look at the material culture of the Archaic Age in the Virgin Islands. This…
c. 2000 BC: The Jolly Beach site on Antigua’s west coast stands as a notable exception to the general pattern of early lithic production, as it provided evidence for the…
c. 2000 BC – AD 100: The Whitehead’s Bluff site on Anguilla is situated on a karst plateau 11 to 14 meters above sea level and is heavily exposed to…
Before 2000 BCE: (The Inland Delta's Deep History of Exchange: Susan and Roderick McIntosh Documenting the Multidirectional Exchange of Subsistence Products Among Specialist Communities of the Inland Delta and…
2000 BCE–300 CE: (Commercial Revolutions in the Global Frame: African and Other Early Systems of Long-Distance Exchange Emerging from Different Cultural and Social Worlds but Producing Both Similar and…
2000 BCE–300 CE: (Different Pathways to Commercial Complexity: The Middle East and Egypt Developing States and Social Inequality Long Before Merchant-Based Trade Emerged in the First Millennium BCE, While…
2000 BCE–300 CE: (The Deeper Questions: How Much Have Different Human Responses to Comparable Challenges Been Shaped by Differences in Natural Environments, in Organizing Ideas About the Nature of…
2000 BCE–present: (West African Women as Independent Economic Actors: Whether in Patrilineal or Matrilineal Societies Women Have Been from Far Back in the Past Independent Social and Economic Actors…
2000 BCE–present: (Women's Proprietary Authority Persisting Across Kinship Systems: The Ancient Historical Recognition of Women's Proprietary Spheres of Authority Not Limited to Matrilineal Societies but Often Persisting in Patrilineal…
2000 BCE–300 CE: (The New Kind of Town and the Merchant Class: The Early Commercial Revolutions Bringing into Being a New Economic Basis for Towns Functioning as Centers for…
2000 BCE–300 CE: (The Commercial Revolutions as the Foundation of All Subsequent Global History: The Rise of the Several Commercial Revolutions of the Second and First Millennia BCE Having…
2000 BCE and earlier: (The Watermelon's Nilo-Saharan Origins Predating Its Egyptian Material Record: The Currently Known Botanical Evidence Showing the Watermelon to Have Been Well Established in Egypt Before…
2000 BCE: (Omotic Languages Formerly Present in Northern Ethiopia: Omotic Languages Today Spoken Across Southern Ethiopia but the Occurrence of Omotic Loanwords in the Agaw Languages of Northern Ethiopia…
1800 BCE: (Ôboui and Gbatoro, the Earliest Ironworking Sites Yet Known Anywhere in the World: Ôboui in the Western Central African Republic and Gbatoro Just 100 Kilometers Across the Border…
Pre-1800 BCE: (How Africans Discovered Iron Without First Working Copper, the Standard Assumption That Metallurgy Everywhere Began with Lower-Melting-Point Metals Like Copper Before Progressing to Iron, but in Large Parts…
Pre-1800 BCE: (The Laterite Hypothesis, How Pottery Firing in Iron-Rich Soils May Have Led to the Accidental Discovery of Iron: African Potters Widely Firing Ceramics in Pits Dug into Lateritic…
c. 1500 B.C.: The Barrancoid series developed in the lower-middle Orinoco Valley and eventually expanded downstream toward the coast. This cultural shift led to the displacement of earlier Saladero groups…
3600–1500 BCE: (The Norte Chico Culture of Coastal Peru as Global Parallel: The Early Norte Chico Society Taking Shape During the Same Time Period as the Qustul State in…
1800–1200 BCE: (Tichit: The Best-Studied Center of the West African Commercial Revolution, a String of Towns in Southern Mauritania Near the Mali Border with Specialized Artisan Production for Trade,…
c. 1000 B.C. - 400 B.C.: An established cultural frontier in Puerto Rico separated the Ortoiroid peoples from the Casimiroid groups residing in Ayiti. This boundary facilitated the interaction and…
1000 B.C.: Ortoiroid groups reached Puerto Rico and established a cultural frontier with the Casimiroid peoples living in Ayiti. This proximity allowed for the northwest-to-southeast diffusion of various stone-working traditions…
c. 1000 BC: During the latter part of the Archaic Age, there is evidence that exchange networks intensified between the Caribbean islands and the Isthmo-Colombian region of Central and South…
Pre-1000 BCE: (Locating the Origin Zone of African Ironworking, the Geographical Spread of Early Sites Making It Highly Probable That the Originators Lived Somewhere in the 1,500 Kilometers of Woodland…
1000 BCE–1000 CE: (The Continental Spread of African Iron, Mashariki Bantu Expansions Carrying Ironworking Far Across Eastern and Southeastern Africa at the Close of the First Millennium BCE, a Further…
4000–1000 BCE: (Copper and Iron in Northern Africa, Where the Standard Sequence Held: Copper First via the Levant to Egypt in the Fourth Millennium BCE, Then an Independent African Copper…
2000–1000 BCE: (Chapter 4: Towns and Long-Distance Commerce in Ancient Africa: The West African Commercial Revolution, the Rise of the First Towns and the Development of Commerce Over Distance…
2000–1000 BCE: (Defining the Commercial Revolution: The Shift from Royal and Temple Agents to an Independent Merchant Class as the Primary Managers of Distance Trade, the Emergence of a…
2000–1000 BCE: (A New Kind of Town: The Commercial Town as Distinct from the Temple Center or Royal Capital, Towns Serving Primarily as Production Centers of Goods Destined for…
2000–1000 BCE: (The Inland Delta of the Niger: A Second Seminal Region of the West African Commercial Revolution, Encompassing a Range of Highly Contrasting Environments That Generated Specialized Communities…
2500–1000 BCE: (The Aïr Mountains as a Third Center of the West African Commercial Revolution: Copper Smelting Becoming Fully Operational by 1500 BCE and the Aïr Region Becoming the…
1000 BCE–1000 CE: (Two Lines of Sheep Dispersal Through the Congo Basin: The Central Sudanic Word *-meme Tracking the Spread of Sheep Southwestward from South Sudan Through Bantu-Speaking Areas…
1000 BCE–1200 CE: (The Double Bell as Political Regalia: Commerce Generating Chiefdoms and Small States Along the Main Lines and Juncture Points of Congo Basin Trade Routes, Smiths Producing…
1000 BCE–1000 CE: (Secret Societies as the Social Infrastructure of Congo Basin Commerce: Merchant Associations Composed of Traders and Leading Figures from Chiefdoms and Small Kingdoms, Open to Both…
3000–1000 BCE: (The Ubangian Expansion: A Second Major Spread of the Agricultural Frontier in Africa Largely Unrecognized by Historians, Peoples Speaking Languages of the Ubangian Subgroup of the North…
1000 BCE–300 CE: (Agricultural Frontier Expansion in the Americas: The Addition of Mesoamerican Crops into the Eastern Agricultural Complex of the East-Central and Southern United States by the Later…
2000–1000 BCE: (The Reassessment of Women's Roles in History: Women Able to Prosper as Independent Economic Actors in West Africa Because Marriage Did Not Entail Becoming an Economic Dependent…
2000–1000 BCE: (Innovation from the Periphery: As with the Early Origins of Copper Smelting the Inventors of Iron Metallurgy Resided in Smaller-Scale Societies and Not in Regions of Emerging…
1000 BCE–1000 CE: (The Horse as an Enabling Factor of Empire: A Second Important Enabling Factor Being the Increasing Presence and Use of Horses Almost Everywhere Climate Allowed Including…
1000 BCE–700 CE: (Commercial Networks and the Spread of Ideas, Invention, and People: The Emergence in the First Millennium BCE of Religions with Written Scriptures or More Accurately Religion-Backed…
1000 BCE–1500 CE: (Global Interconnection Not Founded in the Seventh Century CE, the First Millennium BCE Commercial Linkages as Its Foundation: The Linking Up of the Various…
1000 BCE: (Early States in the Aïr Region and the Nok Region of Nigeria: Indirect Evidence for Small States in the Aïr Region of West Africa by or Before…
1000 BCE–1500 CE: (Royal Bells as Symbols of Sacred Kingship in the Rainforest: Vansina's Research on "The Bells of Kings" Documenting How Double Iron Bells Became Insignia of Royal…
1000 BCE–1 CE: (Population Growth and the Evolution of Religious Systems: Dunbar's Research Offering Thought-Provoking Proposals About How the Increased Population Sizes and the Growth in Scale of Societal…
c. 880 B.C. - 225 B.C.: Seven radiocarbon dates from the Krum Bay site on St. Thomas document an active Ortoiroid presence in the Virgin Islands. These communities relied heavily…
c. 804 B.C.: Archaeological evidence confirms that ground sloths still inhabited the Cordillera Central of the island during the second millennium B.C. The development of advanced Courian hunting technologies likely contributed…
c. 800 BC – 200 BC: Arawak communities from continental South America began expanding into the Caribbean Sea, initiating a new era of cultural development. This expansion was the terminus…
c. 800 BC – 200 BC: While biogeographers once argued that the Lesser Antilles served as a "stepping-stone" archipelago for gradual northward movement, the earliest well-dated Early Ceramic Age sites…
1000–800 BCE: (The Spread of Ironworking Eastward and Southward from the Central African Origin Zone, Iron-Smelting Knowledge Reaching Central Sudanic-Speaking Peoples Near the Western Borders of Modern South Sudan, Then…
1000–800 BCE: (Iron Technology Spreading Southward to the Mashariki Bantu Along the Great Western Rift, Key Early Iron Terms Including Words for Iron Ore, Bellows, Smith's Hammer, Iron Hoes, and…
750 BCE–300 CE: (The Nilo-Saharan Cultural Foundations of the Napata-Meroë Empire: The Heartlands and Most of the Peoples of This Long-Lived Empire Belonging to the Ancient Nilo-Saharan Cultural World…
750 BCE–300 CE: (The Nilo-Saharan Religion of Divinity and the Napatan-Meroitic Understanding of Egyptian Gods: The Peoples of the Heartlands of the Napatan-Meroitic Empire as Part of the Nilo-Saharan…
1500–700 BCE: (Africa's Special Place in the History of Iron, the Conventional Story That Iron Metallurgy Had a Single Beginning in Anatolia Around the Mid-Second Millennium BCE and Diffused Outward…
1000–700 BCE: (The Independent Invention of Iron Smelting in Sub-Saharan Africa, Ironworking Already Well Established by 1000 to 700 BCE at Sites Extending from East to West Across the African…
900–700 BCE: (The Garamantes as Peripheral Responders: The Chronology Refuting the Attribution of an Instigating Role to the Garamantes in West African Commerce, the Garamantes Becoming Prominent Only from the…
700 BCE: (The Initial Spread of Ironworking via the Great Lakes Bantu: The Arrow on Map 2.6 Pointing to "700 BCE" Marking the Initial Stage of the Spread of…
750–663 BCE: (The Empire of Napata-Meroë at Its Height: The Empire of Napata-Meroë as the Notable African Case, at the High Period of Its Early Conquests Between Around 750…
747–656 BCE: (The 25th Dynasty and Cultural Encounter Between Kush and Egypt: Two Important Recent Sources on the History of Cultural Encounter Between the Kushite 25th Dynasty Rulers and…
650 BCE–250 CE: (The Meroitic Empire After Egypt: Even After the Loss of Its Egyptian Lands During the Second Half of the 600s BCE and the Subsequent Move of…
750–650 BCE: (Napatan Political Strategy in Egypt: Recent Scholarship Indicating That Two Kinds of Cultural and Political Considerations Predominated During These Eras, During Their Conquest and Rule Over Egypt…
c. 530 B.C.: Horizon I on the island of Martinique yielded some of the earliest radiocarbon dates for the Cedrosan Saladoid subseries in the West Indies. This arrival marked the…
500 B.C. - 200 B.C.: The Saladoid peoples migrated from the Orinoco Valley into the West Indies, bringing the first sedentary villages and agricultural practices. These ancestors of the Tainos…
c. 500 BC – AD 625: Recent radiocarbon dating of stratum IV at the Haitian lithic workshop sites yielded dates ranging from approximately 1 BC to AD 625. These results…
c. 500 BC – AD 540: Early Ceramic Age settlements were established across an intervisible chain of islands that remained invisible from the surrounding mainland. Once reached, these islands were…
500 BCE: (Where Two Worlds of Iron Met, the Eastward Spread of Central African Iron Terminology Reaching Its Limit in Western South Sudan Along the Borders with Ethiopia, Where It…
1200–500 BCE: (The Linking Up: Commercial Networks Connecting Tichit, the Inland Delta, and Aïr Before the End of the Second Millennium BCE, a New Kind of Town Emerging Across…
2000–500 BCE: (The Two Foundations of the West African Commercial Revolution: Agriculture Enabling Population Growth and the Specialized Trading of Farm Products to Feed Concentrated Town Populations, and the…
1000–500 BCE: (A Second African Commercial Revolution: The Congo Basin, West Africa Not the Only Region, Equatorial Africa Also Developing Long-Distance Commercial Networks Not Many Centuries Later, River…
1000–500 BCE: (The Scholarly Foundations of Congo Basin Commercial History: Jan Vansina and Kairn Klieman's Studies, the Beginnings of Long-Distance Goods Transport Very Likely Going Back to Early in…
13,500 BCE: (An Archaeological Correlation: A Cultural Spread in the Middle Fourteenth Millennium BCE Appearing to Fit in Time and Place with the Linguistic Divergence of Proto-North Erythraic into…
13,500 BCE: (The Mushabian Culture: The Archaeological Link Between Egypt and the Natufian, Tools and Toolmaking Techniques Typical of Late Afian and Its Immediate Successor Cultures in Egypt Becoming…
2000–500 BCE: (Commercial Revolutions: The Rise of the First Commercial Revolutions in the Second and First Millennia BCE, a New Class of Society, Merchants, Becoming the Central…
500 BCE onward: (The Mediterranean-Levantine Commercial Model and the Garamantes Connection: In the Lands Around the Eastern Mediterranean Where States and Highly Stratified Societies Had Already Existed for Centuries,…
500 BCE–300 CE: (The Expansion of Levantine Trade Connections Across the Red Sea and Indian Ocean: Levantine Trade Connections Extending Across the Red Sea to the Horn of Africa…
500 BCE–700 CE: (A Second Major African State, the Ethiopian Highlands Polity and the Empire of Aksum: Archaeological and Meager Epigraphic Sources Suggesting a Major State Taking Shape…
c. 400 BC – AD 500: The Early Ceramic Age is characterized by the widespread appearance of pottery and more permanent agricultural settlements across the islands. Key archaeological sites from…
1000–300 BCE: (Commerce and Empire: The First Millennium BCE Marked Across Eurasia by the Rise of the First Empires of Great Geographical Extent, Historians Long Giving Prime Attention to…
1000–300 BCE: (Commerce as the Engine of Empire: The Beginning of the Age of Empires Coinciding with the Growing Complexity of Products and the Widening Geographical Reach of Trading…
300 BCE–700 CE: (Trade Routes as Conduits of Religion: How Buddhism Christianity and Later Islam Grew from Regional into World Religions, Buddhism Spreading Across Southern and East Asia Paralleling…
300 BCE–300 CE: (Trade Networks and the Birth of Pandemics: The Growing Interconnections Among the Various African-Eurasian Long-Distance Trade Networks in the Last Several Centuries BCE and First Few…
c. 270 BC: Excavations at the Corinthia III site in Cuba have identified some of the earliest known examples of Archaic Age pottery. This discovery is significant because it suggests…
c. 270 BC: The El Convento site in northern Puerto Rico has provided the earliest radiocarbon assay for the Huecoid manifestation in the region. This early date challenges the traditional…
c. 250 B.C.: Recent radiocarbon data suggests that the Cedrosan Saladoid migration had successfully reached the northern West Indies by this date. The colonizers selectively favored high, mountainous islands that…
c. 200 BC – AD 400: The transition to the Early Ceramic Age in the Antilles involved a sophisticated adaptation to the diverse marine ecosystems of the Caribbean. The Saladoid…
c. 200 BC – AD 200: The discovery of the Punta Candelero site in eastern Puerto Rico significantly altered the debate regarding the relationship between "Huecoid" and "Saladoid" cultures. Before…
c. 200 BC – AD 500: During the Early Ceramic Age, a sophisticated lapidary industry emerged, characterized by the use of semi-precious stones such as amethyst, carnelian, and jadeite. These…
c. 200 BC – AD 600: The sociopolitical organization of Saladoid communities has traditionally been characterized by archaeologists as egalitarian and tribal-based. These societies were likely organized into small, autonomous…
c. 200 BC – AD 600: Early Saladoid villages were typically constructed around a central plaza that served as a designated space for daily activities and communal rituals. At several…
500–146 BCE: (Punic Origin of the Word for Horse in Niger Bend and Mali Languages: The Words for Horse, So, Siso, and Closely Similar Shapes, in Languages…
100–300 CE: (Trans-Saharan Gold Trade: By No Later Than the First Three Centuries CE Traders Along the Trans-Saharan Routes Carrying a Major New Product, Gold from the Mines and…
155–258 CE: (Africans as Founding Figures of Christianity: What Is Often Not Recognized Being the Extent to Which Africans Whose Ancestors Spoke Languages of the Afrasian Language Family of…
c. AD 200 – 400: At the Morel site in Guadeloupe, archaeologists uncovered a ritual dog burial dating to the Early Ceramic Age. This find provides rare evidence regarding the…
c. AD 200 – 600: Interaction between incoming Saladoid migrants and established Archaic Age communities played a crucial role in shaping the later cultural landscape of Puerto Rico. Archaeological evidence…
1–200 CE: (The Malagasy-Bantu Exchange: The Ancestral Malagasy Adopting the Raising of Sheep and Cows from Their Bantu-Speaking Neighbors, in Return Introducing the Banana and the Chicken Both Brought…
300–1 BCE: (Carbon Steel Two Thousand Years Before the Bessemer Process, African Iron Smelters in the Great Lakes Region Constructing Furnaces Capable of Producing Carbon Steel Directly from the Smelt…
300s CE Onward: (Africa's Reversed Metallurgical Sequence: Everywhere South of the Sahel, Iron Preceded Copper, the Prior Possession of Iron Technology Leading People to the Discovery and Smelting of Copper…
1–300 CE: (The Ancestral Malagasy Migration: The Most Striking Case of Long-Distance Resettlement Along Trade Routes Being a Whole Small Society Crossing the Indian Ocean at the Beginning of…
300 CE: (The Settlement of Madagascar: By Around the Third Century CE the Ancestral Malagasy Community Having Probably Already Intermarried to Some Extent with Their Bantu-Speaking Neighbors Then Sailing…
325 CE: (The African Architects of the Nicene Creed: The Egyptian Patriarch of Alexandria St. Alexander and His Protégé Athanasius Being Leading Proponents at the Council of Nicaea in…
c. AD 350 – 500: The Caribbean archaeological record shows a notable shift as Barrancoid ceramic influences from South America began to supplement or supplant earlier Saladoid traditions. This period…
c. AD 400 – 1000: During the Early Ceramic Age, several islands in the Lesser Antilles developed specialized industries, such as the Trants site on Montserrat, which focused on the…
c. AD 400 – 1000: The Sorcé/La Hueca site on Vieques is renowned for its highly specialized lapidary industry, producing intricate beads and amulets from exotic materials such as nephrite…
c. AD 400 – 1000: In Trinidad and Tobago, the Early Ceramic Age is characterized by the transition from the Cedros complex to the Palo Seco complex. While Cedros pottery…
c. AD 400 – 1000: Excavations at Early Ceramic Age sites have uncovered vast quantities of "social valuables," including personal adornments made from carnelian, greenstone, serpentinite, and amethyst. The monopoly…
c. AD 400 – 1000: The Early Ceramic Age was characterized by an economically interdependent network of specialized production centers, such as the bead industries on Montserrat and the celt…
c. AD 400 – 1000: The presence of exotic valuables like carnelian, jadeite, and amethyst in early Saladoid and Huecoid middens is interpreted as the physical manifestation of "Big Man"…
c. AD 400 – 1400: Archaeological investigations at the Río Portugués in Puerto Rico have provided detailed insights into the long-term relationship between indigenous communities and their environment. Research by…
c. AD 400 – 1000: Analysis of Early Ceramic Age pottery from various Caribbean sites has revealed complex dynamics between technology, function, and style. Research by C.L. Hofman and L.…
c. AD 400 – 1000: Archaeological excavations at the Sugar Factory Pier site on St. Kitts have provided critical data for understanding the lithic technology of the Saladoid period. Research…
c. AD 400 – 1000: Archaeological research on the island of Antigua, particularly at the Royals site, has provided significant evidence for the early transition from Saladoid to post-Saladoid social…
1–400 CE: (The Upemba Depression as a Major Production Center: Bantu-Speaking Lands in and Around the Upemba Depression Through Which the Lualaba River Flowed Becoming Major Producing Areas of…
450 - 500 A.D.: Arawakan-speaking groups introduced the Ceramic age to the islands of Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire. This movement displaced earlier Archaic-age inhabitants who possessed distinct cranial features and…
c. AD 500 – 900: A significant change in Caribbean mortuary practices occurred as human remains began to be buried inside houses. Earlier Saladoid settlements, such as Maisabel and…
c. AD 500 – 900: Recent research on the north coast of the Dominican Republic has identified early Saladoid occupations that predate the traditionally accepted timeline for horticultural expansion into…
500s–400s BCE: (The Garamantes Misconception: Scholars Wrongly Attributing to the Garamantes of the Central Sahara an Instigating Role in West African Commerce, When in Fact the West African Commercial…
1–500 CE: (The Second Iron Age of Africa: New Developments in Iron-Forging Technology Spreading Along the River Routes of the Congo Basin in the Early First Millennium CE, Jan…
c. AD 1 – 600: Although many researchers have traditionally characterized Saladoid communities as egalitarian, recent scholarship has questioned this assumption, suggesting that a well-developed social hierarchy may have existed…
c. AD 600 – 900: During the transition to the Ostionoid period, a significant shift in dietary preferences occurred as communities in Puerto Rico began to favor marine mollusks over…
c. AD 600: The origin of Ostionoid pottery has been a subject of intense academic debate, with recent theories suggesting it developed from interactions in the eastern Dominican Republic. Originally,…
c. AD 600 – 700: Archaeological evidence shows that Ostiones-style pottery appeared almost simultaneously in Puerto Rico, Ayiti, Jamaica, and the Turks & Caicos Islands. This rapid distribution challenges the…
c. AD 600 – 1000: The emergence of "Ostionoid" traditions in Puerto Rico is viewed as an indigenous transformation that incorporated elements of the older Archaic Age heritage. This new…
c. AD 600 – 1200: Archaeological interpretations of Saladoid burials in central plazas suggest they served as a form of ancestor veneration, where the deceased remained spiritually present during community…
c. AD 600 – 900: The Anse à la Gourde site on Guadeloupe provides detailed evidence of complex mortuary practices during the Saladoid period. Grave inventories included whole Lobatus gigas…
c. AD 600 – 900: Strontium-isotope analysis of individuals buried at Anse à la Gourde has revealed a fascinating pattern regarding social mobility and gender. Researchers found that non-local females…
c. AD 600 – 1400: Archaeological evidence from the Anse à la Gourde site on Guadeloupe indicates a shift in subsistence strategies between the Saladoid and post-Saladoid periods. While mammals…
c. AD 600 – 900: In Trinidad, the SAN-1 site at Manzanilla has provided evidence of early settlement dynamics and the exploitation of marine resources along the island's eastern coast.…
c. AD 600 – 1200: The practice of intentional cranial modification was a widespread method of identity formation and social signaling among various Caribbean groups. Research by A. van Duijvenbode…
c. AD 600 – 1200: Stable isotope analysis of human remains from several sites in Puerto Rico has provided a more nuanced view of indigenous mobility and diet. Research by…
620s–19th Century: (Cross and Crescent in Northeast Africa: The First Mosque on the Continent at Massawa, Islam Advancing from the Somali Coast by the Tenth Century, Ethiopia as a…
624 A.D.: The Cerrillo workshop site in western Puerto Rico was actively utilized for flintworking during the transition to the Ceramic age. Archaeological evidence indicates that while the site reached…
659–1664: (French Consolidation and the Origin of Saint-Domingue): Following decades of shifting control between European powers, Seigneur Jérémie Deschamps established French domain over Tortuga in 1659 under the commission of…
700–1500 CE: (The Muslim-Dominated Era Deepening Africa's Global Salience: The Later Global Linkages of the Seventh to the Fourteenth Centuries CE When Muslim-Ruled Lands Dominated the Geographically Central Portions…
799-Dec.-01: A detailed list was compiled of General Toussaint Louverture’s naval forces, documenting the "black navy" that had begun to dominate the coastal waters of the island. The inventory included dozens…
c. AD 800 – 1500: Paleopathological studies of indigenous remains in Cuba have revealed significant data regarding the health and daily stresses of pre-Columbian life. Research by E. Vento Canosa…
c. AD 800 – 1400: Large-scale excavations at sites like Golden Rock on St. Eustatius have provided some of the most complete settlement plans in the northern Caribbean. Research by…
c. AD 800 – 1200: Excavations on the island of Nevis have demonstrated the impact of large-scale environmental management during the Troumassoid period. Research by A.H. Versteeg and S.M. Wilson…
826-May-01: The appointment of Charles MacKenzie as British Consul General to Haiti marked a shift toward a more liberal commercial policy by the Canning cabinet compared to the rigid avoidance…
c. AD 840 – 1300: In the eastern Dominican Republic, the "Atajadizo phase" represents a significant transitional period marked by the initial appearance of Chicoid pottery alongside older Ostionoid traditions.…
c. AD 850 – 1309: The Juanpedro site in the Dominican Republic provides a detailed example of a large indigenous settlement with an estimated population of approximately 500 individuals. The…
860 A.D.: The Ostionan culture, defined by the Macady ceramic style, is established in northeastern Haiti. Archaeologists identify this period as a time of significant population growth and agricultural development.…
900. 1793-Jul.-Mid: More than fifty French ships fleeing the destruction of Cap Français arrived in Baltimore loaded with thousands of destitute refugees. This massive influx provided a powerful visual testament…
c. AD 900 – 1500: During the later stages of pre-Columbian history, the introduction and cultivation of yams significantly impacted indigenous agricultural practices and social organization. In some Pacific island…
c. AD 900 – 1500: Meillacoid pottery is characterized by its thin walls, typically measuring between 4 and 6 millimeters, and a granular paste that is reddish-brown to orange-brown in…
c. AD 900 – 1500: The Île à Rat site, located on a tiny island off the north coast of Haiti, provides a clear stratigraphic record of the transition between…
c. AD 900 – 1500: Excavations at the Île à Rat site in Haiti revealed a Cultural deposit approximately 75 centimeters deep with five distinct strata. These strata accurately reflect…
c. AD 900: Meillacoid pottery became the dominant ceramic tradition in the northern Caribbean, potentially reflecting a period of synergy and transculturation among previously distinct societies. This series is characterized…
c. AD 900 – 1200: Chicoid pottery first appeared in the southeastern Dominican Republic around the same time Meillacoid traditions were expanding. While both styles utilize incised motifs, Chicoid is…
c. AD 900 – 1300: In Cuba, the earliest Meillacoid settlements likely appeared in the indigenous province of Bayaquitirí. These communities may have initially coexisted with earlier Ostionoid groups, but…
c. AD 900 – 1500: Meillacoid sites in Cuba exhibit a remarkable degree of continuity in material culture from their initial settlement through the arrival of the Spanish. Faunal remains…
c. AD 900 – 1300: In Jamaica, excavations at the Bluefields Bay site revealed a diverse toolkit composed of both stone and shell implements, highlighting the complementary use of these…
c. AD 900 – 1500: In Jamaica, the Paradise and Sweetwater sites demonstrate how communities tailored their technology to specific environmental niches despite geographic proximity. While both sites utilized Meillacoid…
c. AD 1000 – 1500: The ceremonial centers of Puerto Rico are distinguished by multiple stone-lined courts, which stand in marked contrast to the large circular plazas found in Ayiti.…
c. AD 1000 – 1500: Faunal analysis from Jamaican archaeological sites shows a subsistence strategy heavily reliant on marine resources, with sea turtle bones dominating the cultural deposits. Inhabitants of…
c. AD 1000 – 1500: During the Late Ceramic Age, the northern Lesser Antilles saw a decrease in the number and size of settlements, mirroring a pattern also observed in…
c. AD 1000 – 1500: The integration of local Lesser Antillean communities into the broader sociopolitical and ideological spheres of Greater Antillean polities represents a fundamental shift in regional dynamics.…
c. AD 1000 – 1500: In Barbados, Post-Saladoid society underwent significant social changes characterized by shifts in settlement patterns and material culture. Research by P.L. Drewett suggests that these communities…
c. AD 1000 – 1500: Starch grain analysis of human dental calculus has provided revolutionary new insights into the consumption of maize and other food plants in the pre-Columbian Caribbean.…
c. AD 1000 – 1500: The distribution of petroglyphs across the Lesser Antilles and Trinidad serves as a permanent record of the "sacred geography" of the pre-Columbian Caribbean. Research by…
c. AD 1000 – 1450: Network analysis of Late Ceramic Age sites on the island of Saba reveals a pattern of "remotely local" interaction. Research by A.A.A. Mol, M.L.P. Hoogland,…
c. AD 1000 – 1500: The use of phosphorus analysis at Lucayan settlement sites on Middle Caicos has allowed researchers to determine the precise "use areas" and intensity of human…
c. AD 1100 – 1200: Archaeological evidence from the Governors Beach site on Grand Turk reveals a specialized diet consisting primarily of fish heads, specifically grunts (Haemulon sp.) likely caught…
c. AD 1100 – 1200: Environmental analysis of the Governors Beach site on Grand Turk, specifically the study of tiger lucine shells (Codakia orbicularis), indicates that the site was occupied…
c. AD 1100 – 1300: Zooarchaeological analysis of the Governors Beach site on Grand Turk revealed a highly specialized diet almost exclusively focused on the heads of grunts (Haemulon sp.).…
1200: Taino culture reaches developmental maturity and enters the Formative age, constructing elaborate stone-lined ball courts. These sites served as the centers of political and religious life for complex chiefdoms.
c. AD 1200 – 1550: During the Late Ceramic Age, the site of El Chorro de Maíta in Cuba emerged as a center of significant regional integration. This era is…
c. AD 1200: The island of Saba began to exhibit clear cultural affinities with "Chicoid" modes of pottery decoration, suggesting a northward expansion of influence from the Greater Antilles. Similar…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: The Late Ceramic Age in Puerto Rico is defined by the emergence of the Boca Chica, Capá, and Esperanza pottery styles, which represent an elaboration…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: The Boca Chica pottery style is characterized by thick, sturdy vessels with fine, polished surfaces and complex shapes such as boat-shaped bowls and spherical bottles.…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: Archaeological research indicates that Boca Chica ceramic influences extended beyond Ayiti and Puerto Rico into the Lesser Antilles and westward into Cuba. This widespread distribution…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: Chicoid pottery, particularly the Boca Chica style, is significantly thicker and softer than Meillacoid wares, with vessel walls ranging from 7 to 9 millimeters. The…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: In the eastern Dominican Republic, specialized ceramic jars known as potizas became a hallmark of the Chicoid world. These jars were primarily used for the…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: Excavations at the El Flaco site in the northwestern Dominican Republic have revealed evidence of indigenous houses built on leveled ground with swept areas kept…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: At the En Bas Saline site in Haiti, archaeologists discovered a massive, circular structure with a diameter of nearly 20 meters, far exceeding the size…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: Analysis of the pottery from En Bas Saline revealed a high frequency of "Carrier" style ceramics, which represent the most elaborate expression of the Chicoid…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: The En Bas Saline site in Haiti features a massive C-shaped earthwork, measuring approximately 350 meters by 270 meters, that was intentionally constructed. Borrow…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: Late Ceramic Age sites in the interior of Ayiti show a distinct shift in faunal remains, with a higher frequency of terrestrial animals and riverine or…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: The Pueblo Viejo site in eastern Cuba features a massive earthen enclosure that stands as one of the most significant pre-Columbian architectural feats in the…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: In the vicinity of the Windward Passage, the Monte Cristo site contains a unique parallelogram-shaped enclosure with rounded corners, estimated to be about 42 meters…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: The "Big Wall" site in Cuba is distinguished by a linear earthwork known as the Gran Muro de San Lucas, which stands approximately 1.8 meters…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: In the province of Maniabón in eastern Cuba, indigenous settlements show a distinct preference for fertile "red lands" (tierras rojas) located several kilometers inland. These…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: Archaeological evidence from the Bahamian archipelago, including the Turks and Caicos, indicates that the islands were settled by Lucayan groups migrating from Ayiti and Cuba.…
c. AD 1200 – 1300: The bead-making industry at the Governors Beach site was remarkably productive, yielding over 1,500 complete beads and 4,400 blanks made from the brilliant scarlet shells…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: Adornment and symbolic expression in Jamaica are evidenced by unique finds such as a 12-millimeter agate ear spool and a 7-centimeter greenstone pendant sculpted in…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: Small, portable masks made of shell or stone have been recovered from various Late Ceramic Age sites across the northern Lesser Antilles and the Greater…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: During the Late Ceramic Age, the northern Lesser Antilles underwent a significant shift in settlement function, transitioning from permanent villages to strategic outposts. These islands…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: The process of regional integration in the late pre-Columbian era eventually led to the slow absorption of smaller island societies into the sociopolitical structure of…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: During the Late Ceramic Age, indigenous communities in the central-south region of Cuba developed specialized settlement patterns and subsistence strategies tailored to the island's diverse…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: The Caicos conch trade was a significant economic activity that linked the small islands of the Turks and Caicos to larger populations in the Greater…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: The presence of linear earthworks and human-constructed mounds (monticulos) at various sites in eastern Cuba indicates a high degree of landscape modification during the Late…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: In the province of Maniabón, Cuba, indigenous groups utilized a specific landscape management strategy involving the placement of settlements on hillsides to overlook fertile "red…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: Archaeological surveys in Barbados have identified a settlement pattern that favored the island's coastal terraces, providing easy access to both marine resources and the fertile…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: The exchange of guaízas (small shell masks) during the Late Ceramic Age served as a mechanism for "costly giving," where prestige items were used to…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: In pre-Columbian Puerto Rico, shamanistic practices were deeply integrated into concepts of fertility and social health. Research by P.G. Roe highlights the role of the…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: Archaeological research in the Dominican Republic, particularly at the site of Punta Cana, has identified early Meillacoid occupations that provide insight into the transition toward…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: During the Late Ceramic Age in eastern Ayiti, the Yuma region (specifically the site of Atajadizo) served as a major political and ceremonial center. Research by…
c. AD 1200 – 1500: In Cuba, the archaeological record of the "Ciboney" (a term historically used to describe non-horticultural groups) has been re-evaluated through the lens of transculturation and…
1204: Following the capture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, Italian merchants from Genoa and Venice established slave-trading ports along the northern coast of the Black Sea. Over the next…
c. AD 1220 – 1640: The Los Buchillones site in Cuba serves as an exceptional case study in cultural diversity during the Late Ceramic Age. This coastal settlement is remarkable…
c. AD 1300 – 1500: Chicoid pottery became the predominant material expression in many parts of the northern Caribbean after AD 1300, a period often associated with the rise of…
c. AD 1300 – 1500: The Pueblo Viejo site in eastern Cuba represents a specialized type of settlement known as a mesa-top enclosure. Located 250 meters above sea level, the…
c. AD 1300 – 1540: The site of El Chorro de Maíta is one of the most significant Late Ceramic Age settlements in Cuba, featuring a large central plaza surrounded…
1300s–1400s CE: (A Second Independent Copper Discovery Along the North Side of the Congo River Near the Atlantic, Local Artisans Developing Copper Metallurgy at an Unknown Date but Centuries After…
1400s: During the fifteenth century, the Portuguese and Spanish constructed specialized ships and utilized improved navigational instruments like the compass to navigate Atlantic currents and wind systems. This technological…
1400s: Sugarcane cultivation was extended by Italian and Iberian merchants to Atlantic islands such as Madeira and the Canaries. This expansion of the sugar system into the Atlantic served as…
c. AD 1400 – 1600: The MC-6 site on Middle Caicos is identified as a unique, locally controlled entrepôt strategically located at the edge of a seasonally flooded salina. While…
c. AD 1400 – 1600: The MC-6 site on Middle Caicos features a central stone-lined court that represents a remarkable piece of indigenous engineering. Measuring approximately 31 meters long, the…
c. AD 1400 – 1600: In the southern portion of the Antilles, many islands remained densely occupied and maintained intensive exchange relations with diverse mainland communities in South America. These…
c. AD 1400 – 1500: The MC-6 site on Middle Caicos is unique for its architectural features, including stone-lined pit structures that were initially interpreted as semi-pit houses. Despite repeated…
1404. 1883-May: President Salomon held confidential talks with the US minister to propose a protectorate and the cession of the island of La Tortue. He sought American military assistance to…
c. AD 1430: The Sweetwater site in Jamaica is situated in a hardwood forest on a dune surrounded by a swamp, a location that is considered unusual compared to other…
c. AD 1440 – 1460: The sites of Morne Cybèle and Morne Souffleur are located on the high plateau of La Désirade, an island in the Guadeloupian archipelago characterized by…
c. AD 1440 – 1460: The Morne Cybèle site on the island of La Désirade is located on a steep, volcanic limestone plateau known as La Montagne, which reaches an…
c. AD 1440 – 1460: The site of Morne Souffleur, discovered during a systematic survey of La Désirade, shares striking similarities with the nearby Morne Cybèle site located on the…
1441-1758: The Old World slave trade operated in the Eastern Atlantic during this extensive period. Maps of this era track the initial movement of captives within European and Atlantic island…
1451-10-00: (Christopher Columbus, the Genoese Navigator Whose 1492 Arrival on the Island Set in Motion the European Conquest, Colonization, and Enslavement of the Island's Indigenous Taíno Population, Celebrated as a Discoverer…
1453: The Ottoman Turks successfully captured Constantinople, an event that significantly impacted European labor markets by diverting the flow of Black Sea and Balkan captives to Islamic territories. This conquest…
1460s: Sugarcane cultivation for export was established on the islands of the eastern Atlantic. This development represented the first major step in the westward migration of the sugar plantation complex.
1464-00-00: (Anacaona, the Taíno Cacique of Jaragua Known as "Golden Flower," a Poet and Political Leader Who Was Hanged by the Spanish in 1504 After Resisting Colonial Exploitation, Whose Death…
1482 Jan 20-1483: The Portuguese constructed Elmina Castle, also known as São Jorge da Mina, as an imposing square fortress on the Gold Coast of modern-day Ghana. This structure, which…
1490s: Enslaved black people, known as sclavi negri, began to outnumber enslaved white people in Sicily. This demographic shift reflected the "blackening" of the enslaved population in the…
1490s: The Portuguese established sugar plantations in the Gulf of Guinea, specifically on the island of São Tomé. This region became a significant center for sugar production and slave labor…
1492: Upon his first voyage to the Caribbean, Christopher Columbus initiated the early practice of Amerindian enslavement by shipping approximately 500 indigenous people back to Spain. This act was part…
1492-December-06: Christopher Columbus reached the western end of the island during his first voyage and named the entire landmass Hispaniola. Rayford W. Logan notes that the specific geography and climate of…
1492: The Tainos used the word "taino," meaning "good" or "noble," to identify themselves to Columbus during his first voyage. This term served to differentiate their peaceful agricultural society from…
1492-Aug.-03: Christopher Columbus began his first voyage of conquest by sailing a flotilla of three small ships from Palos, Spain. He first traveled to the Canary Islands to take on…
1492-Oct.-12: Columbus made landfall on an island in the Bahamian Archipelago that the local Tainos called Guanahaní. He took possession of the island in the name of the Spanish crown…
1492-Oct.-28: The expedition arrived in Cuba, landing at Bariay near the present-day town of Gibara. Columbus sent emissaries inland to investigate reports of a cacique possessing gold, mistakenly believing he…
1492-Dec.-05: Christopher Columbus lands on the northern coast of the island and names it La Isla Española. He encountered a thriving indigenous society that would soon face the devastating effects…
1492-Dec.-05: Christopher Columbus lands on the northern coast of the island and names it La Isla Española. This event initiated the permanent European presence on the island that would eventually…
1492-Dec.-24: The flagship Santa María foundered on a reef near Cap-Haïtien on the northern coast of the island. This disaster forced Columbus to prepare for a return to Spain in the…
1492-Dec.-25: The Santa Maria runs aground near modern-day Cap-Haïtien, leading to the construction of La Navidad. This settlement was built using salvaged timber from the ship and housed the first…
1492-Dec.-25: The Santa Maria runs aground on a reef near what is now Cap-Haïtien, providing materials for the first settlement. Columbus left behind a small contingent of men to maintain…
1492–1550: The Amerindian population of the West Indies is reduced by 90 percent due to massacres, disease, and overwork. This demographic collapse paved the way for the large-scale deportation of…
1492: The En Bas Saline site has been identified by many researchers, including Kathleen Deagan, as the probable location of the village of Guacanagarí and the site of La Navidad,…
c. AD 1492 – 1600: The early colonial Caribbean is increasingly studied as a "stage of encounters," where migration, mobility, and interaction reshaped the social landscape of the islands. Research…
1492–1788: (The Foundational Centuries of Saint-Domingue): The first chapter, "A Very Great Island," provides the broad historical context for the nearly 300 years preceding the revolution. It begins with the…
1492–1788: (The Foundational Era of the Great Island): The opening chapter of the history, titled "A Very Great Island," establishes the colonial groundwork of the territory from the late 15th…
1492–1995: (The Visual Record of the Haitian People): The book features a comprehensive list of illustrations that provide a visual history of the nation from the first European contact to…
1492–2005: (The Geography and Mapping of the Island): The text includes detailed maps of Haiti and the Greater Antilles to orient the reader within the Caribbean landscape. A specific map of…
1492–1995: (The Portraiture of Haitian Power and Revolution): The provided list of illustrations serves as a pictorial record of Haiti's most significant historical figures. Key portraits included in the volume…
1492–1788: (Colonial Mapping and Early Sketches): The historical record begins with a map of Haiti's north coast specifically drawn by Christopher Columbus in 1492. This early geographic documentation is followed…
1492–2005: (Geography as a Fortress of Marronage): The physical environment of Haiti is described as a serrated fortress of rugged mountains and hidden valleys that historically served as barriers to…
1492–1994: (The Sovereignty of Information and Lost Archives): The documentation of the Haitian experience is hampered by the systematic destruction of internal records through fire, explosion, and colonial pilferage. From…
1492–1788: (The Territorial Erasure and Resistance of Ayiti): The narrative acknowledges the island as a "Very Great Island," tracing its shift from an indigenous space to the wealthiest extractive colony…
1492, December 6: (The Genesis of Colonial Intrusion): The era of European expansion into Ayiti officially began on December 6, 1492, when Christopher Columbus first landed on the island's north…
1492: (The Colonial Encounter and Indigenous Displacement): The decolonized narrative of Ayiti begins by recognizing the island as an indigenous space before it was reimagined by European cartography. Christopher Columbus’s…
1492–1788: (Institutional Divergence on the Island): Throughout the early colonial period, the island was split between two fundamentally different civilizational projects: the Hispanic East and the revolutionary West. The dominant…
1492: (The Cartographic Erasure of Indigenous Space): The colonization of the island was codified through European mapping, starting with the north coast map drawn by Columbus in 1492. This act…
1492–1995: (The Physical and Metaphorical Fortress of the Terrain): Haiti’s geography is characterized by rugged mountain ranges, such as Morne la Selle which reaches 8,793 feet, that have historically protected…
1492–1994: (The Resilience of Vodou and the Private National Tongue): Vodou is described as an "amalgam" of West African animist cults and Catholic ritual that is practiced by nearly 100…
1492, December 5–6: (The Imposition of Colonial Names and Cartography): Christopher Columbus first identified the north coast of Ayiti from the Santa Maria on December 5, 1492, characterizing it as…
1492, December–1550: (Genocide and the Destruction of Native Life): Upon encountering the Taino people, Columbus described them as "lovable," "completely defenseless," and "fit to be ordered about" for labor. On…
1492-00-00: (Cacique, the Title for Taíno Chiefs Who Governed the Five Chiefdoms of Ayiti at the Time of Columbus's Arrival, a Matrilineal System in Which Succession Passed Through the Eldest…
1492-00-00: (Haiti's Environment, From the Lush Forests That Covered the Island When Columbus Arrived to the Less Than Two Percent Forest Cover That Remains Today, a Catastrophe Driven by Charcoal Dependence,…
1492-00-00: (Hispaniola, the Second-Largest Island in the Caribbean, Divided Between Haiti in the Western Third and the Dominican Republic in the Eastern Two-Thirds, Named by Columbus "the Spanish Island" in…
1492-00-00: (Jaragua, One of Five Taíno Chiefdoms on Ayiti at the Time of Columbus's Arrival, Located in the Southwestern Sector With Its Capital at Yaguana, Present-Day Léogâne, the Epicenter of the…
1492-00-00: (Taíno, the Indigenous People of Ayiti at the Time of Columbus's Arrival, Numbering Roughly 500,000, Organized Into Five Chiefdoms, Rapidly Decimated by Spanish Disease and Violence, Their Destruction Creating the…
1492-12-00: (Marien, the Northwestern Taíno Chiefdom Whose Cacique Guacanagaric Allied With Columbus in December 1492, Providing Land and Labor for La Navidad, the First Spanish Settlement on the Island): Marien…
1492-12-05: (Columbus Claims Ayiti for Spain, the Moment That Begins the European Colonization of the Island and the Destruction of Its Indigenous Taíno Civilization): On December 5, 1492, Christopher Columbus…
1492-12-15: (Tortuga, the Small Turtle-Shaped Island Off Haiti's Northwestern Coast Where Columbus Landed in 1492, Later Colonized by France in 1625 and Used as a Pirate Refuge Throughout the Seventeenth…
1492-12-24: (The Santa Maria Runs Aground on Christmas Eve, Stranding Columbus on the Island and Forcing the Construction of La Navidad From the Wreckage): On December 24, 1492, Columbus's flagship, the…
1492-12-05: (Christopher Columbus Arrives at Ayiti and Claims the Island for Spain, the Moment That Begins the European Colonization of the Territory That Would Become Haiti): On December 5, 1492,…
On 30 April 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella gave him a commission by which he was named admiral and viceroy of the islands and of the mainland he should discover. On…
After discovering several islands, he landed on 6 December at the western point of a land that the islanders of Cuba called Haïti (mountainous land) or Quiesqueia (great land). He…
After discovering several islands, he landed on 6 December at the western point of a land that the islanders of Cuba called Haïti (mountainous land) or Quiesqueia (great land). He…
To give order and haste to finishing the building of the fortress, and to the people who were to stay in it, the Admiral went ashore, and it seemed to…
He stayed at anchor off that beach this day because there was no wind, and also because the cacique had said that he was to bring gold, not because the…
Columbus sailed from the port of Palos with three ships and 90 men on Friday 3 August 1492 and returned there on 15 March 1493, after 225 days.
It is known that Columbus, when he set foot on American soil on 12 October 1492, believed, according to the cosmographic ideas of the time, that he had arrived at…
History. The Antilles, thrown in a long chain in front of the American continent, were the first lands recognized at the discovery of America; it was on one of the…
The first land Columbus reached, on 12 October 1492: a small bean-shaped island of the Lucayos its people called Guanahaní, which the chart painters of Las Casas's day called Triango.
All this night he lay to off Cabo Lindo, where night had overtaken him, to see the land that ran to the east, and at sunrise he saw another cape…
... The said Indians told him other very marvelous things by signs: but the Admiral, so he says, did not believe them, only that the people of that island Bohío…
... past that one he saw that the coast turned south and took in some of the southwest, and he then saw a very beautiful and high cape on the…
... afterward he went 10 miles an hour; and so he would have gone 88 miles, which are 22 leagues, by sunset; all to the southeast. And because night was…
The island of Haiti was discovered by the Genoese navigator Christopher Columbus on 6 December 1492, after he had discovered the Lucayes Islands and that of Cuba. The first point…
When, on 6 December 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on the shores of Haïti, he planted there the cross of Jesus Christ. A vast field then opened to the Catholic apostolate…
Christopher Columbus entered the Mole St. Nicolas for the first time on 6 December 1492; he named this port Saint Nicolas, after the saint, patron of that day and patron…
When day broke he found himself 4 leagues from the harbor; he named it Puerto María, and he saw a beautiful cape to the south by southwest, which he named…
... That large island seemed very high land, unenclosed by mountains, level like beautiful plains, and it seems all tilled or a great part of it, and the sown fields…
... Another land appeared to him like a not large island to the east, and he would be 40 miles from it. There remained to him another very beautiful and…
At the change of the dawn watch he set sail and left that Puerto de San Nicolás, and sailed with the wind southwest to the northeast 2 leagues, as far…
... The bight that he mentioned above reaches, so he says, as close to the Puerto de San Nicolás as a lombard shot, so that if that space were cut…
Christopher Columbus, after reaching the bay of the Môle Saint-Nicolas, went there on 8 December 1492. He managed to communicate with the inhabitants of the island by means of a…
There in that harbor it rained heavily on them, with a very strong north wind: the harbor is safe from all winds except the north, although even that cannot do…
This day it rained and was winter weather, as in Castile in October. He had seen no village, only one very beautiful house in the Puerto de San Nicolás, and…
The northeast blew hard and made the anchors drag half a cable's length, at which the Admiral marveled, and he put it down to the anchors being set too close…
... He says he wanted to see that passage between these two islands, to see the Isla Española, which is the most beautiful thing in the world, and because, according…
... after that its coast runs south. He says he wanted to see that passage between these two islands, to see the Isla Española, which is the most beautiful thing…
He did not leave this day, for the same cause of the contrary wind already stated. He set up a great cross at the entrance of the harbor, on the…
... The Admiral had her clothed, and gave her glass beads and hawks' bells and brass rings, and sent her back ashore very honorably, according to his custom: he sent…
... These went to the village, which was 4 leagues and a half to the southeast, which they found in a very great valley, and empty, because as soon as…
... but the Admiral says he does not know how they can be of better disposition than the others, giving to understand that all those they had found in the…
The three men whom the Admiral had sent with the woman came back at three hours into the night, and they had not gone with her as far as the…
He left that Puerto de la Concepción with a land breeze, and soon after it fell calm, and he found it so every day he was there. Afterward a Levante…
He left the Puerto de la Concepción again to go on his way, but on leaving the harbor a strong east wind blew, contrary to him, and he stood across…
... he entered it with the boats to reach the villages that those he had sent the day before yesterday had seen, and he had the towline run ashore, and…
... The Admiral sent him a present, which, so he says, he received with great state, and that he would be a youth of about 21 years, and that he…
... This king and all the others went naked as their mothers bore them, and the women likewise, without any shame, and they are the most handsome men and women…
... in mid gulf he found a canoa with one Indian alone in it, at which the Admiral marveled, how he could keep himself above the water with the wind…
... In all Castile there is no land that can be compared to it in beauty and goodness. All this island and that of Tortuga are all tilled like the…
... And the trees there, he says, were so lush that the leaves ceased to be green and were dark with greenness. It was a thing of wonder to see…
... “Let Your Highnesses believe that these lands are good and fertile in such quantity, and especially these of this Isla Española, that there is no one who could tell…
... There that cacique showed much that he took the Admiral's side. The canoe left at once, and after it had gone they told the Admiral that on Tortuga there…
... In the evening a canoe came there from the Isla de la Tortuga with a good 40 men, and as it reached the beach all the people of the…
That night the wind blew hard, east northeast; the sea did not rise much because the Isla de la Tortuga, which lies opposite, hinders and shields it and makes a…
... After eating, a squire brought a belt, which is just like those of Castile in its make, except that it is of other work, which he took and gave…
... This man came to the ship after the king, and the Admiral gave him some things of the said trade goods, and there the Admiral learned that they called…
... He saw there four capes of land and a great bay and river, and from there he saw a very large cove, and it had a village, and behind…
... The whole circuit of that island has marvelous capes and harbors, as he judged from the sea. Before the island, on the west side, there is a cape which…
... The ship can lie moored with any rope at all against whatever winds there may be. At the entrance of this harbor, so he says, there was a cañal,…
Today at sunset he entered a harbor which lay between the island of Santo Tomás and the cabo de Caribata, and anchored. This harbor is most beautiful, and such that…
History. Christopher Columbus entered the bay of the Acul on 21 December 1492, which caused it to be given the name of Port of Saint-Thomas. Time has not respected this…
... Then they came nearer the sea, and the Admiral nearer the land, and after they had wholly lost their fear, so many came that they covered the land, giving…
... and it is an easy thing to know (says the Admiral) when a thing is given with a heart very desirous to give.” These are his words: “These people…
... No less, so he says, did the women do in the other places before they hid themselves, and the Admiral ordered everywhere that all his men be on guard…
... that is to say, that all the praises he has spoken of the past harbors are true, and that this one being much better than all is likewise true.…
... From the entrance to the head there will be five leagues. He saw some lands much tilled, although all are so, and he ordered two men out of the…
... The Admiral left there for the ships, and the Indians cried out, men as well as women and children, that they should not go and that the Christians should…
... So this harbor is very good for all the winds that may blow, enclosed and deep, and all peopled with very good and gentle people, without arms good or…
... He determined to set out for it on Sunday, although he was not accustomed to leave port on a Sunday, only out of his devotion and not from any…
At daybreak he set sail to go on his way to seek the islands which the Indians told him had much gold, and some of which had more gold than…
He could not set out with the ships for the land of that lord who had sent to beg and invite him, for lack of wind; but he sent the…
... At night the boats arrived and said that it was a long way to where they came from, and that at the mountain of Caribatan they found many canoes…
... And he held it certain that if he could spend that feast of Christmas in that harbor, all the people of that island would come, which he now reckoned…
... he did not know whether they said it for nobleman or governor or judge. Finally, the Cacique came to them, and the whole town gathered in the square, which…
... May our Lord in his mercy direct me to find this gold, I mean its mine, for I have many here who say that they know it: these are…
Before the sun was up he weighed anchor with the land breeze. Among the many Indians who had come to the ship the day before, who had given them signs…
Whoever has to enter the Mar de Santo Tomé should stand in a good league off the mouth of the entrance, over a flat islet that lies in the middle,…
... "Let Your Highnesses believe that in all the world there can be no better people, nor gentler: Your Highnesses should take great joy, for soon they will make them…
Whoever has to enter the Mar de Santo Tomé should stand in a good league off the mouth of the entrance, over a flat islet that lies in the middle,…
... and as the waters still went on falling it could not be remedied, and she heeled over toward the cross sea, although the sea was little or nothing, and…
... When he learned of it, they say, he wept, and he sent all the people of his town with very large canoes, and many of them, to unload everything…
... These, although it was night, made a sound that could be heard and seen a long league off, and she went onto it so gently that it was hardly…
... After they finished eating he took the Admiral to the beach, and the Admiral sent for a Turkish bow and a sheaf of arrows, and the Admiral had a…
... for a lace tip they gave pieces that would be worth more than two castellanos, and that this was nothing then compared with what it would be a month…
... Nor would I have left people here on this voyage; nor, even if I had wished to leave them, could I have given them such good fitting out, nor…
Today at sunrise the king of that land, who was in that place, came to the caravel Niña, where the Admiral was, and almost weeping told him not to grieve,…
... "so faithful (says the Admiral) are they, and without greed for what belongs to others, and that virtuous king above all". While the Admiral was talking with him, another…
... The Admiral told him by signs that the Sovereigns of Castile would order the Caribs destroyed, and would have them all brought with their hands tied. The Admiral ordered…
... But it is right that this tower be built, and that things be kept as they ought to be kept, being so far from Your Highnesses; and so that…
... because the ship, so he says, was very heavy and not fit for the work of discovery; and bringing such a ship, so he says, was the doing of…
At sunrise the king of that land came to the caravel and told the Admiral that he had sent for gold, and that he wished to cover him all over…
At sunrise a nephew of the king came to the caravel, very young, and of good understanding and good spirit (as the Admiral says); and as he was always working…
... and he sent for some colored buskins, which he had him put on, and put on his finger a large silver ring, because they had said that they had…
The Admiral went ashore to eat, and arrived at the moment when five kings subject to this one, who was called Guacanagarí, had come, all with their crowns, presenting a…
This day he was busy having water and wood taken on for the departure to Spain, in order to give the Sovereigns news quickly so that they might send ships…