View source for Garifuna

{{pp|small=yes}}
{{short description|Ethnic group in Central America}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{Infobox Ethnic group
| group            = Garinagu
|image=File:Black_Caribs-family-St.-Vincent_by_Augustino_Brunias.jpg
|caption= Garifuna family, 1773 painting
| population   = c. 600,000–800,000 (est. 2025) {{increase}}
| region1      = {{flag|Honduras}}
| pop1         = c. 100,000–150,000
| year1        = 2024–2025
| ref1         = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2024/09/defending-ancestral-lands-garifuna-struggle-honduras |title=Defending ancestral lands: the Garifuna struggle in Honduras |publisher=Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights |date=September 2024 |access-date=18 November 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://minorityrights.org/communities/garifuna/ |title=Garifuna |publisher=Minority Rights Group |access-date=18 November 2025}}</ref>
| region2      = {{flag|United States}}
| pop2         = c. 250,000–350,000
| year2        = 2024–2025
| ref2         = <ref>Community and diaspora organisation estimates (e.g. Garifuna American Heritage Foundation United, Garifuna Coalition USA); significant undercount in official U.S. Census due to multiple identity categories.</ref>
| region3      = {{flag|Guatemala}}
| pop3         = c. 25,000–30,000
| year3        = 2023–2025
| ref3         = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iwgia.org/en/guatemala/5260-iw-2024-garifuna.html |title=The Indigenous World 2024: Guatemala (Garifuna section) |publisher=International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs |access-date=18 November 202 type="render_searched_image"> <argument name="image_id">0</argument> <argument name="caption">Garifuna community in Livingston, Guatemala</argument> <argument name="size">LARGE</argument> </grok:render> 2025}}</ref>
| region4      = {{flag|Belize}}
| pop4         = c. 19,500 (approx. 4.8% of national population)
| year4        = 2025 estimate (based on 2022 census)
| ref4         = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://sib.org.bz/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Belize-Population-and-Housing-Census-2022-Key-Findings-Report.pdf |title=Belize 2022 Population and Housing Census – Key Findings |publisher=Statistical Institute of Belize |date=2023 |access-date=18 November 2025}}</ref>
| region5      = {{flag|Nicaragua}}
| pop5         = c. 5,000–10,000
| year5        = 2024–2025
| ref5         = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://minorityrights.org/country/nicaragua/ |title=Nicaragua – Garifuna |publisher=Minority Rights Group |access-date=18 November 2025}}</ref>
| region6      = {{flag|Saint Vincent and the Grenadines}} (locally known to Garifuna descendants as ''Yurumein'')
| pop6         = Small Kalinago/Garifuna-heritage communities (c. 2,000–4,000 self-identifying as Indigenous Kalinago with Garifuna cultural ties)
| year6        = 2025
| ref6         = <ref>Descendants of the pre-1797 population; most Garifuna were exiled to Central America in 1797, but cultural reconnection and heritage recognition have grown since the 1990s.</ref>
| languages    = [[Garifuna language]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[English language|English]], [[Belizean Creole]], [[Miskito Coast Creole]], [[Vincentian Creole]]
| rels             = Primarily [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] and minorities of other [[Christian denominations]], with occasional traditional cultural practices such as [[Dugu|Dügü]].
| related          = [[Kalinago]], [[Afro-Caribbean people| Afro Caribbean]], [[Igneri]], [[Arawak]]
}}

The '''Garifuna people''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɡ|ɑːr|iː|ˈ|f|uː|n|ə}} {{respell|GAR|ee|FOO|nə}}<ref>{{Cite dictionary |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/Garifuna |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200201080503/https://www.lexico.com/definition/garifuna |archive-date=2020-02-01 |title=Garifuna |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite Merriam-Webster|Garifuna|access-date=August 22, 2018}}</ref> or {{IPA|es|ɡa'ɾifuna}}; pl. '''Garínagu'''<ref>[http://remezcla.com/culture/anthony-bourdain-latino-advocacy/ Remembering How Anthony Bourdain Advocated for Latinos] Published June 8, 2018, retrieved June 15, 2018</ref> in [[Garifuna language|Garifuna]]){{efn|also known as '''Central American Island Caribs'''; formerly known as '''Caribs''', '''Black Caribs''', or '''Island Caribs''' until the late 1970s.<ref name="STHL6">{{cite thesis |last1=Haurholm-Larsen |first1=Steffen |title=A Grammar of Garifuna |type=PhD |url=https://boris.unibe.ch/91473/1/16haurholm-larsen_s.pdf |publisher=[[University of Bern]] |date=September 22, 2016 |page=6}}</ref>}} are a people of mixed free [[African people|African]] and [[Indigenous people of the Americas|Amerindian]] ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of [[Saint Vincent (Antilles)|Saint Vincent]] and traditionally speak Garifuna, an [[Arawakan language]].

The Garifuna are the descendants of Indigenous [[Arawak]], [[Kalinago]] (Island Carib), and [[Afro-Caribbean people]]. The founding population of the Central American diaspora, estimated at 2,500 to 5,000 persons, were transplanted to [[Roatán]] from Saint Vincent,<ref name="CrawfordGonzalez1981">{{cite journal |last1=Crawford |first1=MH |last2=Gonzalez |first2=NL |last3=Schanfield |first3=MS |last4=Dykes |first4=DD |last5=Skradski |first5=K |last6=Polesky |first6=HF |title=The Black Caribs (Garifuna) of Livingston, Guatemala: Genetic Markers and Admixture Estimates |journal=Human Biology |date=February 1981 |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=87–103 |jstor=41464596 |pmid=7239494 }}</ref> which was known to the Garinagu as ''Yurumein'',<ref name="Raussert2017">{{cite book|first=Wilfried|last=Raussert|title=The Routledge Companion to Inter-American Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7DklDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA390|year= 2017|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-29065-0|page=390}}</ref> in the [[Windward Islands]] of the [[Lesser Antilles]]. Small Garifuna communities still live in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The Garifuna diaspora abroad includes communities in [[Honduras]], [[Garifuna Americans|the United States]], and [[Belize]].

==Name==
{{See also|Kalina people#Name|Kalinago#Name}}

In the [[Garifuna language]], the [[endonym]] ''Garínagu'' (plural) refers to the people collectively, while ''Garífuna'' (singular) is used for an individual person, the language, and the culture.<ref name="Taylor2012">{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Christopher |title=The Black Carib Wars: Freedom, Survival and the Making of the Garifuna |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-61703-310-0 |page=vi}}</ref><ref name="Bonaparte2023">{{cite journal |last=Bonaparte |first=Paul H. |title=Garifuna |journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association |volume=53 |issue=3 |year=2023 |pages=1093–1108 |doi=10.1017/S0025100322000259 |doi-broken-date=19 November 2025 }}</ref> 

The terms derive from the 17th–18th-century [[Kalinago]] (Island Carib) self-designations ''Kalinago'' (the people) and ''Karifuna'' (“cassava-eating people”), which were adopted by the emerging Afro-Indigenous population on Saint Vincent.<ref name="Taylor1977">{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Douglas |author-link=Douglas Taylor (linguist) |title=Languages of the West Indies |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-8018-1874-3 |pages=75–105}}</ref><ref name="Bonaparte2023" />

The change from initial /k/ to /g/ (''Kalinago'' → ''Garínagu'', ''Karifuna'' → ''Garífuna'') is a regular case of word-initial consonant lenition (voicing of the voiceless stop /k/), a common process in language-contact situations and adult second-language acquisition, rather than evidence of systematic African phonological influence.<ref name="Bonaparte2023" /><ref name="Escure2004">{{cite book |last=Escure |first=Geneviève |chapter=Garifuna in Belize and Honduras |editor1-last=Escure |editor1-first=Geneviève |editor2-last=Schwegler |editor2-first=Armin |title=Creoles, Contact, and Language Change: Linguistic and Social Implications |series=Creole Language Library |publisher=John Benjamins |year=2004 |volume=27 |isbn=978-90-272-5249-0 |pages=35–65 |doi=10.1075/cll.27.04esc}}</ref>

Some 20th-century sources described this shift as an “African modification,”<ref name="Greene2002">{{cite journal |last=Greene |first=Oliver N. |title=Ethnicity, Modernity, and Retention in the Garifuna Punta |journal=Black Music Research Journal |volume=22 |issue=2 |year=2002 |pages=189–216 |doi=10.2307/1519956 |jstor=1519956 }}</ref><ref name="Foster1987">{{cite journal |last=Foster |first=Byron |title=Celebrating autonomy: the development of Garifuna ritual on St Vincent |journal=Caribbean Quarterly |volume=33 |issue=3–4 |year=1987 |pages=75–83 |doi=10.1080/00086495.1987.11671718}}</ref> but modern linguistic scholarship no longer uses this characterisation. Garifuna is overwhelmingly [[Arawakan languages|Arawakan]] in grammar and core vocabulary, with only negligible African substrate.<ref name="Aikhenvald1999">{{cite book |last=Aikhenvald |first=Alexandra Y. |chapter=The Arawak language family |editor1-last=Dixon |editor1-first=R. M. W. |editor2-last=Aikhenvald |editor2-first=Alexandra Y. |title=The Amazonian Languages |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-521-57021-3 |pages=65–106}}</ref><ref name="Bonaparte2023" />

The terms may have been in use among the Garifuna as early as the mid-17th century.<ref name="Foster1987" />

The Garifuna were historically known by the exonyms ''Caribs'', ''Black Caribs'', and ''Island Caribs''.<ref name="Afrodescendencia">{{Cite book |url=http://www.cinu.mx/AFRODESCENDENCIA.pdf |title=Afrodescendencia: Aproximaciones contemporáneas desde América Latina y el Caribe |date=2011 |access-date=2021-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818173431/http://www.cinu.mx/AFRODESCENDENCIA.pdf |archive-date=2016-08-18 |language=es |first=Carlos |last=Agudelo |chapter=Los garifunas, identidades y reivindicaciones de un pueblo afrodescendiente de América Central |pages=59–66}}</ref><ref name="STHL6"/> European explorers began to use the term ''Black Caribs'' in the 17th century.<ref name="Green">{{Cite journal |last=Greene |first=Oliver N. |year=2002 |title=Ethnicity, Modernity, and Retention in the Garifuna Punta |journal=Black Music Research Journal |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=189–216 |doi=10.2307/1519956|jstor=1519956 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cayetano |first=Sebastian |year=1990 |chapter=The linguistic history of the Garifuna peoples (black Caribs) and surrounding areas in Central America and the Caribbean from 1220 A.D. to the present |title=Garifuna, history, language, and culture of Belize, Central America and the Caribbean |editor-first=Sebastian |editor-last=Cayetano |pages=14–63 |location=Benque Viejo, Belize |publisher=BRC Printing}}</ref> In the 18th century, English accounts used the terms ''Black Caribs'' and ''Yellow'' or ''Red Caribs'' to differentiate, with some ambiguity, two groups with a very similar culture by their skin color.<ref name="Taylor">{{cite book |title=The Black Carib Wars: Freedom, Survival and the Making of the Garifuna |first=Christopher |last=Taylor |series=Caribbean Studies Series |publisher=[[University Press of Mississippi]] |year=2012 |jstor=j.ctt24hxr2|isbn=978-1-61703-310-0 }}</ref>{{rp|vi}} The British colonial use of the term ''Black Carib'', particularly in [[Sir William Young, 2nd Baronet|William Young]]'s ''Account of the Black Charaibs'' (1795), has been described in modern historiography as framing the majority of the Indigenous St. Vincent population as "mere interlopers from Africa" who lacked claims to land possession in St. Vincent.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Julie Chun |last=Kim |title=The Caribs of St. Vincent and Indigenous Resistance during the Age of Revolutions |journal=[[Early American Studies]] |volume=11 |issue=1 |year=2013 |pages=117–132 [121–123] |doi=10.1353/eam.2013.0007 |jstor=23546705|s2cid=144195511 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Peter |last=Hulme |chapter=Black, Yellow, and White on St. Vincent: Moreau de Jonnès's Carib Ethnography |editor-first=Felicity A. |editor-last=Nussbaum |title=The Global Eighteenth Century |location=Baltimore |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8018-6865-8 |pages=182–194 [182]}}</ref>

==History==
===Carib background===
The Carib people migrated from [[South America]] to the Caribbean circa 1200, according to carbon dating of artifacts.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Mendisco|first1=F.|last2=Pemonge|first2=M. H.|last3=Leblay|first3=E.|last4=Romon|first4=T.|last5=Richard|first5=G.|last6=Courtaud|first6=P.|last7=Deguilloux|first7=M. F.|date=2015-01-19|title=Where are the Caribs? Ancient DNA from ceramic period human remains in the Lesser Antilles|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|volume=370|issue=1660|doi=10.1098/rstb.2013.0388|issn=0962-8436|pmc=4275895|pmid=25487339}}</ref> According to [[Taíno]] testimonies, the Kalinago largely displaced, exterminated and assimilated the Taíno who were resident on the islands at the time, as well as the earlier [[Igneri]].<ref name="Sweeney">[http://www.diaspora.uiuc.edu/news0307/news0307-7.pdf Sweeney, James L. (2007). "Caribs, Maroons, Jacobins, Brigands, and Sugar Barons: The Last Stand of the Black Caribs on St. Vincent"], ''African Diaspora Archaeology Network'', March 2007, retrieved 26 April 2007</ref><ref>Figueredo, D. H. (2008). ''A Brief History of the Caribbean''. Infobase Publishing. p.&nbsp;9. {{ISBN|978-1438108315}}</ref><ref>Deagan, Kathleen A. (2008). ''Columbus's Outpost Among the Taínos: Spain and America at La Isabela, 1493–1498''. Yale University Press. p.&nbsp;32. {{ISBN|978-0300133899}}.</ref>

===17th century===
The French missionary [[Raymond Breton]] arrived in the Lesser Antilles in 1635, and lived in [[Guadeloupe]] and [[Dominica]] until 1653. He took ethnographic and linguistic notes on the native peoples of these islands, including [[Saint Vincent (Antilles)|St. Vincent]], which he visited briefly.<ref name="Sweeney" />

In 1635 the Carib were overwhelmed by French forces led by the adventurer [[Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc]] and his nephew [[Jacques Dyel du Parquet]]. [[Cardinal Richelieu]] of France gave the island to the [[Compagnie de Saint-Christophe]], in which he was a shareholder. Later the company was reorganized as the [[Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique]]. The French colonists imposed [[French Law]] on the inhabitants, and [[Jesuit]] missionaries arrived to convert them to the [[Catholic Church]].<ref>[http://www.martinique.pref.gouv.fr/pages/histoireinstitang.html "Institutional History of Martinique"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100325234539/http://www.martinique.pref.gouv.fr/pages/histoireinstitang.html |date=25 March 2010 }}, Martinique Official site, French Government (translation by Maryanne Dassonville). Retrieved 26 April 2007</ref>

Because the [[Kalinago|Carib people]] resisted working as laborers to build and maintain the sugar and [[Theobroma cacao|cocoa]] plantations which the French began to develop in the Caribbean, in 1636, [[Louis XIII]] proclaimed ''[[La Traité des Noirs]]''. This authorized the capture and purchase of [[Slavery|enslaved people]] from sub-Saharan Africa and their transportation as labor to [[Martinique]] and other parts of the [[French West Indies]].<ref name="Sweeney"/>

In 1650, the company liquidated, selling Martinique to [[Jacques Dyel du Parquet]], who became governor. He held this position until his death in 1658. His widow Mme. du Parquet took over control of the island from France. As more French colonists arrived, they were attracted to the fertile area known as ''Cabesterre'' (leeward side). The French had pushed the remaining Carib people to this northeastern coast and the Caravalle Peninsula, but the colonists wanted the additional land. The [[Jesuits]] and the [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]] agreed that whichever order arrived there first, would get all future parishes in that part of the island. The Jesuits came by sea and the Dominicans by land, with the Dominicans ultimately prevailing.

When the Carib revolted against French rule in 1660, Governor [[Charles Houël du Petit Pré]] retaliated with war against them. Many were killed; those who survived were taken captive and expelled from the island. On Martinique, the French colonists signed a peace treaty with the few remaining Carib. Some Carib had fled to Dominica and Saint Vincent, where the French agreed to leave them at peace.

====William Young's Report on St. Vincent====

After the arrival of the English to St. Vincent in 1667, English officer John Scott wrote a report for the English Crown noting that St. Vincent was populated by Caribs and a small number of Africans from shipwrecked Spanish vessels. Later, in 1795, the British governor of St. Vincent, [[Sir William Young, 1st Baronet|William Young]], noted in his report to the British Crown that the island had populations of Africans who arrived after the wreck of two Spanish slave ships near St. Vincent in 1635. These ships were bound for the [[West Indies]] ([[Bahamas]] and [[Antilles]]).<ref>Young, William. ''An Account of the Black Charaibs in the Island of St. Vincent's''. London: 1795. Available at: [https://archive.org/details/accountofblackch00youn Archive.org]</ref>

According to Young's report, the Africans aboard the shipwrecked vessels, largely from the [[Ibibio people|Ibibio]] ethnic group of modern-day [[Nigeria]], survived the wreck and reached the island, living independently. Contrary to some historical accounts, these Africans were never enslaved and were not captured by the Caribs. Instead, they formed independent communities that gradually integrated with Indigenous peoples of the island. Over time, these Afro-Indigenous communities developed into the Garifuna people, a distinct cultural group with a unique language, traditions, and identity.<ref>[http://www.garifunaresearch.com/page21.html Garifuna Research]</ref><ref>[https://www.hostalgarifuna.net/index.php/en/live-garifuna-culture/traditional-way-of-life/garifuna-history Hostal Garífuna]</ref><ref>[https://amandala.com.bz/news/garifuna-and-slavery/ Amandala News]</ref><ref name="garifunaresearch">[http://www.garifunaresearch.com/page21.html Garifuna reach: Historia de los garífunas]. Posted by Itarala.</ref>

====Modern historiography====
[[File:Black Caribs-family-St.-Vincent by Augustino Brunias.jpg|thumb|Black Carib family in Saint Vincent]]
Several modern researchers have rejected the theory espoused by Young. According to them, most of the enslaved people who arrived in Saint Vincent actually came from other Caribbean islands, and had settled in Saint Vincent in order to escape slavery, therefore Maroons came from plantations on nearby islands.<ref>"Escala de intensidad de los africanos en el Nuevo Mundo", p. 136.</ref> Although most of the enslaved people came from [[Barbados]]<ref name="garifunaresearch"/> (most of the enslaved people of this island were from present-day [[Nigeria]] and [[Ghana]]), but they also came from places such as [[St. Lucia]] (where enslaved people likely came from what is now [[Senegal]], Nigeria, [[Angola]]) and [[Grenada]] (where there were many enslaved people from [[Guinea (region)|Guinea]], [[Sierra Leone]], Nigeria, Angola, [[Kingdom of Kongo|Kongo]] and Ghana). The Bajans and Saint Lucians arrived on the island before 1735. Later, after 1775, most of the enslaved people who arrived from other islands were Saint Lucians and Grenadians.<ref name="seaworthy">[http://www.seaworthy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=449&Itemid=486 A Brief History of St. Vincent] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404104206/http://www.seaworthy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=449&Itemid=486 |date=2013-04-04 }}</ref> After arriving on the island, they were taken in by the Caribs, who offered them protection,<ref name="Marshall">{{cite journal|last=Marshall|first=Bernard|title=The Black Caribs – Native Resistance to British Penetration Into the Windward Side of St. Vincent 1763-1773|journal=Caribbean Quarterly|jstor=23050239|issue=4|date=December 1973|volume=19|pages=4–19|doi=10.1080/00086495.1973.11829167}}</ref> assisted them<ref>Charles Gullick, Myths of a minority, Assen: Van Gorcum, 1985.</ref> and, eventually mixed with them.

In addition to the African refugees, the Caribs captured enslaved people from neighboring islands (although they also had white people and their fellow Caribs as enslaved people), while they were fighting against the British and the French. Many of the captured enslaved people were integrated into their communities (this also occurred in islands such as Dominica). After the African rebellion against the Caribs, and their escape to the mountains, over time, according  to Itarala{{who|date=April 2024}},{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} Africans would come down from the mountains to have sexual intercourse with Amerindian women - perhaps because most Africans were men - or to search for other kinds of food.<ref name="Marshall"/> The sexual activity did not necessarily lead to marriage. On the other hand, if the Maroons abducted Arauaco-Caribbean women or married them, is another of the contradictions between the French documents and the oral history of the Garinagu. [[Andrade Coelho]] states that "...whatever the case, the Caribs never consented to give their daughters in marriage to blacks"{{dubious|date=April 2024}}.<ref>R. G. de Andrade Coelho, page. 37.</ref> Conversely, [[Sebastian R. Cayetano]] argues that "Africans were married with women Caribs of the islands, giving birth to the Garifuna".<ref>Ibidem, p. 66</ref> According to [[Charles Gullick]] some Caribs mixed peacefully with the Maroons and some not, creating two factions, that of the Black Caribs and that of the Yellow Caribs, who fought on more than one occasion in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.<ref>Charles Gullick, "Ethnic interaction and carib language", page. 4.</ref> According to Itarala{{who|date=April 2024}}, many intermarried between Indigenous and African people, which was that which caused the origin of the Black Caribs.<ref name="Marshall"/>

===18th century===
[[File:Sir William Young Conducting a Treaty with the Black Caribs on the Island of St Vincent, 1773.jpg|thumb|Depiction of the 1773 treaty negotiations between the British and the Black Caribs]]

Britain and France both made conflicting claims on Saint Vincent from the late seventeenth century onward.  French pioneers began informally cultivating plots on the island around 1710. In 1719 the governor of the French colony of [[Martinique]] sent a military force to occupy it, but was repulsed by the Carib inhabitants.  A British attempt in 1723 was likewise repelled.<ref>Young, ''Black Charaibs,'' pp. 12–13.</ref> In 1748, Britain and France agreed to put aside their claims and declared Saint Vincent to be a neutral island, under no European sovereignty.<ref>Young, ''Black Charaibs'', p. 4.</ref> Throughout this period, however, unofficial, mostly French settlement took place on the island, especially on the Leeward side. African escapees continued to reach Saint Vincent, and a mixed-race population developed through unions with the Carib.<ref name="Sweeney"/>

In 1763 by the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]], Britain gained control over Saint Vincent following its [[Great Britain in the Seven Years' War|defeat of France]] in the [[Seven Years' War]], fought in Europe, Asia and North America. It also took over all French territory in North America east of the [[Mississippi River]]. Through the rest of the century, the Carib-African natives mounted a series of Carib Wars, which were encouraged and supported by the French.<ref name="Sweeney"/>

====Carib wars====
[[File:Chatoyer the Chief of the Black Charaibes in St. Vincent with his five Wives., 1796. 03044001 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Joseph Chatoyer]], the chief of the Black Caribs in St. Vincent, in an 1801 engraving.]]

When in 1627 the English began to claim the St. Vincent island, they opposed the French settlements (which had started around 1610 by cultivating plots) and its partnerships with the Caribs. In 1763 by the Treaty of Paris, Britain gained control over Saint Vincent. Over time, tensions began to arise between the Caribs and the Europeans. The governor of the English part of the island, William Young, complained that the Black Caribs had the best land and they had no right to live there. Moreover, the friendship of the French settlers with the Black Caribs, drove them, even though they had also tried to stay with San Vicente, tried to support them in their struggle. All this caused the "War Caribbean". The [[First Carib War]] began in 1769.  Led primarily by Black Carib chieftain [[Joseph Chatoyer]], the Caribs successfully defended the windward side of the island against a military survey expedition in 1769, and rebuffed repeated demands that they sell their land to representatives of the British colonial government.  The effective defense of the Caribs, the British ignorance of the region and London opposition to the war made this be halted.  With military matters at a stalemate, a peace agreement was signed in 1773 that delineated boundaries between British and Carib areas of the island.<ref name="Marshall"/>  The treaty delimited the area inhabited by the Caribs, and demanded repayment of the British and French plantations of runaway enslaved people who took refuge in St. Vincent. This last clause, and the prohibition of trade with neighbouring islands, so little endeared the Caribs. Three years later, the French supported American independence (1776–1783);<ref>David K. Fieldhouse. Los imperios coloniales desde el siglo XVIII (in Spanish: Colonial Empires since the 18th century). Mexico: Siglo XXI, 1984, p. 36.</ref> the Caribs aligned against the British. Apparently, in 1779 the Caribs inspired such terror to the British that surrender to the French was preferable than facing the Caribs in battle.<ref>Rafael Leiva Vivas, p.. 139</ref>

Later, in 1795, the Caribs again rebelled against British control of the island, causing the [[Second Carib War]]. Despite the odds being against them, the Caribs successfully gained control of most of the island except for the immediate area around [[Kingstown]], which was saved from direct assault on several occasions by the timely arrival of British reinforcements. British efforts to penetrate and control the interior and windward areas of the island were repeatedly frustrated by incompetence, disease, and effective Carib defences, which were eventually supplemented by the arrival of some French troops. A major military expedition by General [[Ralph Abercromby]] was eventually successful in defeating the Carib opposition in 1796.

After the war was concluded and the Caribs surrendered, the British authorities decided to deport the Caribs of St. Vincent. This was done to avoid the Caribs causing more slave revolts in St. Vincent. In 1797, the Caribs with African features were chosen to be deported as they were considered the cause of the revolt, and originally exported to Jamaica, and then they were transported to the island of [[Roatan]] in [[Honduras]]. Meanwhile, the Black Caribs with higher Amerindian traits were allowed to remain on the island. More than 5,000 Black Caribs were deported, but when the deportees landed on Roatan on April 12, 1797, only about 2,500 had survived the trip to the islands. After settling in the Honduras, they expanded along the Caribbean coast of Central America, coming to [[Belize]] and [[Guatemala]] to the north, and the south to [[Nicaragua]]. Over time, the Black Caribs would denominate in the mainland of Central America as "Garifuna".<ref name="garifunaresearch"/>

===19th century===

Large-scale sugar production and chattel slavery were not established on Saint Vincent until the British assumed control. As the United Kingdom [[Slavery Abolition Act 1833|abolished slavery in 1833]], it operated it for roughly a generation on the island, creating a legacy different from on other Caribbean islands.<ref name="Sweeney"/>  Elsewhere, slavery had been institutionalized for much longer.

==Language==
{{main|Garifuna language}}
The Garifuna people speak Garifuna<ref name="GL"/> and [[Vincentian Creole]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/country/VC/languages|title=Saint Vincent and the Grenadines|website=Ethnologue.com|access-date=30 August 2017}}</ref>

The Garifuna language is an offshoot of the [[Kalinago language]], and it is spoken in Honduras, Belize, [[Guatemala]], and [[Nicaragua]] by the Garifuna people. It is an Arawakan language with French, English, Dutch, African, and Spanish influences, reflecting their long interaction with various colonial peoples.<ref name="GL">{{Cite news|title=Garífuna language|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Garifuna-language|access-date=2021-07-04|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> Garifuna has a vocabulary featuring some terms used by women and others used primarily by men. This may derive from historical Carib practices: in the colonial era, the Carib of both sexes spoke Island Carib. Men additionally used a distinct [[pidgin]] based on the unrelated [[Carib language]] of the mainland.

Almost all Garinagu are [[bilingual]] or [[multilingual]]. They generally speak the official languages of the countries they reside in, such as Spanish or English, most commonly as a [[first language]]. Many also speak Garifuna, mostly as a cultural language, as a part of their families' heritage.

==Demographics==
{{expand section|date=September 2021}}

In 2011, Garifuna organisations in the United States estimated that the Garifuna population consisted of roughly 400,000 people, mostly living in Honduras and the United States.<ref name="Afrodescendencia"/>

===Saint Vincent===
In 1805, the remaining Garifuna in Morne Ronde on [[Saint Vincent (Antilles)|Saint Vincent]] numbered 16 men, 9 women, and 20 children, although others remained on the island in hiding after the deportations of 1797.<ref name="Crawford"/>{{rp|166}}<ref name="Gullick-1984">{{cite book |title=Current Developments in Anthropological Genetics |volume=3 |series=Black Caribs A Case Study in Biocultural Adaptation |editor1-first=Michael H. |editor1-last=Crawford |publisher=[[Springer-Verlag]] |year=1984 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4613-2649-6 |isbn=978-1-4613-2649-6 |chapter=The changing Vincentian Carib population |first=C. J. M. R. |last=Gullick |pages=37–50|s2cid=46373360 }}</ref> The 1844 census of Saint Vincent listed 273 "Black Caribs".<ref name="Crawford">{{Cite journal |last=Crawford |first=Michael H. |author-link=Michael Crawford (historian) |year=1983 |title=The anthropological genetics of the Black Caribs "Garifuna" of Central America and the Caribbean |journal=[[American Journal of Physical Anthropology]] |language=en |volume=26 |issue=S1 |pages=161–192 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.1330260508|doi-access=free |bibcode=1983AJPA...26S.161C }}</ref>{{rp|166}} The 1960 census listed 1,265 "Black Caribs" in Saint Vincent.<ref name="Crawford"/>{{rp|166}} In 1984, anthropologist Michael Crawford estimated that 1,100–2,000 Garifuna resided in Saint Vincent.<ref name="Crawford-1984">{{cite book |title=Current Developments in Anthropological Genetics |volume=3 |series=Black Caribs A Case Study in Biocultural Adaptation |editor1-first=Michael H. |editor1-last=Crawford |publisher=[[Springer-Verlag]] |year=1984 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4613-2649-6 |isbn=978-1-4613-2649-6 |chapter=Problems and Hypotheses: An Introduction |first=Michael H. |last=Crawford |pages=1–9|s2cid=46373360 }}</ref>{{rp|3}}

===Central America===
By 1981, around 65,000 Garifuna were living in fifty-four fishing villages in Guatemala, Belize, and Nicaragua.<ref name="CrawfordGonzalez1981" />

==Culture==
[[File:Garifuna SanIsidro 1996-05 2.jpg|thumb|Garifuna parade on San Isidro Day, in Livingston (Guatemala)]]

In 2001 [[UNESCO]] proclaimed the language, dance, and music of the Garifuna as a [[Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity]] in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Belize. In 2005 the First Garifuna Summit was held in [[Corn Islands]], Nicaragua, with the participation of the government of other Central American countries.<ref>Sletto, Jacqueline W. "ANCESTRAL TIES THAT BIND." ''America'' 43.1 (1991): 20–28. Print.</ref>

===Music===
{{main|Garifuna music}}
[[File:Garifuna dancers in Dangriga, Belize.jpg|thumb|Traditional Garifuna dancers in [[Dangriga]], Belize]]

In contemporary Belize there has been a resurgence of Garifuna music, popularized by musicians such as Andy Palacio, Mohobub Flores, and Aurelio Martinez.  These musicians have taken many aspects from traditional Garifuna music forms and fused them with more modern sounds.  Described as a mixture of punta rock and paranda, this music is exemplified in Andy Palacio's album ''Watina,'' and in ''[[Umalali|Umalali: The Garifuna Women's Project]]'', both of which were released on the Belizean record label, Stonetree Records. Canadian musician [[Danny Michel]] has also recorded an album, ''Black Birds Are Dancing Over Me'', with a collective of Garifuna musicians.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/2013/07/15/202385726/next-danny-michel-and-the-garifuna-collective "World Cafe Next: Danny Michel And The Garifuna Collective"]. [[NPR]], 15 July 2013.</ref>

Through traditional dance and music, musicians have come together to raise awareness of [[HIV/AIDS]].<ref name=PulitzerCenter-HIV-Garifuna>{{cite news|title=The Forgotten: HIV and the Garifuna of Honduras|url=http://pulitzercenter.org/projects/honduras-garifuna-people-culture-health-developing-world-AIDS-HIV|access-date=19 October 2015|work=[[Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting]]}}</ref>

===Spirituality===
{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2025}}
The majority of Garinagu have been Catholic since the community's historical encounters with the Jesuits, Dominicans, and various Catholic colonial powers (namely the French and Spanish) in the West Indies and Central America.

A complex set of practices exist in their traditional religion for individuals and groups to show respect for their ancestors and Bungiu (God) or Sunti Gabafu (All Powerful). A [[shaman]] known as a ''buyei'' is the head of all Garifuna traditional practices. The spiritual practices of the Garinagu have qualities similar to the voodoo (as the Europeans put it) rituals performed by other tribes of African descent. Mystical practices and participation such as in the [[Dugu ceremony]] and chugu are also widespread among Garifuna.

===Au Bun, Amürü Nu===
'''Au Bun, Amürü Nu''' is a Garinagu communal philosophy and [[Morality|moral principle]] meaning “''I for you, you for me''.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Valentine |first=Jerris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KglrAAAAMAAJ&q=Au+Bun,+Am%C3%BCr%C3%BC+Nu |title=The Garifuna Understanding of Death |date=2002 |publisher=National Garifuna Council of Belize |language=en}}</ref> It embodies the Garinagu worldview of mutual care, reciprocity, and collective responsibility, reflecting the belief that personal and communal well-being are inseparable. More than a simple expression, it represents a foundational ethic within [[Ugulendu]], the traditional Garinagu spiritual system or worldview that integrates ancestral veneration, community solidarity, and balance between the living and the spirit world.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Guarnieri |first=Augusto Pérez |date=2023-12-22 |title=Ugulendu: Drums, Rattles, Songs and Sonophanies of Guatemalan Garifuna Spirituality |url=https://resonancias.uc.cl/uncategorized/ugulendu-tambores-sonajas-cantos-y-sonofanias-de-la-espiritualidad-garifuna-guatemalteca/?lang=en |access-date=2025-11-08 |website=artes.uc.cl/ |language=en-US}}</ref> Within Ugulendu, ancestors (''Gubida'') are believed to guide and sustain the living, and ''Au Bun, Amürü Nu'' extends this principle of interdependence into social life, shaping how the Garinagu relate to one another and to the wider community. Closely related to the Miskito concept [[Pana Pana]] and the Mayangna term Biri Biri, this philosophy situates the Garinagu within a broader Indigenous Caribbean and Central American tradition that values reciprocity, harmony, and the spiritual unity of all existence.

==Society==

==== Socioeconomic context ====

Many Garifuna communities are located in regions that tend to have higher [[Human Development Index]] (HDI) scores relative to surrounding areas within their countries.<ref name="Gonzalez2011">{{cite book |last=González |first=Nancie L. |chapter=The Garifuna of Honduras and Belize |title=Blackness in Latin America and the Caribbean, Volume 2 |editor1-last=Whitten |editor1-first=Norman E. |editor2-last=Torres |editor2-first=Arlene |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-253-21494-2 |pages=297–325}}</ref><ref name="England2006">{{cite book |last=England |first=Sarah |title=Land of the Garifuna: Development and Culture in Belize |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-292-71290-4}}</ref> This is often attributed to the Garifuna's strong social cohesion, cultural capital, and engagement in fishing, tourism, and urban economic activities.<ref name="Gonzalez2011" />

For example, Garifuna settlements in coastal towns of Honduras, Belize, and Guatemala are frequently found in more developed municipalities or urban centers with better access to education, health care, and infrastructure compared to some inland or rural regions predominantly inhabited by other ethnic groups.<ref name="Anderson2009">{{cite book |last=Anderson |first=Mark |title=Black and Indigenous: Garifuna Activism and Consumer Culture in Honduras |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8166-6101-5 |pages=45–78}}</ref>

Despite facing challenges such as poverty and marginalization, Garifuna communities often demonstrate resilience and higher local development through strong cultural identity and transnational networks that facilitate migration, remittances, and investment in local development.<ref name="Brondo2013">{{cite book |last=Brondo |first=Keri Vacanti |title=Land Grab: Green Neoliberalism, Gender, and Garifuna Resistance in Honduras |publisher=University of Arizona Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8165-3021-2 |pages=112–135}}</ref>

==== Gender roles and division of labor ====

Garifuna society is traditionally [[matrilocal residence|matrilocal]] and [[matrifocal]], with residence and inheritance passing primarily through the female line and households organized around mothers, daughters, and sisters.<ref name="Gonzalez1988">{{cite book |last=González |first=Nancie L. |title=Sojourners of the Caribbean: Ethnogenesis and Ethnohistory of the Garifuna |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-252-01453-3 |pages=102–118}}</ref><ref name="Kerns1997">{{cite book |last=Kerns |first=Virginia |title=Women and the Ancestors: Black Carib Kinship and Ritual |edition=2nd |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-252-06665-8 |pages=87–112}}</ref><ref name="Helms1981">{{cite journal |last=Helms |first=Mary W. |title=Black Carib Domestic Organization in Historical Perspective |journal=Ethnology |volume=20 |issue=2 |year=1981 |pages=77–86 |doi=10.2307/3773060 |jstor=3773060 }}</ref>

From the late 19th century until the 1930s, most Garifuna families in Honduras held '''private individual or family land titles''' (baldíos and ejidales granted by the Honduran government). Land was '''not''' legally communal, although extended families often worked plots cooperatively.<ref name="Brondo2013" />

When U.S.-owned banana companies expanded along the north coast (1910s–1930s), they paid '''extremely large cash sums''' — often life-changing amounts that made many Garifuna landowners genuinely wealthy by contemporary standards. Numerous title-holders sold voluntarily and invested the proceeds in urban real estate, businesses, and education abroad.<ref name="England2006" /><ref name="Soluri2005">{{cite book |last=Soluri |first=John |title=Banana Cultures: Agriculture, Consumption, and Environmental Change in Honduras and the United States |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-292-70956-0 |pages=145–148}}</ref><ref name="Euraque2004">{{cite journal |last=Euraque |first=Darío A. |title=The Banana Enclave, Nationalism, and Mestizaje in Honduras, 1910s–1930s |journal=Hispanic American Historical Review |volume=84 |issue=4 |year=2004 |pages=643–680 |doi=10.1215/00182168-84-4-643 |doi-broken-date=19 November 2025 }}</ref>

This early capital accumulation — combined with a cultural emphasis on industriousness, education, entrepreneurship, and transnational labor migration — has allowed many Garifuna families to achieve relatively high socioeconomic mobility. Garifuna are disproportionately represented in skilled construction and architectural trades, nursing, teaching, the merchant marine, and small-business ownership in Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and the United States.<ref name="Griffin2009">{{cite journal |last=Griffin |first=Wendy |title=Garifuna Arts, Activism, and Culture in New York |journal=Journal of American Folklore |volume=122 |issue=486 |year=2009 |pages=395–421 |doi=10.1353/jaf.0.0103}}</ref><ref name="Cunningham2013">{{cite book |last=Cunningham |first=Myrna |title=Los garífunas en Honduras: una lucha por la tierra y la cultura |publisher=Editorial Guaymuras |year=2013 |isbn=978-99926-33-99-9}}</ref><ref name="Thorne2018">{{cite thesis |last=Thorne |first=Eva |title=Garifuna in the City: Race, Space, and Place in New Orleans |type=PhD dissertation |publisher=Tulane University |year=2018}}</ref><ref name="Palacio2015">{{cite book |last=Palacio |first=Joseph O. |title=The Garifuna: A Nation Across Borders |publisher=Cubola Productions |year=2015 |isbn=978-976-8142-86-5}}</ref>

==Genetic studies==

Genetic research on the Garifuna people shows significant regional variation in ancestry proportions. While Garifuna populations generally have predominantly [[Demographics of Africa|African]] ancestry, some communities exhibit markedly higher levels of Indigenous American (Arawak/[[Kalina people|Carib]]) ancestry.

A 1997 study reported average Garifuna ancestry as approximately:
* '''76% African'''
* '''20% Indigenous American'''
* '''4% European'''<ref>{{cite journal |last=Crawford |first=M.H. |year=1997 |title=Biocultural adaptation to disease in the Caribbean: Case study of a migrant population |journal=Journal of Caribbean Studies |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=141–155 |url=http://www2.ku.edu/~lba/courses/articles/Crawford%20Carib.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105001105/http://www2.ku.edu/~lba/courses/articles/Crawford%20Carib.pdf |archive-date=5 November 2012 |access-date=2025-07-08}}</ref>

However, **some Garifuna populations show significantly higher Indigenous ancestry**, especially in communities closer to St. Vincent and parts of Central America:

* In '''Sandy Bay, St. Vincent''', individuals exhibit approximately:
**'''42.2% Indigenous American''', 41.1% African, and 16.7% European**.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Crawford |first=M.H. |year=1983 |title=The anthropological genetics of the Black Caribs (Garifuna) of Central America and the Caribbean |journal=Yearbook of Physical Anthropology |volume=26 |issue=S1 |pages=161–192 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.1330260508|bibcode=1983AJPA...26S.161C }}</ref>

* In '''Livingston, Guatemala''', ancestry estimates suggest:
**'''29% Indigenous American''', 70% African, and 1% European**.<ref>{{cite web |title=Anthropological Genetics of the Black Caribs |date=23 April 2010 |url=https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/handle/1808/6421 |access-date=2025-07-09 |last1=Dyer |first1=Jamie Olivia }}</ref>

* In '''Dangriga, Belize''', the admixture profile is:
76.3% African, 21% Indigenous American, and 2.7% European**.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Crawford |first=M.H. |year=1983 |title=The anthropological genetics of the Black Caribs (Garifuna) of Central America and the Caribbean |journal=Yearbook of Physical Anthropology |volume=26 |issue=S1 |pages=161–192 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.1330260508|bibcode=1983AJPA...26S.161C }}</ref>

Genetic testing of maternal lineages (mtDNA) shows that up to '''46%''' of Garifuna carry Native American haplogroups such as '''A2''' and '''C1''', while paternal (Y-DNA) lineages are mostly of African origin. This supports a pattern of sex-biased admixture, where Indigenous women and African men were the primary ancestors of today's Garifuna population.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gravel |first=S. |year=2013 |title=Reconstructing Native American migrations from whole-genome and whole-exome data |journal=PLOS Genetics |volume=9 |issue=12 |article-number=e1004023 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1004023|doi-access=free |pmid=24385924 |pmc=3873240 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Merriwether |first=D.A. |year=2005 |title=Genetic evidence for the peopling of the Americas |journal=Human Biology |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=107–118 |url=https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol53/iss1/9/}}</ref>

These findings highlight the complex admixture history of the Garifuna people, with Indigenous ancestry particularly elevated in areas with stronger historical ties to Native Caribbean populations.

===African origins===  
According to oral tradition and several scholars, the Garifuna trace their African ancestry to a number of West and Central African ethnic groups. These include the [[Efik people|Efik]] (from present-day Nigeria and Cameroon), [[Igbo people|Igbo]] (Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea), [[Fon people|Fon]] (primarily in Benin and Nigeria), [[Fante people|Fante]] and [[Ashanti people|Ashanti]] (from present-day [[Ghana]]), [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] (in modern Togo, Benin, and Nigeria), and [[Kongo people|Kongo]] (from the regions comprising the [[Republic of the Congo]], [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], and Angola).  

Many of these Africans are believed to have arrived on the island of [[Saint Vincent and the Grenadines|Saint Vincent]] through shipwrecks or as escapees from slavery on neighboring Caribbean islands. Others may have been brought by the [[Island Caribs]] themselves or born free on Saint Vincent. These individuals integrated with the local Indigenous populations, primarily the Island Caribs (Kalinago) and Arawaks, forming a distinct Afro-Indigenous society.  

Belizean anthropologist and Garifuna historian [[Sebastian R. Cayetano]] states that the African ancestors of the Garifuna were ethnically West African, "specifically of the Yoruba, Ibo [Igbo], and Ashanti tribes, in what is now Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, to mention only a few."<ref>Garifuna History, Language, and Culture, p. 32.</ref>  

French-Brazilian sociologist [[Roger Bastide]] noted that the northeastern region of Saint Vincent served as a refuge for free Africans who integrated into Carib society, particularly those of Yoruba, Fon, Fante-Ashanti, and Kongo origins.<ref>Roger Bastide. ''African Civilizations in the New World''. London: Hurst, 1971, p. 77.</ref>  

This African ancestry was primarily introduced through men, while maternal lineages were largely Indigenous, as confirmed by mitochondrial DNA studies showing high frequencies of Native American haplogroups such as A2 and C1.<ref name="esclahon">{{cite book|author=Jesús Muñoz Tábora|title=Instrumentos musicales autóctonos de Honduras (in Spanish: Indigenous musical instruments of Honduras)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ea7BAVqecF4C&q=esclavos+ashantis+en+Honduras&pg=PA47 |year=2003 |publisher=Editorial Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras|page=47|isbn=978-99926-33-06-9}} Second Edition.</ref>  

Historian [[Ruy Galvão de Andrade Coelho]] also observed that African individuals contributing to the formation of the Garifuna population came from Nigeria, the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]], [[Dahomey]], the Congo region, and other areas of West Africa.<ref>Ruy Galvão de Andrade Coelho. [https://books.google.com/books?id=olkpCWGFjr4C&dq=Los+negros+caribes+de+Honduras+libro&pg=PA228 ''Los negros caribes de Honduras''], p. 36.</ref>  

By the early 18th century, the population of Saint Vincent was already predominantly of African descent. Despite extensive cultural and familial blending between Africans and Indigenous Caribs, a distinct Indigenous group referred to by the British as "Red Caribs" continued to live alongside the Afro-Indigenous "Black Caribs" (Garifuna).<ref name="garifunaresearch" />

==Notable people==
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
* [[Alberth Elis]]
* [[Boniek García]]
*[[Carlos Bernárdez]]
* [[Edwin Solano]]
* [[Marvin Avila]]
* [[Dionisia Amaya]]
* [[Theodore Aranda]]
* [[Rosita Baltazar]]
* [[Victor Bernardez]]
* [[Sofía Blanco]]
* [[Joseph Chatoyer]]
* [[Duvalle]]
* [[Osman Chavez]]
* [[Mirtha Colón]]
* [[Teofilo Colon]]
* [[Félix Crisanto]]
* [[Wilmer Crisanto]]
* [[Maynor Figueroa]]
* [[O.T. Genasis]]
* [[Abraham Laboriel]]
* [[Aurelio Martínez]]
* [[Bernard Martínez Valerio]]
* [[Paul Nabor]]
* [[Eugenio Dolmo Flores]]
* [[Tomás Róchez]]
* [[Rakeem Nuñez-Roches]]
* [[Paul Nabor]]
* [[Andy Palacio]]
* [[Joseph Palacio]]
* [[Jerry Palacios]]
* [[Johnny Palacios]]
* [[Wilson Palacios]]
* [[Teodoro Palacios Flores]]
* [[Guillermo Ramírez]]
* [[Thomas Vincent Ramos]]
* [[David Suazo]]
* [[Deiby Flores]]
* [[Édgar Álvarez]]
* [[Henry Figueroa]]
* [[Romell Quioto]]
* [[Jerry Bengtson]]
* [[Jorge Benguché]]
{{div col end}}

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
* [[Black Seminoles]]
* [[British Honduras]]
* [[Dangriga]]
* ''[[Garifuna in Peril]]''
* [[Happy Land fire]]
* [[Lebeha Drumming Center]]
* [[Miskito people]]
* [[Obeah]]
* [[Punta]]
* [[Sambo Creek]]
* [[Zambo]]
*[[Atlantic voyage of the predecessor of Mansa Musa]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*Anderson, Mark. ''When Afro Becomes (like) Indigenous: Garifuna and Afro-Indigenous Politics in Honduras.'' ''Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology'' 12.2 (2007): 384–413. AnthroSource. Web. 20 January 2010.
* {{cite book |author=Breton, Raymond |author-link=Raymond Breton |year=1877 |orig-date=1635 |title=Grammaire caraibe, composée par le p. Raymond Breton, suivie du Catéchisme caraibe |edition=1635 original MS. republication |series=Bibliothèque linguistique américaine, no.&nbsp;3 |location=Paris |publisher=Maisonneuve |oclc=8046575}}
*Chernela, Janet M. ''Symbolic Inaction in Rituals of Gender and Procreation among the Garifuna (Black Caribs) of Honduras.'' ''Ethos'' 19.1 (1991): 52–67. AnthroSource. Web. 13 January 2010.
*Dzizzienyo, Anani, and Suzanne Oboler, eds. ''Neither Enemies Nor Friends: Latinos, Blacks, Afro-Latinos''. 2005.
* Flores, Barbara A.T. (2001) ''Religious education and theological praxis in a context of colonization: Garifuna spirituality as a means of resistance.''  Ph.D. Dissertation, Garrett/Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. {{OCLC|47773227}}
* Franzone, Dorothy (1995) ''A Critical and Cultural Analysis of an African People in the Americas: Africanisms in the Garifuna Culture of Belize''. PhD Thesis, Temple University. UMI Dissertation Services (151–152). {{OCLC|37128913}}
* {{cite book |author=Gonzalez, Nancie L. Solien |year=1988 |title=The Sojourners of the Caribbean: Ethnogenesis and Ethnohistory of the Garifuna |location=Urbana |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |isbn=978-0-252-01453-6 |oclc=15519873}}
* {{cite book |author=Gonzalez, Nancie L. Solien |year=1997 |chapter=The Garifuna of Central America |editor-first=Samuel M. |editor-last=Wilson |others=Organized by the Virgin Islands Humanities Council |title=The Indigenous People of the Caribbean |series=The Ripley P. Bullen series |location=Gainesville |publisher=[[University Press of Florida]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/indigenouspeople00samu/page/197 197–205] |isbn=978-0-8130-1531-6 |oclc=36817335 |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/indigenouspeople00samu/page/197 }}
*Griffin, Wendy. "[http://latinalista.com/columns/globalviews/21st-century-battle-fought-honduras-indigenous-know-history-retain-identity#:~:text=Wendy%20Griffin%20is%20the%20co-author%20of%20the%20book,anthropology%20professor%20for%20the%20UPN%20in%20La%20Ceiba. The 21st Century Battle fought by Honduras Indigenous to know their history and maintain their identity]," ''Honduras Weekly'', reprinted by ''Latina Lista'', November 7, 2013.
*Griffin, Wendy and Comité de Emergencia de Garifuna Honduras. San Pedro Sula: Comité de Emergencia de Garifuna Honduras, 2005.
*Griffith, Marie, and Darbara Dianne Savage, eds. ''Women and Religion in the African Diaspora: Knowledge, Power, and Performance''. 2006.
*Herlihy, Laura Hobson. ''Sexual Magic and Money: Miskitu women's Strategies in Northern Honduras.'' ''Ethnology'' 46.2 (2006): 143–159. Web. 13 January 2010.
*Loveland, Christine A., and Frank O. Loveland, eds. ''Sex Roles and Social Change in Native Lower Central American Societies''.
*[[Irma McClaurin|McClaurin, Irma]]. ''Women of Belize: Gender and Change in Central America''. 1996. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 2000.
* {{cite book |author=Palacio, Myrtle |year=1993 |title=The First Primer on the People Called Garifuna |location=Belize City |publisher=Glessima Research & Services |oclc=30746656}}
* {{cite book |author=Sutherland, Anne |year=1998 |title=The Making of Belize: Globalization in the Margins |location=Westport, CT |publisher=[[Bergin & Garvey]] |isbn=978-0-89789-579-8 |oclc=38024169}}
* {{cite book |author=Taylor, Christopher |year=2012 |title=The Black Carib Wars: Freedom, Survival, and the Making of the Garifuna |location=Jackson, MS |publisher=University Press of Mississippi}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Garifuna}}
* [http://www.garifunaresearchcenter.org Garifuna Heritage Foundation – St Vincent]
* [http://www.garifunaresearch.org Garifuna Research Institute]
* [http://www.garifunaheritagefoundation.org Garifuna Heritage Foundation]
* [http://www.warasadrumschool.com/ Warasa Garifuna Drum School]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20101020123003/http://www.tierramerica.info/nota.php?lang=eng&idnews=2873 "Garífunas Confront Their Own Decline" by Michael Deibert, Inter Press Service, Oct 6, 2008]}}
* [http://www.focuswindows.com/arussell/alistair_russell.pdf  "Examining the impact of changing livelihood strategies upon Garifuna Cultural Identity", Cayos Cochinos, Honduras]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20031008114529/http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/data/2001/09/01/html/ft_20010901.6.html "The Garifuna"] on [[National Geographic Society|NationalGeographic.com]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060207003850/http://www.garifuna.org/ Garifuna.org]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040605010158/http://www.caribe.hn/cumbrecontinentalafro/index.htm ONECA (Organización Negra Centroamericana)]
* [http://visithopkinsvillagebelize.com/ Vacation in Hopkins a Garifuna Community] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220622160900/http://visithopkinsvillagebelize.com/ |date=22 June 2022 }}
* [http://www.cayetano.de Pen Cayetano]
* [http://www.malicayetano.com  "We are free" Mali Cayetano]
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[[Category:Bay Islands Department]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in the Caribbean]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Central America]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Nicaragua]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Honduras]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Belize]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Guatemala]]
[[Category:Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean]]
[[Category:Indigenous peoples of Central America]]
[[Category:Multiracial affairs in the Americas]]
[[Category:People of African descent]]
[[Category:Slavery in the British West Indies]]
[[Category:Central America and the Caribbean]]
[[Category:Creole peoples]]