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The Indian Caribbean Museum of Trinidad and Tobago showcases various historical artifacts which can be used to critically analyse and understand our Caribbean identity. Additionally, it was a privilege to view the tools and machines our ancestors used when working on the industrial sugar plantation. Many of these devices such as the Grinding Stone, Copper and Hand Plough would have arrived into the Caribbean region as the European Capitalists invested in technological advancement for agricultural purposes. While other artifacts such as the Jeweller's Wheel, Kurta, Dhoti and Salwar were bought into the region by the Indians on the Fath-Al-Razak.
I believe that the collection of artifacts which I have photographed conveys that during the period of sugar industrialization it created the opportunity for rich cultures, religion, technological advancements and ideas to arrive into the Caribbean. These artifacts contain significant value as they are authentic and can be used to understand our history through revisionism instead of adhering to the story told from a European perspective.
From an Ethnocentric point of view the cultures and ideas that were bought into the British West Indies by the Indians would have been regarded as barbaric. This is because the Europeans argued that the Indians lacked dreams, desires and religion and therefore they could be exploited. As a result artifacts such as the Indian's clothing and figures of their religious Gods would have been regarded as unrefined because the planters had a general idea that Indians were uncivilized.
However from a revisionist perspective the artifacts previously mentioned shows that the Indians were in fact civilized as they had their own rich culture and livelihood. Furthermore the Indians bought there own technological devices such as the Jeweller's Wheel which emphasizes their creativity and ability to craft items for retail trading.
Additionally many Caribbean territories such as Barbados and Jamaica contain similar artifacts as the Indians also worked on estates in these islands. Therefore these territories share a common historical background and identity which  shapes a unified body that helps in defining the Caribbean.

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For over 500 years, it was propagated that Christopher Columbus discovered the Caribbean. Initially, I too held this view. However, as my knowledge about Caribbean history expanded, my perceptual set on this phenomena gradually shifted.  I strongly disagree with the arguments which support the concept that early inhabitants were primitive and civilization did not exist before Columbus' arrival.

According to historians and various research, there were several groups of individuals such as the Paleo Indians, Meso Indians and Neo Indians that occupied the region before Columbus came. When he arrived the Neo Indians where the natives. Therefore, how could someone discover any territory that was already inhabited?
We are constantly presented with the idea that Columbus discovered the Caribbean because, at the time of his arrival, the Europeans had the power and resources required to record history from their point of view while neglecting to mention the indigenous people and their unique culture. Therefore, by engaging in critical thinking instead of reiterating the story told from a ethnocentric perspective, I understand that the natives discovered the region.
Although it is believed that civilization did not exist before Columbus arrived. it should be noted that each society has its own culture and values; therefore, different communities have different norms. As a result, it is imprecise to state that civilization did not exist before Columbus arrived.
The natives had their own system of governance and their society was structured in such a way that there was gender division of labor.  The indigenous people also had their own distinct dress code and women had cosmetics to maintain their standard of beauty. Additionally since the Neo Indians were a unified body who worked in harmony for society to function and civilization should be appreciated from this context.
Regarding the natives as "primitive" is misleading as their livelihood should not be compared to the European society. What may be deemed as wrong in one society may be accepted in another. Each community would have it's own social construct. Hence, civilization transpired before the New World following Columbus' arrival.

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When the Europeans first arrived into the New World in search of bullion but realized it was not exiting in a vast quantity to sustain their nations wealth they turned to agriculture. This was because Mercantilist believed wealth could be generated through trade and therefore the non-sugar industry aided in the development of wealth to create a Caribbean economy. However as there was a shift in economic activity from non-sugar crops to sugar-cane, Caribbean development increased in terms of maximizing profit, creating diverse cultures and a mixture of races.

The idea of creating wealth was based on maintaining a favorable balance of trade and therefore agriculture created a commodity that could be traded. Agricultural science combined with Entrepreneurial business was a major factor that helped to create a Caribbean economy. The tremendous amount of Caribbean fertile land became natural laboratories for agricultural experimentation where capitalist invested in using resources to plant crops such as cotton, tobacco and mahogany. These industries gained economic success in some Caribbean territories.  All these successful plantations provided distinct tasks and skills  that were not found in the sugar industry. They also attracted many investors into the Caribbean region.
Never-the-less, gradually as profit from those non-sugar industries began declining the Europeans turned to sugar-cane in order to sustain their wealth. Sugar-cane which first gained a huge amount of success in Barbados resulted in a shift from cash crops like cotton to the king of crops, sugar. Sugar changed the landholding pattern and developed the Caribbean in terms of maximizing wealth.

Sugar was also responsible for developing the Caribbean region by creating diverse cultures as the industry demanded a massive labor force which lead to several minority groups arriving into the Caribbean. They bought with them their rich cultures, values, religion, music and norms and they also contributed to a mixture of different races which influenced the Caribbean's unique, diverse identity.

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The apprenticeship period began as a result of the abolition of slavery. The Caribbean British planters were afraid that those previously enslaved would not willingly work on plantations after being granted their freedom as Africans started to produce their own sugar.
Therefore, during the apprenticeship period, "Neither freedom nor enslavement" exited. This phrase emphasizes that although the Africans were told they were freed under the colonial administrators' legislation, there were restrictions to their freedom.        ,   On the other hand, they were not enslaved because, after working for a specific period without pay, they could work overtime for a salary. This infers that the apprenticeship act was a Machiavellian economic design which the Europeans used to continuously exploit the Africans.
The former slaves were not given a choice as to whether or not they wanted to remain field workers and house workers and had to abide to the conditions of the apprenticeship act. Hence, they were deprived of making independent decisions. The Europeans still maintained some form of control while justifying their actions by stating the freed men and women required a supervised program in order for them to gain experience about industrialization to prevent them from returning to their barbaric ways.  This created the false conscious that the Africans lacked responsibility and could not manage industrial activities on their own.

Children under the age of six did not have to work; whereas, in the past they did. Hence, they were not enslaved. There was also the Stipendiary Magistrates available for the Africans to report any form of abuse inflicted on them by planters. After 40 1/2 hours of free labor on plantation fields, workers received a salary for extra labor. Although these conditions were flawed, we should bare in mind that wherever there is power, there is corruption.

Even though living conditions where still harsh and brutal for the Africans "Neither slavery nor enslavement" was occurring. This phrase shows that the Africans' experiences were indescribable.

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THE ABOVE FIGURE ILLUSTRATES A COLLECTION OF ARTIFACTS FROM THE INDIAN CARIBBEAN MUSEUM OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO.

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THE ABOVE FIGURE ILLUSTRATES A COLLECTION OF ARTIFACTS FROM THE INDIAN CARIBBEAN MUSEUM OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO.

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Morgan, S. Edmund. Columbus Confusion About the New World. October 2009.
<https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/columbus-confusion-about-the-new-world-140132422/ >.

US Library of Congress. THE COLONIAL PERIOD.
<countrystudies.us/caribbean-islands/7.htm>.

Eudell, L. Demetrius. Slavery without Sugar: Diversity in Caribbean Economy and Society Since the 17th Century. 2005.
<https://muse.jhu.edu/article/183816>.

Ms. Sampson, Lynette. (UNIFIED) FOUN 1101: CARIBBEAN CIVILISATION Plenary #1.
<https://itx-sms-api.bbcollab.com/media/stream?postpone_transcoding=false&use_original=false&original_media_url=sms_9a89a08748cf4de0bb73e623a4ffd1b9&media_display_name=FOUN+1101+COURSE+SESSION&client_id=ca-mcp&can_download=true&token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJleHAiOjE1NTE1NjU2MzMsImFwaV91cmlfcGFyYW1fMCI6Im1lZGlhIiwicG9zdHBvbmVfdHJhbnNjb2RpbmciOiJmYWxzZSIsImFwaV91cmlfcGFyYW1fMSI6InN0cmVhbSIsInVzZV9vcmlnaW5hbCI6ImZhbHNlIiwib3JpZ2luYWxfbWVkaWFfdXJsIjoic21zXzlhODlhMDg3NDhjZjRkZTBiYjczZTYyM2E0ZmZkMWI5IiwibWVkaWFfZGlzcGxheV9uYW1lIjoiRk9VTiAxMTAxIENPVVJTRSBTRVNTSU9OIiwiY2xpZW50X2lkIjoiY2EtbWNwIiwiY2FuX2Rvd25sb2FkIjoidHJ1ZSJ9.DWLPJN8KHdhStFFI9RAdcfu3caIvxrH1LTWDOHSavzY>.

Ms. Sampson, Lynette. Foun1101Plenary2audio. 5th February, 2018.
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Nf9o4ni1hPY0m1scKQOR92vB5MpMe-iJ/view>.

Ms. Sampson, Lynette. (UNIFIED) FOUN 1101: CARIBBEAN CIVILISATION Plenary #3. 12th February, 2018.
<https://itx-sms-api.bbcollab.com/media/stream?postpone_transcoding=false&use_original=false&original_media_url=sms_cf04938e3e544aacbad71f9aeea41cad&media_display_name=FOUN+1101+COURSE+SESSION&client_id=ca-mcp&can_download=true&token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJleHAiOjE1NTE1NjYwMDcsImFwaV91cmlfcGFyYW1fMCI6Im1lZGlhIiwicG9zdHBvbmVfdHJhbnNjb2RpbmciOiJmYWxzZSIsImFwaV91cmlfcGFyYW1fMSI6InN0cmVhbSIsInVzZV9vcmlnaW5hbCI6ImZhbHNlIiwib3JpZ2luYWxfbWVkaWFfdXJsIjoic21zX2NmMDQ5MzhlM2U1NDRhYWNiYWQ3MWY5YWVlYTQxY2FkIiwibWVkaWFfZGlzcGxheV9uYW1lIjoiRk9VTiAxMTAxIENPVVJTRSBTRVNTSU9OIiwiY2xpZW50X2lkIjoiY2EtbWNwIiwiY2FuX2Rvd25sb2FkIjoidHJ1ZSJ9.DFCGVRqBln0asR3Gej4DFpC_Ut92xWeVYDiLoBEZ5SQ>.

Dr. Worell, Rodney. (UNIFIED) FOUN 1101: CARIBBEAN CIVILISATION Plenary #4.  19th February, 2018.
<https://itx-sms-api.bbcollab.com/media/stream?postpone_transcoding=false&use_original=false&original_media_url=sms_e28de0ebbc3a437386c3feb4e65bd6df&media_display_name=FOUN+1101+COURSE+SESSION&client_id=ca-mcp&can_download=true&token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJleHAiOjE1NTA2OTEwNDUsImFwaV91cmlfcGFyYW1fMCI6Im1lZGlhIiwicG9zdHBvbmVfdHJhbnNjb2RpbmciOiJmYWxzZSIsImFwaV91cmlfcGFyYW1fMSI6InN0cmVhbSIsInVzZV9vcmlnaW5hbCI6ImZhbHNlIiwib3JpZ2luYWxfbWVkaWFfdXJsIjoic21zX2UyOGRlMGViYmMzYTQzNzM4NmMzZmViNGU2NWJkNmRmIiwibWVkaWFfZGlzcGxheV9uYW1lIjoiRk9VTiAxMTAxIENPVVJTRSBTRVNTSU9OIiwiY2xpZW50X2lkIjoiY2EtbWNwIiwiY2FuX2Rvd25sb2FkIjoidHJ1ZSJ9.LAgVqJkJADwQxX1-kJxkNg1DVU-ob07AKcUNs7zpb_U>.

Dr. Gosse, Dave. (UNIFIED) FOUN 1101: CARIBBEAN CIVILISATION Plenary #5.  26th February, 2018.
<https://itx-sms-api.bbcollab.com/media/stream?postpone_transcoding=false&use_original=false&original_media_url=sms_b4ebd51ab48c455492bb53f9bc94b89e&media_display_name=FOUN+1101+COURSE+SESSION&client_id=ca-mcp&can_download=true&token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJleHAiOjE1NTE1NjY3MDQsImFwaV91cmlfcGFyYW1fMCI6Im1lZGlhIiwicG9zdHBvbmVfdHJhbnNjb2RpbmciOiJmYWxzZSIsImFwaV91cmlfcGFyYW1fMSI6InN0cmVhbSIsInVzZV9vcmlnaW5hbCI6ImZhbHNlIiwib3JpZ2luYWxfbWVkaWFfdXJsIjoic21zX2I0ZWJkNTFhYjQ4YzQ1NTQ5MmJiNTNmOWJjOTRiODllIiwibWVkaWFfZGlzcGxheV9uYW1lIjoiRk9VTiAxMTAxIENPVVJTRSBTRVNTSU9OIiwiY2xpZW50X2lkIjoiY2EtbWNwIiwiY2FuX2Rvd25sb2FkIjoidHJ1ZSJ9.ZZird_FeknsIzkq1DSl0toKqOM_j4qIgGcy25Xbm0Zw>.