The Caribbean Sea has a presence between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, bathing the territory of countries in North, Central and South America, the Antilles, as well as dependent territories of other nations, while the region known as the “Islands of the Caribbean“ is made up of more than 700 islands, islets, reefs and caves, divided into four large groups of islands.
The largest inhabited island is Cuba with 105,806 km2, while the smallest is Canouan, of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, with 7.6 km2.
Only 2% of all the islands are populated, that is, practically inhabited by nature itself. There are islands that are part of the Bahamas, which have even less than 50 inhabitants. The most populated place is the island of Hispaniola, which is made up of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, bringing together a total of 18,943,000 inhabitants. In short, 42.5 million people inhabit just over 30 islands (640 islands are left over in case you are interested in colonizing a little piece of heaven on earth).
Most of the residents of the islands are descendants of African slaves who arrived in the region during the time of the conquest mainly to work in the sugar harvest, but once slavery was abolished, they remained in this beautiful tropical paradise.
Although the ancient settlers were Mayans, Tainos and Kalinagos, they were abolished by European conquerors since the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, at which time certain settlers of the old continent joined, including from the Spaniards themselves to the English, French, Dutch and Portuguese.
The mixture of cultures has been such that today there are people of different origins such as: Indians, Chinese, Native Americans, etc., resulting in a varied culture with rich customs and traditions reflected in their art, gastronomy, music, clothing, religion and an endless mix of colors and flavors.
When Christopher Columbus first encountered the Caribbean islands, he was actually looking to reach India, so he gave them the name West Indies to differentiate them from the East Indies. On a second trip, they ran into a fairly aggressive tribe, according to them cannibals, for which they were named the Caribs, from which the name Caribe would later emerge.
Those who continue to use the name West Indies are the multinational cricket team that represents the entire Caribbean region, the West Indies Cricket Team, a sport adopted by the English settlers and that could be considered the most popular in the islands along with soccer.
I’m Rosie Emery and welcome to my blog. After being unemployed for a while after losing my job because the company went bust, I focus my attention on building a new business for myself which is now become rather successful. In this blog I'll be talking about business along with other aspects of life and solving life's problems that I seem to have become so knowledgeable in through my own difficult circumstances. I hope you are able to gain a lot from my posts.
Continue Reading