Kalinago Genocide of 1626

The Kalinago Genocide of 1626 was the genocidal massacre of some 2,000 Kalinago people by English and French colonizers.

Event

Kalinago leader Tegremond became uneasy with the increasing number of English and French settlers occupying St. Kitts. This led to more confrontations, which compelled him to plot the settlers' elimination with other indigenous peoples. His scheme was betrayed by a woman called Barbe to Thomas Warner and Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc. Taking action, the English and French settlers invited the Kalinago to a party where they became intoxicated. When the Kalinago returned to their village, 120 were killed in their sleep, including Tegremond. The following day, thousands more Kalinago were forced into the area of Bloody Point and Bloody River, where historian Vincent K. Hubbard estimates 2000 were massacred after they attempted to surrender.[1] An early account of the slaughter by Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre describes "piles of bodies".[2] 100 settlers were also killed. One Frenchman went mad after being struck by a manchineel-poisoned arrow. The remaining Kalinago fled, but by 1640, those not already enslaved were removed to Dominica.[2][1]

References
  1. Hubbard, Vincent (2002). A History of St. Kitts. Macmillan Caribbean. pp. 17–18. ISBN 9780333747605.
  2. Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre, Histoire Generale des Antilles..., 2 vols. Paris: Jolly, 1667, I:5-6

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