Afro-Vincentians

Black Vincentians

Total population
Approx. 68,125
Regions with significant populations
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (Approx. 68,125)
Languages
Vincentian Creole
Religion
Christianity
Related ethnic groups
African people Afro-Barbadian Afro-Saint Lucian Afro-Grenadian

• 
  Ezra Hendrickson
• 
  Adonal Foyle

Afro-Vincentians or Black Vincentians are Vincentians whose ancestry lies within Sub-Saharan Africa (generally West and Central Africa).

History of Afro-Vincentians

Afro-Vincentians are the descendants of Africans who were enslaved and brought to Saint Vincent by European colonizers to work on plantations. This group is distinct from the Garifuna people (also known as Black Caribs), who are an Afro-Indigenous community formed through alliances between escaped African Maroons and the indigenous Kalinago. While Garifunas resisted European colonization and were not part of the plantation slavery system, Afro-Vincentians are specifically the descendants of Africans subjected to plantation slavery under European rule.

Establishment of Plantation Slavery

By the early 18th century, European colonization intensified. French settlers from Martinique gained control of Saint Vincent in 1719 and began cultivating coffee, tobacco, indigo, cotton, and sugar on plantations. These plantations were worked by enslaved Africans brought directly from West and Central Africa, including regions such as Senegambia, Sierra Leone, Windward Coast, Gold Coast, Bight of Benin, Bight of Biafra, and Central Africa. The Bight of Biafra and Gold Coast supplied the majority of enslaved Africans to Saint Vincent.

Following the Treaty of Paris (1763), Britain assumed control of Saint Vincent and expanded the plantation economy. This led to an increased demand for enslaved African labor, cementing the African-descended population as the backbone of the island's plantation system. Unlike the Garifuna, who maintained a degree of autonomy and cultural independence, the ancestors of Afro-Vincentians were held in bondage and subjected to chattel slavery.

Abolition and Post-Emancipation

Slavery in Saint Vincent was abolished in 1834, followed by a period of apprenticeship ending in 1838. Afterward, labor shortages on plantations led to the immigration of indentured servants from India and Madeira. Afro-Vincentians transitioned from being enslaved to becoming a free labor class, contributing significantly to the island's social, cultural, and economic development.

Distinction from the Garifuna

It is important to clarify that Afro-Vincentians are the descendants of enslaved Africans brought to Saint Vincent through the transatlantic slave trade and forced into plantation labor. The Garifuna people, by contrast, are the descendants of Free Africans (Never Enslaved) who integrated with the Kalinago and formed an allied, Afro-Indigenous community that actively resisted European colonization and avoided plantation slavery.

Demography

As of 2013, people of African descent are the majority ethnic group in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, accounting for 66% of the country's population. An additional 19% of the country is multiracial, with many mixed-race Vincentians having partial African descent.

Black Caribs

Main article: Black Carib

The Black Caribs, also known as the Garifuna, are a distinct ethnic group originating from Saint Vincent, now found also along the Caribbean coasts of mainland Central America. They are a mixture of Caribs, Arawaks, and West African people. Their language is primarily derived from Arawak and Carib, with English and French influences to a lesser extent. Several theories have been proposed to explain the arrival of Africans on Saint Vincent and their mixture with the indigenous peoples.

One well-known account, attributed to English governor William Young in 1795, states that the African presence began with the shipwreck of a vessel from the Bight of Biafra in 1675. Survivors, believed to be from the Mokko people (present-day Ibibio people of Nigeria), were brought by the Caribs from the nearby island of Bequia to Saint Vincent, where over time they intermarried with Caribs. According to this oral history, African men were provided Carib wives, as Carib custom frowned upon unmarried men.

Contrary to some earlier beliefs, the Garifuna did not simply intermix peacefully with enslaved Africans on the island. In fact, after tensions rose due to the Caribs’ plan to kill African male children—a plan motivated by fears of losing control—the Africans rebelled against the Caribs. Historical accounts indicate that the Garifuna, led by their generals, decisively defeated the Afro-Vincentian slave-descended population in a violent conflict, killing approximately one-fifth of the African male population on the island. This battle established Garifuna dominance and separated them from the Afro-Vincentian descendants, who were largely distinct groups.

In 1763, following the Treaty of Paris, Britain gained control over Saint Vincent. After a series of conflicts known as the Carib Wars, which were supported by the French, the Garifuna surrendered to the British in 1796 following the death of their leader Satuye (Chatoyer). The British regarded the Garifuna as enemies and forcibly deported them to Roatán, an island off the coast of Honduras. During this deportation, the British separated the Garifuna—whom they identified by their African features—from the more Amerindian-looking Caribs, exiling the former and allowing the latter to remain on the island. Approximately 5,000 Garifuna were exiled, but only around 2,500 survived the journey.

Finding Roatán too small and infertile to support their community, the Garifuna petitioned the Spanish authorities to allow settlement on the mainland. The Spanish accepted, and the Garifuna subsequently spread along the Caribbean coast of Central America, establishing communities in present-day Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.

See also

• Indo-Vincentian