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.

Groups of islands

Name	Area (km2)	Population	Density (inhab./km2)	Capital city	Oficial language
Bahamian Archipelago
Bahamas	13,880	319,031	23	Nassau	English
Turks and Caicos Islands	948	47,754	50	Cockburn Town	English
Greater Antilles
Cuba	110,860	11,061,886	100	Havana	Spanish
Hispaniola	76,420	20,113,564	263
Haiti	27,750	9,893,934	357	Port-au-Prince	French
Dominican Republic	48,670	10,219,630	210	Santo Domingo	Spanish
Jamaica	10,991	2,909,714	265	Kingston	English
Puerto Rico	13,790	3,674,209	266	San Juan	Spanish
Cayman Islands	264	53,737	204	George Town	English
Lesser Antilles
Leeward Islands
United States Virgin Islands	1,910	104,737	55	Charlotte Amalie	English
British Virgin Islands	151	31,912	211	Road Town	English
Anguilla	91	15,754	173	The Valley	English
Antigua and Barbuda	443	90,156	204	Saint John's	English
Saint Martin	88	70,953	806
Saint Martin	54	31,264	579	Marigot	French
Sint Maarten	34	39,689	1167	Philipsburg	Dutch
Saba	13	1,971	152	The Bottom	Dutch
Sint Eustatius	21	3,791	181	Oranjestad	Dutch
Saint Barthélemy	22	7,298	332	Gustavia	French
Saint Kitts and Nevis	261	51,134	196	Basseterre	English
Montserrat	102	5,189	51	Plymouth	English
Guadeloupe	1,628	405,500	249	Basse-Terre	French
Windward Islands
Dominica	751	73,286	98	Roseau	English
Martinique	1,128	403,795	358	Fort-de-France	French
Saint Lucia	616	162,781	264	Castries	English
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	389	103,220	265	Kingstown	English
Grenada	344	109,590	319	St. George's	English
Barbados	430	288,725	671	Bridgetown	English
Trinidad and Tobago	5,128	1,225,225	239	Port of Spain	English
ABC Islands
Aruba	180	109,153	606	Oranjestad	Dutch
Bonaire	294	16,541	56	Kralendijk	Dutch
Curaçao	444	146,836	331	Willemstad	Dutch

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. Because of this, Caribbean culture is very similar to those of Africa, India, and many countries in Europe.