Caribbean History Timeline
200s - 1300s
- Most of the Caribbean inhabited by Carib, Taino, and Arawak Indians
1400s
- (1492 - 1493) Christopher Columbus made his first voyage to the New World
1500s
- (1500s) The Spanish Empire claimed the entire Caribbean and most of Latin America. Hispanola, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica, and Trinidad were settled.
- (1522) Taino Indian leader, Enriquillo, led a successful rebellion again the Spanish granting his people freedoms and rights
- (1524) The Council of the Indies was created by the Spanish as a governing body over Caribbean and Latin American territories
- (1590s) English privateer, Sir Francis Drake, waged war on Spanish ships and ports
1600s
- (1600s) British, French and Dutch forces seized Caribbean territories from failing Spanish Empire. Illegal "piracy" and legal "privateering" began throughout the Caribbean
- (1612) British colonized Bermuda
- (1623) British colonized St. Kitts
- (1627 - 1635) British colonized Barbados, Nevis, Antigua, Montserrat, Anguilla, Tortola and Windward Islands
- (1635) French contested colonization of St. Kitts. French colonized Guadeloupe and Martinique
- (1650 - 1730) The Golden Age of Piracy began in the Caribbean
- (1655) English conquered Jamaica
- (1650 - 1680) Dutch colonized Saba, St. Eustatius, Saint Martin, Curacao, Bonaire, Aruba, Tobago, St. Croix, Tortola, Anegada, Virgin Gorda, Anguilla, and the U.S. Virgin Islands
- (1664 - 1674) St. Eustatius changed hands ten times in British - Dutch disputes over the island
- (1697) Spain ceded Haiti to France. France controlled Tortuga
1700s
- (1700 - 1750s) Caribbean colonies prospered in sugar, tobacco, and rice farming. Trade between colonies and nations prevalent
- (1750s) Turks and Caicos captured by the British
- (1761 - 1778) British captured Dominica from France
- (1763) Britain captured Havana during the Seven Years War. Britain traded that one city for a large area of land in Florida, including St. Augustine.
- (1778 - 1783) French forces recaptured Dominica
- (1762 - 1783) British and French forces contested Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- (1775 - 1783) French Caribbean naval victories over the British aided revolutionary war efforts for the Americans. American Revolutionary War weakened British power.
- (1791) A slave rebellion against French forces, dubbed the Haitian Revolution, established Haiti as the world's oldest free, black republic. It was also the second oldest republic in the western hemisphere
1800s
- (1821) Haitian forces conquered the rest of Hispanola
- (1825) France recognized Haiti as a free nation
- (1834) Slavery was abolished in the British Empire and in all of their Caribbean colonies
- (1844) Dominican Republic declared its independence from Haiti
- (1863) Dutch empire abolished slavery in its Caribbean colonies
- (1896) Captain-General Valeriano Weyler forced peasants into concentration camps
1900s
- (1906) Cuba placed under U.S. occupation
- (1915 - 1934) U.S. occupied Haiti
- (1916 - 1924) U.S. occupied Dominican Republic
- (1917) Danes sold U.S. Virgin Islands to the U.S. for $25 million
- (1940) General Batista elected Cuba's president
- (1953) Fidel Castro led a revolution against General Batista in Cuba
- (1958 - 1962) The Federation of the West Indies was created - included many Caribbean colonies
- (1962) Dissolution of the Federation of the West Indies inspired Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago to declare independence
- (1962) U-2 spy plane discovered evidence of Russian nuclear missiles in Cuba. Cuban Missile Crisis ensued. Russians eventually dismantled Cuban missile bases
- (1966) Barbados declared their independence from Britain
- (1971) "Baby Doc" Jean-Claude Duvalier succeeded his father as head of Haiti
- (1973) The Bahamas declared independence from Britain
- (1974) Grenada declared independence from Britain
- (1986) "Baby-Doc" and wife fled Haiti under protests over corruption
2000s
- (2004) Excessive rain caused flooding in Haiti - claimed 3300 lives
- (2008) Fidel Castro resigned as President of Cuba. Raul Castro became new president
- (2008) Hurricanes killed 800 people in Haiti during a strong hurricane season
- (2010) A magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti, an estimated 316,000 people died. Over 1,000,000 people made homeless
- (2010) Deepwater Horizon oil well exploded, leaked hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Threatened Caribbean marine life and beaches
- (2011) Rumors continued to suggest that Fidel Castro stepped down as head of the Cuban Communist Party
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Countries & Territories Of The Caribbean
- Anegada (UK) |
- Anguilla (UK) |
- Antigua & Barbuda |
- Aruba (Neth) |
- Bahamas |
- Barbados |
- Bonaire (Neth) |
- Cancun (MX) |
- Cayman Islands (UK) |
- Cozumel (MX) |
- Cuba |
- Curacao (Neth) |
- Dominica |
- Dominican Republic |
- Grenada |
- Guadeloupe (France) |
- Haiti |
- Isla Mujeres (MX) |
- Isla de Providencia (Col) |
- Jamaica |
- Jost Van Dyke (UK) |
- Martinique (France) |
- Montserrat (UK) |
- Netherlands Antilles (Neth) |
- Puerto Rico (US) |
- Saba (Neth) |
- St. Barts (France) |
- St. Croix (US) |
- St. Eustatius (Neth) |
- St. John (US) |
- St. Kitts & Nevis |
- St. Lucia |
- St. Martin/Sint Maarten (Neth) (France) |
- St. Thomas (US) |
- St. Vincent & Grenadines |
- San Andres (Col) |
- Tortola (UK) |
- Trinidad & Tobago |
- Turks & Caicos (UK) |
- Virgin Islands (British) |
- Virgin Islands (U.S.) |
This page was last updated on September 19, 2016.