The Caribbean Sea is a semi-enclosed portion of the Atlantic Ocean bordered by South and Central America to the south and west, and to the north by the Greater (including Cuba) and Lesser Antilles. It is entirely tropical, ranging from 9°-22°N, and 60°-89°W, and covers 2,754,000 sq km/1,063,000 sq mi. It contains 13 countries, more than 700 islands, and a population of about 45 million.
It takes its name from the native Carib tribe (also known as the Kalinago), which predominated throughout the Lesser Antilles when Columbus came upon them in 1492. Then began several centuries of intense and frequently bloody competition between European nations for colonial dominance. The English in particular brought in slaves from Africa, so the natives found themselves being displaced, sometimes gradually and sometimes aggressively, by white Europeans and black slaves. Today, ethnic strains of the natives still exist, and the Kalinago maintain a distinct national identity, with a reservation in Dominica (not to be confused with the Dominican Republic).
Physical map of the Caribbean.
The main economic product of the region is tourism. Some countries like Jamaica feature tourist enclaves on the main island almost entirely cut off from the native population. Others, like Trinidad and Tobago, have fostered their tourist industry on the smaller, less populated islands (Tobago in that case). Their economies suffered terribly from the COVID pandemic, contracting a collective 8.6% in 2020. and Trinidad produces nearly 100,000 barrels of oil a day from its offshore fields–a significant amount, ranking it 50th in the world among oil producers. Agricultural production, including sugarcane, bananas, cocoa and coffee, is a significant part of most Caribbean nations’ GDP.
Tectonic plates.
The Caribbean region is very active tectonically, being located over a small tectonic plate bordered by the North and South American plates to the east, and the smaller plates to the west (Cocos, Panama, and North Andes). These plates are either subducting–with one oceanic plate diving beneath another, creating volcanoes and earthquakes–or transform, where the plates slide past each other, generating large earthquakes (like the San Andreas in California). Volcanic eruptions and large quakes are common enough that the region is on constant alert for them, and some nations like Haiti and the Dominican Republic–which share one island–have been struck repeatedly in recent years.
Main Development Region (MDR) of Atlantic cyclones.
The eastern half of the Caribbean is part of the Main Development Region for Atlantic cyclones. Powerful summer and fall storms are a terrible and recurrent part of life there. One storm can wipe out the entire crop on an island, such as how in 2007 Hurricane Dean destroyed 100% of Jamaica’s banana crop and badly damaged the coffee and sugarcane crops. An unfortunate side-effect, beyond the destruction of homes, infrastructure and livelihoods, is that repair and restoration after major events often becomes a fresh load of debt for the small, already-struggling governments.
Tomorrow: the Caribbean and climate change.
Be brave, and be well.
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