CARIBBEAN STUDIES

UNIT ONE

TERRITORIAL UNITS IN THE CARIBBEAN

• WHAT IS THE CARIBBEAN

Greenwood and Hamber (2003) defines the Caribbean as, “all the

countries in and around the Caribbean sea that lie within an area that

stretches from Grand Bahama Island in the north to Curacao in the south

and from French Guiana in the east to Belize in the West.

The Wikipedia Encyclopedia defines the Caribbean as, “a region of the

Americas consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (most of which

enclose the sea) and the surrounding coasts. The region is located South

East of North America (United States and Canada), East of Central

America (Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemela and El Salvador) and to the

North and West of South America (Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil)

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Brown (2000) suggests the we consider the Caribbean from the

geographical, historical and the political perspectives while Reid (2002)

adds the social and cultural perspectives.

WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS MEAN?

Put simply, being a member of the Caribbean society does not merely

mean that we live in one of the islands or territories, but that our

personalities, our ways of life and even our ethnicity are explained by the

various factors that have affected the region.

• GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES

The history of the Caribbean region is varied and complex, it contains so

many different countries that in order to fully comprehend its diversity

and at the same time some of its commonalities we must have some

knowledge of the common geographical features. Common geographical

features can be classified under four distinctive headings. These include

Topography, Climate, Winds and Currents and the Caribbean Sea.

• Topography

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The most obvious feature of the Caribbean is that it is shaped in the form of

an archipelago (some of the islands including the Bahamas, Turks and

Caicos, the Cayman Islands, Barbados are formed mainly from coral and

these are known as the coral islands, a distinct feature of which are White

Sand Beaches.

Another distinct feature of some of the Caribbean islands are as a direct

result of volcanic activity, for example areas such as parts of Haiti and Cuba

are known as volcanic islands as they host black sand beaches. A very

important point to note is that earthquakes and volcanic activity played a

large part in the regions history in terms of physical development, in fact the

Caribbean rests on the Caribbean Plate and tectonic movements contribute

heavily to land formations as well as volcanic activity.

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Islands such as Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana host the distinctive

feature of alluvial coasts.

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Most of Cuba, Bahamas and Belize consist of Limestone Plateaus while

countries such as Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Puerto Rico have

huge mountain ranges (mountainous). Finally, we have regions like the

Guianas that are formed from ancient rock.

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 • Climate

Countries within the Caribbean experience mostly what is called a tropical

climate.

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 • Winds and Currents

The history of the Caribbean has been shaped by trade winds and currents.

Trade winds are caused by cool air from the North Polar Region blowing

into the high pressure areas of the equator. These winds would blow from

north to south but as the earth rotates with the east leading the way, the

winds are turned as they near the equator towards the west, or in other words

toward the Caribbean. This aided travel in the 15th century as sailors from

Europe sailed South to the Canary Islands or as far as the Cape Verde

Islands to pick up the trade winds.

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Ocean Currents follow roughly the same direction as the winds. In the

Atlantic there are two which flow towards the Caribbean: the North

Equatorial Current and the South Equatorial Current. The north current

flows from east to west and is met by the South which comes up from the

South-east along the coast of South America. On reaching the Lesser

Antilles they combine to form a broad west flowing current in the Caribbean

Sea.

• The Caribbean Sea

The Caribbean Sea has an area of 1050,000 square miles. The sea is three

times as large as the total land area of the region to which the name is given.

It is bounded by the Greater Antilles, and the Lesser Antilles as far as

Trinidad, the north coast of South America and the east coast of Central

America.

• GEOLOGICAL HAZARDS

The geographical area known as the Caribbean is situated on a geologic

feature known as the Caribbean Plate which has boundaries or margins with

other plates nearby. A plate is a piece of crust (on which there may be both

land and ocean) and it moves in relation to other plates largely propelled by

currents in the heated mantle below the earth’s crust. On the whole, the

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surface of the globe is made up of six or seven large plates and many smaller

ones. The Caribbean Plate is a small plate.

The theory of plate tectonics is an explanation of how plates move in

relation to each other, thereby creating certain tectonic activities at their

margins. It is generally believed that plates meet each other at three kinds of

margins, each with distinctive characteristics.

1. The Divergent (or constructive margin), where magma up wells from

the mantle on the crustal surface. The plates move away from each

other being pushed by this up welling and divergent movement from

below. This results in gentle volcanic eruptions and some earthquake

activity, but on a whole such margins are not associated with severe

environmental hazards. In the Caribbean a very small divergent

margin may be developing west of Jamaica.

2. The Transform margin (sometimes referred to as a fault), where plates

slide past each other, generating earthquakes as the rocks move to

release the stress of movement and friction with the other plate. In the

Caribbean two major transform margins delineate the northern and

southern boundaries of the Caribbean Plate. A majority of epicenters

are associated with these transform margins.

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 3. The Convergent (or destructive margin), where plates collide with

each other forcing one back down into the mantle. This margin poses

two kinds of environmental hazards-volcanic and seismic.

The theory of plate tectonics describes the dynamic nature of the plate

margins as going through a history themselves. The Greater Antilles were

once situated on a convergent margin and experienced volcanic and seismic

activity much like the Lesser Antilles today. Over time the margin has

changed to a transform margin. Today only extinct volcanoes occur along

the margin of the Greater Antilles.

• TERRITORIAL UNITS IN THE CARIBBEAN

Territorial Units in the Caribbean are often classified by size, location and

colonial influence.

 SIZE

Quite often territorial units within the Caribbean are classified according to

size. This classification is placed under two distinct headings- The Greater

and Lesser Antilles.

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 The Greater Antilles

The Greater Antilles are made up of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola and Puerto

Rico.

The Lesser Antilles

The Lesser Antilles are also known as the Caribbees (smaller islands). The

Lesser Antilles wraps around the eastern end of the Caribbean Sea on the

western boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. The Lesser Antilles more or less

coincides with the outer edge of the Caribbean Plate. Islands of the Lesser

Antilles includes,

The U.S. Virgin Islands – St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix

British Virgin islands _ Tortula, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, Iost Van Dyke

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Aguilla Barbuda

St. Martin Antigua

Saba Montserrat

St. Barthelemy Guadeloupe

St. Kitts Dominica

Nevis Barbados

Aruba Bonaire

Curacao

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  LOCATION

Previously historians had long advocated the Caribbean islands were also

classified or grouped based on their location. Based on this ideology

countries within the Caribbean were classified as Windward and Leeward

Islands. Revisionist History has now discarded this notion as it is claimed

that these two terms stem from an administrative division of the islands.

THE WINDWARD ISLANDS

The Windward Islands were so called because they were more windward to

sailing ships arriving in the new world than the Leeward Islands, given that

the prevailing trade winds in the West Indies blow East to West. The

Windward Islands include Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, The

Grenadines and Grenada.

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 THE LEEWARD ISLANDS

The Leeward Islands are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain of

islands part of the West Indies. They are situated where the Caribbean Sea

meets the Western Atlantic Ocean. The Leeward Islands are so called

because the prevailing trade winds in the area blow from the North east.

Thus these islands are down wind from or in the lee of or leeward of these

winds. Leeward Islands include Anguilla, The Virgin Islands, St. Martin,

The Nether land Antilles, Saba, St Eustatius, St. Barthelemy, Antigua,

Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Martinique.

 COLONIAL INFLUENCE

The countries of the Caribbean are also classified based on colonial

experiences or colonialism. Countries within the Caribbean in this respect

are classified under four distinct headings- The English Caribbean, The

French Caribbean, The Spanish Caribbean and The Dutch Caribbean.

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 THE ENGLISH CARIBBEAN (ANGLOPHONE CARIBBEAN)

The term Anglophone Caribbean is used to refer to the independent

English-speaking countries of the Caribbean region. Anglophone Caribbean

is a replacement term for the British West Indies. Islands of the English

speaking Caribbean include, The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados,

Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, St.

Vincent and the Grenadines as well as the mainland Caribbean countries of

Belize (British Honduras) and Guyana (British Guiana).

THE FRENCH CARIBBEAN (FRANCOPHONE CARIBBEAN)

The term French Caribbean or French West Indies refers to the four

territories presently under French sovereignty in the Caribbean- the two

overseas departments of Guadeloupe and Martinique plus the two overseas

collectivities of St. Martin and St. Barthelemy.

THE SPANISH CARIBBEAN

The Spanish Caribbean refers to those islands within the Caribbean that were

colonized by Spain at one time or the other. These include countries such as

Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic (Hispaniola)

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THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN (THE NETHER LAND ANTILLES)

The Dutch West Indies refers to those islands within the Caribbean over

which the Netherlands exercise some sovereignty. These islands include

Curacao, Bonaire, St. Eustatius, Saba and St. Martin and also Aruba.

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