Exoticism, Exchange, and Early Indigenous-Colonial Relations in the 15th to 16th Century Caribbean

Abstract

The initial interactions between Indigenous groups and European colonists across the Caribbean were largely shaped by pre-existingsociocultural conditions. The central importance of exchange for social construction and the concomitantly high value placed upon foreign material was common to many Native societies. This played in contrast to European understandings of exchange, which was far more focused on economic gain and competitive bargaining. The role assigned to exchange and the foreign in Indigenous and European societies guided their perceptions of each other and respective goals in interaction. Native systems were well entrenched throughout the regional networks of trade and culture in the Caribbean, and so colonists entered into a world fundamentally defined by such systems. European imperial views permitted them to exploit these systems, twist- ing Indigenous exaltation of intercultural trade into a tool for attempted oppres- sion, subversion, and assimilation. Nevertheless, colonists were unable to under- mine core structures, even if they appropriated them for the creation of new hierar- chies and dehumanization of Natives. These structures prevailed even as coloniza- tion grew more pervasive and degenerative.