The Caribbean Islands were first visited by Christopher Columbus in 1492. He found two indigenous tribes living there, the Caribs and the Arawaks. As you can imagine, the Caribbean was named after the Carib tribe. Although both tribes had their perspective skills, they were already engaged in war when he arrived. After not finding gold and other riches, Columbus brought back missionaries, builders and farmers to the islands to convert the natives. Things didn't go quite as planned and war with the natives nearly wiped the tribes out. Other countries soon followed, so along with Spanish influence you will find British, French and Dutch contributions in the food, culture, language and currency when you decide to include the Caribbean in your family vacation ideas.
One of the most colorful occupations to come out of the Caribbean is that of the buccaneers. The term comes from one of the languages of the Caribbean called Arawak. The word buccan is a wooden frame for smoking sea cows that the French turned into boucanier for French hunters who used the wooden frames for smoking the meat of feral cattle and pigs on the island of Hispaniola, which is now Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The British then took boucanier and changed it to buccaneer.
In about 1630, some of these French buccaneers were driven out of Hispaniola and fled to Tortuga, the very same as that in Pirates of the Caribbean. The Spaniards then tried to force them out of Tortuga but the buccaneers had been joined by other French, Dutch and English and instead of leaving, formed the first group of pirates or privateers as they liked to call themselves. These groups used small craft to attack Spanish galleons and soon became strong enough to sack mainland cities. It is not likely that you will come across any buccaneers at your Bahamas vacation rentals but the history of it can allow your imagination to run wild.
One scheme you won't have to imagine is that the English supported these buccaneers by legalizing their operation as licensed buccaneers. This was London's way of waging a low budget war on Spain. This philosophy did have some impact. Although the entire Caribbean was claimed by Spain the buccaneers helped to end this domination and other European countries moved in and claimed various islands. As you may guess once Spain was out of the picture, the buccaneers attacked others and were less tolerated. Due to this change in political environment, the demise of the pirates led to a safer shipping area.
The various colonies used these shipping lanes mainly for shipping sugar. Today you will find much more than sugar shipped along these lanes. One of the top incomes for the islands derives from bringing people in via boat or plane for wonderful Caribbean vacations on one many of the wonderful islands set in this fantastic wonderland with a colorful history.
If you are looking for something fun and interesting to add to your family vacation ideas then you may think of a vacation from your Bahamas vacation rentals that includes looking at old forts and buccaneer strongholds. You will find some fabulous Caribbean vacations at SuperClubs.com.
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