Sherds of History: Ch 2 - From Kakurera to Guadeloupe (original) (raw)

I t was Christopher Columbus who named Guadeloupe when he visited the island during his second trip to the Caribbean in November 1493. Columbus stopped there to replenish his water reserves, and as it turns out freshwater is an important topic in the island's ceramic culture and a fundamental source of the island's allure. The Arawak people who preceded Columbus had already recognized this and called Guadeloupe "Kakukera" (island of beautiful waters), probably in reference to the picturesque waterfalls, cascades, basins, rivers, and hot springs found throughout its lush tropical forest. Guadeloupe proper consists of two islands separated by a narrow saltwater channel, which gives it a butterfly shape. The mountainous western wing, called Basse-Terre, is covered with tropical forest and is home to La Grande Soufrière, the highest volcano of the Lesser Antilles. Some of the beaches in Basse-Terre-especially near the colonial capital, also named Basse-Terreare made of black volcanic sands. Meanwhile, the eastern wing of Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, is a relatively flat limestone plateau with a more arid climate. The limestone has produced some idyllic landscapes of white sand beaches and excellent terrain for sugarcane fields. In its entirety, Guadeloupe is actually a small archipelago; in addition to these two main islands are a number of outlying ones, the largest of which are La Désirade, Marie-Galante, and Îles des Saintes. The last is composed of several islets, two of which are inhabited: Terre-de-Bas and Terre-de-Haut. This cluster is close to Basse-Terre, the geographical focus for this study, and is also relevant because it housed a major local pottery during the colonial period. About 120 miles to the south is the island of Martinique, which became a French colony at the same time as Guadeloupe and is likewise now a de