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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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