Geography The Caribbean was a name given to this region after becoming popular following World War II, being previously referred to as the Indies because Columbus thought he finally reached South Asia and the East Indies (Caribbean). This area “includes more than 7,000 islands; of those, 13 are independent island countries and some are dependencies or overseas territories of other nations. In addition, that large number includes islets (very small rocky islands); cay's (small, low islands composed largely of coral or sand) and a few inhabited reefs” (Caribbean). The Caribbean includes the Greater and Lesser Antilles, the Caribbean Sea and all of the islands located to the to the north of South America, east of Central America and Mexico, and southeast of the Gulf of Mexico. The Greater Antilles on the north of the sea, include Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico. The Lesser Antilles on the east of the sea include the Leeward Islands being Dominica, the Windward Islands being Trinidad, and the Venezuelan Islands along the coast of South America.
Geography All of the islands included in the Caribbean are grouped together when describing the climate and seasons because the climate is the same throughout the area. There are never any extreme hot or cold temperatures because the temperatures are influenced by ocean currents and the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean sea are warm all times on the year. The Caribbean climate is tropical between the long rainy season from May through October and the dry season from November to April. “Almost nowhere in the Caribbean have maximum temperatures above 100°F/38°C been experienced, and only in Cuba and the northern islands of the Bahamas do winter...
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...ea grapes, bananas, mangos, squash, corn, and cassava. They often turn the cassava flesh into variations of bread and ferment its juices for spicy sauces and island brew (Orr, p. xiv). Annatto which is now used for coloring cheeses was used as a body pant as well as mosquito repellent.
War Trade Conquest In the 15th century the population of the Caribbean was estimated to be nearly 900,000 people right before Christopher Columbus became the first European to explore this area in 1942 Great military powers continually fought for control of the islands, and finally, a blended mix of African and European cultures and languages transformed this large group of islands and its peoples into one of the premier tourist destinations on the planet. Across the Caribbean, slaves from Africa were imported in great numbers to work the sugar and tobacco plantations.
Economics
Though the Atlantic Slave Trade began in 1441, it wasn’t until nearly a century later that Europeans actually became interested in slave trading on the West African coast. “With no interest in conquering the interior, they concentrated their efforts to obtain human cargo along the West African coast. During the 1590s, the Dutch challenged the Portuguese monopoly to become the main slave trading nation (“Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade”, NA). Besides the trading of slaves, it was also during this time that political changes were being made. The Europe...
As the new world was emerging into existence there grew a deep need for wealth in the ever growing European powers and they needed work force to support the building of their empire. When Columbus decided to go on his transoceanic voyage his main intention of the voyage was to bring about with a healthy transoceanic slave trade which would indeed help the European motives of expanding their kingdom. On Columbus’s first voyage he set up a base which he called ‘Hispaniola’ which today is the Haiti or also called as the Dominican Republic. In the initial stage of Columbus transoceanic slave trade he captured 10 to 20 Indians, having them shipped back but having only left over with six or seven alive and the rest dead by the time they made it back to the shores of Spain. Being subjected to this kind of ...
They eliminated their competitors (white Creoles) and pushed the process to its ultimate conclusion, independence, and constitutionalism for what was now a nation of blacks. The Carribean island of Hispaniola was one of the earliest and richest European colonies based on plantations that produced vast sums of sugar, coffee, and cotton for export to the Old World. At the time of the French Revolution, the French part of the island produced half of the world’s sugar and coffee. The entire island had originally been a Spanish colony. But as Spain’s power dwindled, France took advantage of the situation and assumed control of the western end of the island in 1697. Settlers in the following century enjoyed mercantilist protection for splendid profits from their slave plantation. By 1789, 30 000 white settlers, 28 000 mulattoes and 500 000 black plantation and household slaves formed an unequal colonial society in which fear and violence reigned
The climate is relatively warm and humid with regional variation. The temperature mainly changes with the elevation on the land. The East part of the land his high average annual rainfall, whereas the west is much drier. The rainfall is seasonal occurring from May through October. The Caribbean is subject to destructive hurricanes and tropical storms from July through October.
Not only were the Caribbean people ruthlessly overworked in a futile search for gold, successive epidemics of European diseases like smallpox wiped out as many as 90 percent of natives within a generation of Columbus's arrival. But not to say all of Columbus’ actions were horrific. He recognized the ‘others’ and their actual existence in his letters home. By documenting the Taino customs by living among the native people, observing their way of life and recording what he learned of the people. In letters he would describe their interactions, their way of life as well as what he experienced on the island. Unfortunately, because of Columbus’s exaggerated reports and promises, his sense of duty began to spiral downward. It could have been because of his refusal to be the “other” on the island. His insecurity led to a massive genocide rather than an international culture and knowledge
Hispaniola, Spanish La Española, second largest island of the West Indies, lying within the Greater Antilles, in the Caribbean Sea. It is divided politically into the Republic of Haiti (west) and the Dominican Republic (east). The island’s area is 29,418 square miles, roughly ⅝ of the island belongs to the Dominican Republic while the other ⅜ belongs to Haiti. However, they both have roughly 10 million people as well as vastly different economic production. There are a lot of factors that are pretty easy to determine why Haiti’s economy has struggled much more than the Dominican Republic despite sharing the same island.
It emerged due to the discovery of New World because with the New World, wide economic opportunities occurred but there was no enough laborer to take an advantage of these opportunities. Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade involved many regions such as America, Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean. In addition, it was in the first examples of globalization. By the 15th century, Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade began with Portuguese’s exploration of the coast of the West Africa to reach the reserves of gold. Initially, a small amount of African people were captured to become a slave but after the developments of the agriculture in the Caribbean colonies and American mainland, captured Africans begin to grow. During the 16th through 19th century, most European colonies in America required enslaved African labor to survive and develop their economy because European laborers did not suitable for climate and they dealt with tropic diseases, even some of them died from diseases which came from Europe. However, African laborers were suitable for conditions in terms of being used to tropical climate and resistant to diseases and having experience of
According to Columbus, the natives of the Caribbean lived in beautiful lands with many rivers, mountains, full with trees of all kind. The natives of the Caribbean lived with different customs then what Columbus was used to. Most people, men and women, would walk the land as god brought them to this world, naked. Others would cover some parts of their bodies with leaves or with net of cotton. The natives did not use any weapons nor were they capable of using them, instead, they used handmade spears made of canes. The natives, as Columbus explains, are timid people, but once they have lost their fear, they become so generous. They share anything they poses with each other. They treasure items everyone else would take for granted for example
Even though most countries in the Caribbean region are islands, their population characteristics differ in a significant way which have impacted development in many ways. In 2012, Trinidad and Tobago had a relatively lower population in the Caribbean region of 1,357,439 compared to neighboring country Jamaica which had 2,707,805 (World ...
Discovered in 1492 by Christopher Columbus the West Indies were given this name through his mistaken belief that he had reached the Indies, and he himself wrote of them as Las Yndias Ocidentales, referred to as the accidental Indies. After the mistake was realized they were later called them West Indies to distinguish them from the East Indies and at the time in the sixteenth century they were known as the Little Indies, while the East Indies were called the Great Indies. The native inhabitants of the West Indies and America were called Indians as a result of the same error. To distinguish them from the inhabitants of India they were to be called Amerindians or Red Indians. The islands are divided into three major groups: the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the Lesser Antilles. The Greater Antilles consist of Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica, and all the rest, except the Bahamas, are included in the group of Lesser Antilles, and were also called the Caribee Islands.
The magical duo on the Caribbean shores, Trinidad and Tobago is truly a remarkable hideout and a perfect combination of scenic landscapes and delightful lifestyle. The cultural centre of Caribbean Sea, Trinidad has become a great choice for Europeans especially travellers from UK and Ireland to spend some of the nicest and adventurous days away from home. Fabulous culinary, magnificent sites, incredible range of festivals and tons of other factors have been alluring travellers from around the world from decades.
Colonialism in Jamaica established a lasting social and economic hierarchy that benefited the white minority at the expense of the black majority. The colonization of Jamaica began with the Spanish occupation of the island in the early 1500’s. The Spanish set up small-scale plantations on the island, while focusing on piracy as the key to profit. The Spanish effectively committed genocide upon the native Arawak population by the time English gunboats won the rule of Jamaica from the Spanish armada in 1655. The British immediately increased the slave trade in order to establish a thriving plantation economy (Lake, p.
In 1512 Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León was the first European to sight the islands of Turks and Caicos. However, many historians also believe that Christopher Columbus could have sighted the islands on his 1492 voyage around the world. There was and still is a big debate in whether Juan Ponce de León first sighted the island or if Christopher Columbus first sighted the islands. In the 1600’s Spanish slavers would frequently raid the Turks and Caicos islands, enslaving the Lucayans that lived there, this depopulated the entire Bahamian archipelago. (Wikipedia)
Jamaica, the Caribbean, the tropics. A destination of vacations and honeymoons for the beauty of the landscape, and the generosity of the people- and the cuisine. Some of the most unique and delicious cuisine is in the Caribbean, and specifically Jamaica, of course the most famous would be the Jamaican beef patty that has been sold everywhere.
In the year of 1498, Christopher Columbus landed in Trinidad and, as was the practice in the supposed age of Discovery and Exploration, he then took possession of the island in the denomination of the King and Queen of Spain. The island did not have the promise of immense wealth like the other countries in Spain’s Western imperium. Trinidad was, therefore, largely ignored for over two hundred and fifty years. In 1776, out of concern for this state of affairs, the Spanish king issued a Cedula of Population, which opened the island to colonization by the French. A second Cedula followed in another seven years. This optically discerned an even more astronomically immense influx of planters from the French West Indian islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe and Saint Dominigue. Arriving withal were Free Coloreds and Africans. The French brought with them their cultural traditions, their language, how they dress, the foods they ate and also their customs. In 1797, Trinidad was captured by the British and was made a crown colony of Gre...