Noted Anthropologist Joe Palacio today launched an important book. It's called Garifuna Continuity in Land: Barranco Settlement and Land Use 1862 to 2000.

Important because it traces the history of land tenure in that southern village - and at the same time provides valuable insights into the ethnohistory of the celebrated community.

In terms of time span it is the most comprehensive record of land tenure in the region.

Palacio told us why that matters:

Dr. Joe Palacio, Author
"It was not private land; all around there was some private land, but not the particular area where the village was. And that was totally by chance in a way, and it was easier for us to establish roots there. Because in many other communities, many others Garifuna communities it was a private land, and it was very difficult to get through this process because of that."

Jules Vasquez
"It is the only document I heard they explained that tracks the record of occupation for over a century in the entire Caribbean where there are some many fracture histories and what history's in what the hurricane destroyed. Explain the relevance of this long standing record and what it illustrates?"

Dr. Joe Palacio, Author
"Ok, the significance is that again it is not available anywhere and for you to know where you are; you have to know where you came from. And land ownership is one source, so that by itself is significant especially when you tie it to genealogy. So that not only do you know who was where. But then you also know exactly the names; that person, that person and that was my great grandmother that was my great grandaunt. So this is where it adds pretty much to call it a fabric of information, which is interrelated and so anthropological, integrated."

The book was authored by Palacio, Cralosn Tuttle and Judith Lumb and is available at the image factory books store.

Channel 7