Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2025
Publication Title
Middle Atlantic Review of Latin American Studies
Abstract
Existing archaeological studies have suggested an extensive network of ongoing human travel operated between the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the Lesser Antilles before and at the time of European contact in 1492. Additional evidence prompts some scholars to propose expanded contact of these areas with Mesoamerica, the rest of Central America, the northern coast of South America, and the Florida peninsula, resulting in an interconnected circum-Caribbean region. A variety of economic, political, and social influences stimulated this desire for sea and ocean movement, including migration, trading, tribute, raiding, and social connectedness. Geographic and oceanographic factors such as distance between islands and favorable winds and currents played a major role in determining the location of crossover routes, while shoreline reefs might help or hinder canoe progress and thus the selection of sea routes.
The purpose of this study is to identify and map a limited group of historically referenced and scholarly suspected routes of travel via canoes, integrating topographic, highest points of natural terrain, and geographic locational realities, nearest points of contact, to provide a sample of preferable Lucayan, Maya, Taíno, and Carib pre-Columbian interisland contact routes and to investigate possible Caribbean island travel sea avenues connecting mainland areas such as Florida, Mesoamerica, and Venezuela. The cartographic analysis of a select number of maps showing the distance along recommended interisland routes highlights the limited approach of this study, with topography features and ensuing horizon limits, distances to the highest island elevations, supporting or restricting designated routes, and recommended journey times.
Recommended Citation
Rocca, Al M., "Mapping Horizon Limits Using Topographical Reference Points for Determining Pre-Columbian Circum-Caribbean Indigenous Interisland Contact Routes" (2025). SSGS Faculty Publications and Presentations. 37.
https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/sbgs_fac/37
Comments
Published in Middle Atlantic Review of Latin American Studies by Middle Atlantic Council of Latin American Studies (MACLAS) and the Hispanic Leadership Center (CRECE) at Kean University. Available via doi: 10.23870/marlas.487.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.