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Caribbean

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"West Indies" redirects here. For other uses, see West Indies (disambiguation).
"West Indian" redirects here. For the western part of India, see West India.
Central America and the Caribbean (detailed pdf map)
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Central America and the Caribbean (detailed pdf map)

The Caribbean (Spanish: Caribe; French: Caraïbe; Dutch: Cariben; Portuguese: Caraíbas) is a region of the Americas consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (most of which enclose the sea), and the surrounding coasts. Located southeast of Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north and west of South America, the Caribbean is commonly reckoned as a subregion of North America.

Situated largely on the Caribbean Plate, the area comprises more than 7,000 islands, islets, reefs, and cayes. The West Indies consist of the Antilles, divided into the larger Greater Antilles which bound the sea on the north and the Lesser Antilles on the east, and the Bahamas which are northeast of the sea. Bermuda lies much further to the north in the Atlantic Ocean and is sometimes included in the West Indies. Geopolitically, the West Indies are organized into 28 territories including sovereign states, overseas departments, and dependencies. At one time, there was a short-lived country called the Federation of the West Indies composed of ten English-speaking Caribbean territories.
Caribbean Portal

The name "Caribbean" is named after the Caribs, one of the dominant Amerindian groups in the region at the time of European contact during the late 15th century. The analogous "West Indies" originates from Christopher Columbus' idea that he had landed in the Indies (then meaning all of south and east Asia) when he had actually reached the Americas. The Spanish term Antillas was commonly assigned to the newly discovered lands; stemming from this, "Sea of the Antilles" is a common alternate name for the Caribbean Sea in various European languages.

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Historical groupings

Main article: History of the Caribbean

Most islands at some point were, or still are, colonies of European nations:

Image:Caribbean spanish names.PNG
The mostly Spanish controlled Caribbean in the sixteenth century

The British West Indies were formerly united by the United Kingdom into a West Indies Federation. The independent countries which were once a part of the B.W.I. still have a unified composite cricket team that successfully competes in test matches and one-day internationals. The West Indian cricket team includes the South American nation of Guyana, the only former British colony on that continent.

In addition, these countries share the University of the West Indies as a regional entity. The university consists of three main campuses in Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, a smaller campus in the Bahamas and Resident Tutors in other contributing territories.

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Present-day island territories of the Caribbean

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Detail of tectonic plates from: Tectonic plates of the world
See also: Caribbean South America and Caribbean basin
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Continental countries with Caribbean coastlines and islands

The nations of Belize and Guyana, although on the mainland of Central America and South America respectively, were former British colonies and maintain many cultural ties to the Caribbean and are members of CARICOM. The Turneffe Islands (and many other islands and reefs) are part of Belize and lie in the Caribbean Sea.

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Island territories near the Caribbean

Though not technically in the Caribbean Sea, the nearby Bahaman Archipelago is sometimes considered to be part of the Caribbean.

see Islands of the Bahamas and Islands of the Turks and Caicos for a full list of the islands of the Bahaman Archipelago.

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Indigenous Tribes

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See also

Caribbean Portal


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Regional Institutions

Here are some of the bodies that several islands share in collaboration:

Many of the nations in the Caribbean play international cricket as one team called the West Indies.


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