Caribe

The Caribe peoples are spread across northern South America from the mouth of the Amazon to the Colombian Andes. Most of them are small peoples, such as the Pemon and Yukpa.

The best known are the Kalinago, or Island Caribs, of the Lesser Antilles, who may have been related to the mainland Caribs. When the Spaniards arrived they were one of the dominant peoples of the Caribbean, and held the Windward Islands, Dominica and Guadeloupe. They had a reputation as warriors who raided neighboring islands. Columbus recorded the name Caribe in the 1490s, and the sea took its name from it.