Cannibal Stories:
The Carib Indian & Human Cannibalism

European myth, not Caribbean reality...

Cannibal stories about the Carib Indian and human cannibalism in the Caribbean are pure myth. According to Dr. Basil Reid - University of the West Indies lecturer, Caribbean historian and archeologists - there is neither physical nor archeological evidence that link Caribbean natives to any form of human cannibalism, ritualistic or otherwise.

 Christopher Columbus Story 

The European myth of cannibalism in the West Indies, and the coining of the word 'Cannibal' from the word 'Carib' began with Christopher Columbus. Yet he never had first hand experience of human cannibalism nor can his second hand accounts be given much weight, but it does seem that he was a convincing storyteller...

When reporting his discoveries, Columbus spoke about Mermaids in the same breath with which he relates his cannibal stories. We now know that the closest thing to a mermaid in the Caribbean is the West Indian Manatee, but it's unlikely Columbus saw one due to their reclusive nature.

 Early Travel Guides 

In his diary Christopher Columbus writes "far from there, there are one-eyed men, and others, with the snouts of dogs, who ate men, and as soon as one is captured they cut his throat and drink his blood."

This sounds more like the fiction Sir Walter Raleigh would later write about the Ewaipanoma tribe in Trinidad, who he wrote, "had eyes on their shoulders, mouths in the middle of their chests, and long hair that ran between their shoulders and down their backs."

 Cultural Misunderstanding 

It seems that Europeans of that time were superstitious and predisposed to believe tall tales no matter how unlikely. And we must remember that early communications took place between 2 vastly different cultures in 2 different languages.

Misunderstandings during first contact were common. When the first European explorers asked natives from Americas far north what country this was... the reply, "Come to my village", lead to the word Canada - meaning village - being misapplied as the name of an entire country.

 More Cannibal Stories 

It turns out that the "Caribes" were fictional beings, creatures of island native mythology, which Christopher Columbus must have misinterpreted to mean an actual tribe from other Caribbean islands.

The rather unfortunate concept of a bloodthirsty Carib Indian not only colored future contacts, but cannibal stories made excellent political propaganda to support the enslavement of thousands of natives by the Conquistadors. Human cannibalism was sinful and therefore abhorrent to Isabella, their queen and benefactor, therefore all Caribs, or anyone labeled as such, deserved enslavement.

You will likely have seen the Pirates of the Caribbean movie, in which Captain Jack Sparrow is pursued by a Carib Indian tribe bent on a good meal. Such cannibal stories while entertaining belong in works of fiction and Disney movies. Unfortunately however, they are misleading and continue to perpetuate the fabricated European myth of human cannibalism in the Caribbean.