Are you sure you want to reset the form?
Your mail has been sent successfully
Are you sure you want to remove the alert?
Your session is about to expire! You will be signed out in
Do you wish to stay signed in?
5000 BC Amerindians from South America settle in Trinidad
4000 BC Amerindians from Central America settle in Cuba
2500 BC Amerindians from Orinoco basin settle in eastern and western Caribbean
600 Development of Taino society in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico
1100 Development of more sophisticated Taino societies, characterized by chiefdoms rather than along tribal lines.
1492 Columbus lands in the Bahamas
1493 Columbus’ second voyage – establishes Spanish colony, Hispaniola
1498 Columbus’s third voyage
1502 Nicolás de Ovando sent to Hispaniola to rescue the colony
1504 Ovando destroys Taino leadership
1511 Antonio do Montesinos preaches sermon against the treatment of the Amerindians
1515 Spanish introduce sugar cultivation to Hispaniola
1516 Las Casas appointed Protector of the Indians
1562 John Hawkins successfully trades African slaves in Hispaniola
1585 Francis Drake sacks Santo Domingo, the capital of Hispaniola
1624 English and French settle St. Kitts
1627 English settle Barbados
1635 French settle Guadeloupe and Martinique
1640-50 Development of sugar cultivation in Barbados
1655 English capture Jamaica from the Spanish
1664 French establish the French Company of the West Indies to supply slaves to her Caribbean colonies
1672 Royal Africa Company chartered to supply slaves to the English colonies in the Caribbean
1674 Establishment of first Jamaica Coffee House in London
1692 Port Royal, Jamaica destroyed by earthquake
1697 France acquires Saint Domingue from the Spanish
1733-34 Rebellion in St. John, Danish Virgin Islands
1736 Outbreak of slave conspiracy/revolt in Antigua
1739 Treaty between the Jamaican Maroons and the British
1750 Thomas Thistlewood arrives in Jamaica and keeps important diary
1760 Outbreak of Tacky’s Revolt in Jamaica
1761 Jamaica passes law making it illegal for whites to leave property worth more than £1200 to any free person of colour
1768 Danish pass law obliging free coloureds to wear a cockade or badge at all times
1783 First Quaker petition to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire
1787 Establishment of the Abolition Society in Britain
1789 Outbreak of the French Revolution
1790 Meeting of the Colonial Assembly in Saint Domingue
1791 Outbreak of slave revolt in Saint Domingue
1792 French National Assembly grants full civil rights to the free people of colour
1794 French National Assembly abolishes slavery
1795 Outbreak of Fédon’s Rebellion in Grenada and the Second Maroon War in Jamaica
1796 Toussaint L’Ouverture made Deputy Governor of Saint Domingue
1800 Tousssaint becomes Governor of Saint Domingue
1802 Napoleon reimposes slavery in all French colonies
1804 Saint Domingue becomes independent and is renamed Haiti
1808 Britain and the United States abolish the slave trade
1812 Outbreak of the Aponte conspiracy in Cuba
1816 Outbreak of “Bussa’s Rebellion” in Barbados
1823 Outbreak of slave rebellion in Demerara and establishment of the Anti-Slavery Society in Britain
1831 Outbreak of the Christmas Rebellion in Jamaica led by Sam Sharpe and establishment of the Agency Committee seeking immediate emancipation in the British colonies
1833 Free coloureds and free blacks attain full civil rights in the British colonies
1834 Abolition of slavery and beginning of Apprenticeship System in the Anglophone Caribbean (except for Antigua)
1838 Ending of Apprenticeship System in the Anglophone Caribbean
1844 Conspiracy of La Escalera breaks out in Cuba; Outbreak of the Guerre Nègre in Dominica
1848 Uprising of the enslaved in St. Croix, Danish Virgin Islands
1848 Abolition of slavery in French and Danish West Indian colonies
1862 Riots in St. Vincent
1863 Abolition of slavery in the Dutch West Indian colonies
1865 Outbreak of Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica
1866 Establishment of Crown Colony Government in Jamaica; subsequently, in most of the Anglophone Caribbean
1868-78 Outbreak of Ten Years’ War in Cuba
1873 Slavery abolished in Puerto Rico
1876 Outbreak of riot in Tobago and Confederation Riots in Barbados
1880 Establishment of the patronato system in Cuba
1886 Abolition of slavery in Cuba
1887 Marcus Garvey born in Jamaica
1895-98 Second Cuban War of Independence – death of José Marti
1889 J.J. Thomas publishes Froudacity
1902 Passage of the Platt Amendment in the United States limiting Cuban sovereignty; Establishment of Cuban Republic; Volcanic eruption of Mt. Pelée in Martinique kills 30,000 people; Riots in Montego Bay, Jamaica
1905 Riots in British Guiana
1906 U.S. intervenes in Cuba
1912 Massacre of blacks in Cuba1914 Garvey establishes United Negro Improvement Association
1915 U.S. occupies Haiti
1916 U.S. occupies Dominican Republic
1917 U.S. purchases Danish Virgin Islands from Denmark
1923 Arthur Cipriani becomes president of the Trinidad Workingmen’s Association
1927 Garvey returns to Jamaica from the United States
1930 Crowning of Ras Tafari in Ethiopia and subsequent development of the Rastafarians in Jamaica
1933 Revolutionary government of Grau San Martín in Cuba
1934 Labour rebellions in Belize following by strikes and riots across the Anglophone Caribbean; U.S. abrogates Platt Amendment
1935 Riots in St. Vincent and St. Lucia
1937 Massacre of 20,000 Haitians in the Dominican Republic; Labour rebellions in Barbados and Trinidad
1938 Labour rebellion in Jamaica
1939 Aimé Césaire publishes Cahier d’un Retour au Pays Natal (Notebook of a Return to my Native Land)
1940 Death of Marcus Garvey in London
1944 First elections in Jamaica with universal suffrage
1945 Aimé Césaire elected mayor of Fort de France
1946 Universal adult suffrage in Trinidad; Guadeloupe, French Guiana and Martinique become overseas departments of France
1948 Arrival of the Empire Windrush with the first West Indian immigrants to Britain; Luis Muñoz Marin elected Governor of Puerto Rico
1951 Universal adult suffrage in Barbados
1952 Fulgencio Batista leads coup in Cuba; Puerto Rico becomes a Commonwealth
1953 First elections with universal suffrage in British Guiana; Castro unsuccessfully attacks Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba; Victory of Cheddi Jagan in British Guiana in 1953
1957 François Duvalier elected president of Haiti
1958 Establishment of West India Federation (dissolved in 1962)
1959 Fidel Castro topples Batista and takes over in Cuba
1961 Assassination of Trujillo in the Dominican Republic; Failure of invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs
1962 Independence for Jamaica; Trinidad and Tobago; Cuban missile crisis
1965 U.S. invades the Dominican Republic
1966 Independence for Barbados and Guyana
1968 Rodney Riots in Kingston, Jamaica
1970 Black Power demonstrations – also called the “February Revolution” - in Port of Spain, Trinidad
1970s Emergence of Bob Marley
1970s-80s Independence for many former British colonies, including Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts- Nevis, St. Vincent, Antigua and Belize
1972 Michael Manley elected Prime Minister of Jamaica
1973 Establishment of Caribbean Comon Market and Community (CARICOM)
1975 Suriname becomes independent
1979 Establishment of Revolutionary Government of Grenada under Maurice Bishop
1980 Assassination of Walter Rodney in Guyana
1983 Assassination of Maurice Bishop and invasion of Grenada by U.S.
1988 Hurricane Gilbert devastates Jamaica and much of the Caribbean
1989 Collapse of Soviet Union and of Soviet support for Cuba
1990 Jean Bertrand Aristide becomes president of Haiti; Attempted coup by Jammat al-Muslimeen led by Abu Bakr in Port of Spain, Trinidad; Publication of Derek Walcott, Omeros
1992 Patrick Chamoiseau publishes Texaco
1997 Eruption of Mt. Soufrière in Montserrat making two-thirds of the island uninhabitable
2004 Hurricane Ivan devastates Grenada
2008 Resignation of Fidel Castro and replacement by his brother Raúl
2010 Massive earthquake devastates Haiti and kills over 200,000 people
2013 CARICOM takes up claim for reparations for slavery and the slave trade
2015 US reopens relations with Cuba
2016 Death of Fidel Castro
2017 Usain Bolt retires; Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastate the Caribbean