The Garifuna, (singular Garifuna) are a mix of African, Arawak, and Carib ancestry. When the British took over Saint Vincent after the Treaty of Paris in 1763, they were opposed by French settlers and their Carib allies. The Carib eventually surrendered to the British in 1796. The British separated the more African-looking Caribs from the more indigenous looking ones. Five thousand Black Caribs were exiled, but only about 2,500 of them survived the voyage to Roat¡¡ì¢n, an island off the coast of Honduras. Because the island was too small and infertile to support their population, the Garifuna petitioned the Spanish authorities to be allowed to settle on the mainland. The Spanish employed them as soldiers, and they spread along the Caribbean coast of Central America. They settled in southern Belize by way of Honduras in the early 1800s. In Belize, November 19, 1832 is the date officially recognized as "Garifuna Settlement Day"
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