Caribbean

The Caribbean or Caribbean Area (Dutch: Cariben or Caraiben, French: Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Spanish: Caribe) is a region of the Americas. It includes the Caribbean Sea, its islands (more than 7,000 islands, small islands and cays, most of them surrounding the sea), and the coastal islands of north South America and east Central America.

Map of the Caribbean

Geography

The Caribbean is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to its east and north, the coast of South America to its south, the coast of Central America to its southwest, and by the Gulf of Mexico to its northwest.

The West Indies is the name for the group of the islands of the Bahamas and the Antilles. The Antilles are divided into two groups: the larger Greater Antilles, on the north limit of the Caribbean Sea, and the Lesser Antilles, on the east and south.

The Caribbean islands have many different types of land. Because of this, the islands have many different kinds of plants and animals, even uncommon ones.

Famous islands in the Caribbean include Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. The countries of Dominican Republic, and Haiti are on Hispaniola. There is also a lot of white sandy beaches and hot sun there.[1]

Groups of islands

NameArea[2]
(km2)
Population[3]Density
(inhab./km2)
Capital cityOficial
language
Bahamian Archipelago
 Bahamas13,880319,03123NassauEnglish
 Turks and Caicos Islands94847,75450Cockburn TownEnglish
Greater Antilles
 Cuba110,86011,061,886100HavanaSpanish
Hispaniola76,42020,113,564263 
 Haiti27,7509,893,934357Port-au-PrinceFrench
 Dominican Republic48,67010,219,630210Santo DomingoSpanish
 Jamaica10,9912,909,714265KingstonEnglish
 Puerto Rico13,7903,674,209266San JuanSpanish
 Cayman Islands26453,737204George TownEnglish
Lesser Antilles
Leeward Islands
 United States Virgin Islands1,910104,73755Charlotte AmalieEnglish
 British Virgin Islands15131,912211Road TownEnglish
 Anguilla9115,754173The ValleyEnglish
 Antigua and Barbuda44390,156204Saint John'sEnglish
Saint Martin8870,953806 
 Saint Martin5431,264579MarigotFrench
 Sint Maarten3439,6891167PhilipsburgDutch
 Saba131,971152The BottomDutch
 Sint Eustatius213,791181OranjestadDutch
 Saint Barthélemy227,298332GustaviaFrench
 Saint Kitts and Nevis26151,134196BasseterreEnglish
 Montserrat1025,18951PlymouthEnglish
 Guadeloupe1,628405,500249Basse-TerreFrench
Windward Islands
 Dominica75173,28698RoseauEnglish
 Martinique1,128403,795358Fort-de-FranceFrench
 Saint Lucia616162,781264CastriesEnglish
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines389103,220265KingstownEnglish
 Grenada344109,590319St. George'sEnglish
 Barbados430288,725671BridgetownEnglish
 Trinidad and Tobago5,1281,225,225239Port of SpainEnglish
ABC Islands
 Aruba180109,153606OranjestadDutch
 Bonaire29416,54156KralendijkDutch
 Curaçao444146,836331WillemstadDutch

Name

The name Caribbean comes from Carib, indigenous people living in the Lesser Antilles and north South America when the Europeans came to the Americas.

History

The 18th century saw many countries trying to colonize the islands.[4] Because of this, Caribbean culture is very similar to those of Africa, India, and many countries in Europe.

References

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