The Oxford School Dictionary defines it as a society or culture at a particular time in history. It also defines it as a developed or organized way of life. Therefore, from these definitions which are European scholastic definitions means there has always been Civilization in the Caribbean. As we know the islands of the Caribbean were inhabited by the Tainos and the Kalinagos well before the arrival of the Europeans during their renaissance era. They however brought their customs and processes with them as is expected of anyone; thus, they encountered the Neo-Indians who customarily traversed the islands in their way of life accordingly with the seasons. When all is said and done, the Europeans branded the those who did not follow their way of life as uncivilized. Which is in itself a contradiction to their definition of ‘Civilization’ because the Neo-Indians were a society among themselves and they did have a developed and organized way of life; therefore, labelling people who were different from them as ‘savages’ was hypocritical in my opinion and leads to the question, who were the ‘savages’? They then implemented their customs and colonized the region, marking different Caribbean countries as a part of their various territories and thus deriving the systems which hover over us today. The Caribbean is filled with diversity to its core, whether we; are of African descent resulting from enslavement once again at the hands of Europeans, or if we are descendant of Taino and Kalinago societies and even those descendants from the ‘poor whites’ social class who were mistreated and suffered at the hands of the empires. Conclusively, I tempestuously agree with Taurus Riley’s “system set” which I believe is a result of the influence history has on our progression as a civilization. Thus, until issues such as racism, colourism, social injustice and unresolved conflicts among ourselves are rectified our behaviour will continue to reflect the European influence of history on us and we will continue living in the system which it set.

  Issues of Caribbean identity are not new concerns for the region. Some argue that one aspect of identifying who we are as a region through our history is nonexistent. One myth of Caribbean history is that because they were no writings we had no history.

  Due to standpoint epistemology, persons from outside the region look at the region based on the context of their own culture, civilization or what defines who they are and this consequently affects the view that the Caribbean does not have an identity but aspects of other Countries being combined. 
 The formation of a Caribbean identity was influenced by the diverse nature of the region throughout the Caribbean’s history. As a result of Christopher Columbus making the region being known to Europe, many migrants from Europe came to the region and consequently destroyed the indigenous people and brought cultural norms with them which were imposed whether willing accepted or not. This consequently lead to various traditions being unique to each island and effecting the present day region and how it is viewed.