Caribbean

(Redirected from West Indies)

Categories: Caribbean | Americas

Image:Central america.jpg
Central America and the Caribbean (detailed pdf map)

The Caribbean, (Spanish: Caribe) or the West Indies is a group of countries and islands in the Caribbean Sea. These countries or islands are located from the southeastern areas of Mexico to the northwest of Venezuela in South America. There are at least 7,000 islands, islets, reefs, and cayes in the region. They are organized into 25 territories including sovereign states, overseas departments, and dependencies.

The name "West Indies" originates from Christopher Columbus' idea that he had landed in the Indies (then meaning all of south and east Asia) when he had in fact reached the Americas. The name "Caribbean" is named after the Caribs, one of the dominant Amerindian groups in the region at the time of European contact. The Caribbean consists of the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and is often considered part of North America.

At one time, there was a short-lived country called the Federation of the West Indies composed of the English-speaking Caribbean islands of the region.

The Caribbean area is also famous for its sea pirates. See the article piracy in the Caribbean.

The region known as "Caribbean" is usually restricted to the islands of the Caribbean Sea, although sometimes the continental American coastline is included.

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Historical groupings

Main article: History of the Caribbean

Most islands at some point were, or still are, colonies of European nations:

The British West Indies were formerly united by the United Kingdom into a West Indies Federation. The independent countries which were once a part of the B.W.I. still have a unified composite cricket team that successfully competes in test matches and one-day internationals. The West Indian cricket team includes the South American nation of Guyana, the only former British colony on that continent.

In addition, these countries share the University of the West Indies as a regional entity. The university consists of three main campuses in Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, a smaller campus in the Bahamas and Resident Tutors in other contributing territories.

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Present-day island territories of the Caribbean

Image:Tectonic plates Caribbean.png
Detail of tectonic plates from: Tectonic plates of the world

See also: Caribbean South America, Caribbean_basin

note: Bermuda is also considered by some to be part of the Caribbean

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Continental countries with Caribbean coastlines and islands

The nations of Belize and Guyana, although on the mainland of Central America and South America respectively, were former British colonies and maintain many cultural ties to the Caribbean and are members of CARICOM. The Turneffe Islands (and many other islands and reefs) are part of Belize and lie in the Caribbean Sea.

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Indigenous Tribes

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See also

Image:Portal.gif Caribbean portal
Find more information on Caribbean by searching one of Wikipedia's sibling projects:

Image:Wiktionary-logo-en.png Wiktionary (a free dictionary)
Image:Wikibooks-logo.png Wikibooks (free textbooks)
Image:Wikiquote-logo.png Wikiquote (quotations)
Image:Wikisource-logo.jpg Wikisource (a free library)
Image:Commons-logo.svg Commons (images and media)
Image:Wikinews-logo.png Wikinews (news stories)

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Regional Institutions

Here are some of the bodies that several islands share in collaboration:

Many of the nations in the Caribbean play international cricket as one team called the West Indies.


Regions of the World
Africa: Central Africa | East Africa | Great Lakes | Guinea | Horn of Africa | North Africa | Maghreb / Northwest Africa | Sahel | Southern Africa | Sub-Saharan Africa | Sudan | West Africa
Americas: Andean states | Caribbean | Central America | Great Lakes | Great Plains | Guianas | Latin America | North America | Patagonia | South America | Southern Cone
Asia: Central Asia | East Asia | East Indies | Far East | Indian subcontinent | North Asia | Southeast Asia | Southwest Asia (Middle East / Near East, Levant, Anatolia, Arabia)
Europe: Balkans | Baltic region | Benelux | British Isles | Central Europe | Eastern Europe | Northern Europe | Scandinavia | Southern Europe | Western Europe
Eurasia: Caucasus | Mediterranean | Post-Soviet states
Oceania: Australasia | Melanesia | Micronesia | Polynesia | Aleutian Islands | Pacific Rim
Polar: Arctic | Antarctic
ca:Carib

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