Black Caribs (Garifuna) of Central America

Abstract

Abstract The Black Caribs (Garifuna) are part of an evolutionary success story. They arose on St. Vincent Island as an amalgam of Native Americans from the Orinoco River Basin of South America and west African slaves. British forcibly transplanted the Garifuna first to Ballicaux Island (small island south of St. Vincent) and then to the Bay Islands close to Honduras. From the Bay Islands the Garifuna relocated to Honduras and because of high fertility and availability of resources, the population expanded rapidly and formed 54 villages spread geographically from Belize to Nicaragua. Initially, blood group data were initially collected for Livingston, Guatemala, and St. Vincent Island. Later studies in Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and Bay Islands included DNA markers—mitochondrial DNA, nonrecombining Y-chromosome, and autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms and short tandem repeats. Genetic ancestry, admixture, and population structure were reconstructed for the Garifuna populations.