History of the Caribbean

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Vacation has always been a way for people to escape the humdrum activities of everyday life. It is a way to escape from the real world and have a few days with nothing to worry about other than what to do. For some people, the idea of vacation is going somewhere warm and intriguing, a place that could keep a person entertained and captivated for days. For a lot of people, this place could be the islands of the Caribbean. The Caribbean is a place of wonder and draws thousands of people to it every year because of its diverse history and culture.

The Caribbean islands are a chain of over 7,000 islands found in the Caribbean Sea, located directly south of Florida and east of Mexico. A majority of the islands found in the Caribbean are small in size, around 100 square miles. However, there are still large islands. Cuba is the largest island found in the Caribbean, but the island is still smaller than the state of Ohio. (West) Some of the well known islands of the Caribbean include Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These islands all make up the area known today as the West Indies.

The West Indies are so named in order to differentiate the islands from the East Indies found in the Pacific Ocean. When Columbus first landed on the islands he believed them to be part of the Indies of the Pacific Ocean. When it was discovered that the islands were not actually a part of the Indies, the islands received their current name to differentiate them. While the islands are still referred to as the West Indies today, people know them better as the Caribbean Islands. Within the West Indies the islands are further classified down into the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles. The...

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...://www.school.eb.com/all/comptons/article-9272832>.

"Latin America." Compton's by Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2011. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.

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"Lesser Antilles." Compton's by Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2011. Web. 27 Nov. 2011.

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"travel and tourism." Compton's by Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2011. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.

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"West Indies." Compton's by Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2011. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.

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