The Caribbean Archipelago, or West Indies, is the place where the first American species were documented by Europeans. We begin this review by mentioning the West Indian, or Caribbean, for lack of a better term, mammals that were commented upon in the chronicles written between Columbus’s arrival on the continent to the eighteenth century. This section on the pre-Linnaean period is followed by another on what we call the post-Linnaean period, beginning in the mid-eighteenth century and displaying a progressive increase in scientific rigor. As might be expected, the history of Caribbean mammalogy follows the geopolitical history of the region and tends to focus on its most abundant mammalian group, bats. The arguably depauperate and unexciting mammalian fauna of the West Indian biogeographic subregion, lacking in large game, may have led to the relatively low level of scientific activity. One element that may have slowed the advancement of knowledge in the region, apart from in Cuba, was the lack of local naturalists to make contributions on the ground. This situation has been partially remedied in recent years, with increasing local activity.