Caribs or Canibs?

THE West Indians are called Caribbeans after the Carib American Indians who lived on many islands, in what we now call West Indies. Their name was also given to the adjoining sea that came to be known as the Caribbean Sea.

Today, the term Caribbean is used to designate a linguistic group that includes not only the language of the Caribs but also many related American Indian languages spoken in South America.

Caribs were American Indian people who inhabited the islands and parts of the neighbouring South American coast at the time of the Spanish conquest. Strangely only the men spoke the Carib language; women spoke Arawak, the language of Arawak American Indians, who also lived in the same region.

The term Cannibalism is also derived from the Spanish name (Caribales, or Canibales) for the Caribs.

G. V. JOSHI

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