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Margarita Island, Exporter of People

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

C. S. Alexander
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Margarita Island, Venezuela, located at the southeastern corner of the Caribbean, has been exporting people to mainland Venezuela for over 450 years (Fig. 1). However, over the years the reasons for the migration and the character of the migrants have changed. Within a few years of the island's discovery in 1498, some of the aboriginal inhabitants, the Guayquerí Indians, moved to the mainland. Perhaps this was the result of a falling out with the Spaniards. Others became loyal allies of the Spaniards and accompanied them as auxiliary troops in the Spanish invasions of the mainland. About 1550, some Guayquerí began to move from Margarita into areas along the Paria-Cumaná coast which, as the result of Spanish invasions and slave raids, had lost much of their native Indian population. Eventually, the Guayquerí remaining on the island were almost entirely absorbed into the mestizo population of Margarita. The islanders — Margariteños now — continued migrating to the mainland.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Inter-American Studies , Volume 3 , Issue 4 , October 1961 , pp. 549 - 557
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1961

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