The Caribs, as a community, survived the Spanish invaders in a way that the other two groups of pre-Columbian Caribbean people did not. Franklin Knight attributes this phenomenon to:

These are the answer choices for the question:

a. the Caribs had allies among peoples of South America, who came to lend their support in the fight against the Spanish.

b. the fact that the Caribs were very fierce.

c. the region occupied by the Caribs were not in the area targeted for Spanish conquest and colonization.  

d. the Caribs made friends with the Spanish

And this is the correct

b. the fact that the Caribs were very fierce.

Explanation:

The Caribs, as the name implies, inhabited most of the Caribbean Islands (the Caribbean Sea is in fact named after them) and also many areas of Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Brazil.

The Caribs were particularly fierce, and represented a harsh opposition to the Spanish conquistadors. They often used poisoned arrows, which would not only inflict physical damage to the Spanish, but also lethal physiological damange from the wounds.

Another characteristic of the Caribs was the practice of cannibalism. In fact, the Spanish classified tribes as Caribs based on whether they engaged in that practice or not.

it was on the rise and doing very well and would continue to do well until the great depression from 1929-1939