A mostly tropical geography, the climates are greatly shaped by sea temperatures and precipitation, with the hurricane season regularly leading to natural disasters. Because of its tropical climate and low lying island geography, the Caribbean is vulnerable to a number of climate change effects, including increased storm intensity, salt water intrusion, sea level rise and coastal erosion, and precipitation variability. These weather changes will greatly change the economies of the islands, especially the major industries of agricultural and tourism.
The Caribbean was occupied by indigenous people since at least 3600 BC. When European colonization followed the arrival of Columbus, the population was quickly decimated by brutal labor practices, enslavement and disease and on many islands, Europeans supplanted the native populations with enslaved Africans. Following the independence of Haiti from France in the early 19th century and the decline of slavery in the 19th century, island nations in the Caribbean gradually gained independence, with a wave of new states during the 1950s and 60s. Because of the proximity to the United States, there is also a long history of United States intervention in the region. Read more...
The fourth of five children in a family of subsistence farmers, Allen spent over a decade as a teacher and principal, before leaving education to be trained as an Adventist minister at Andrews University in the United States. After becoming a pastor, Allen went on to serve in a number of leadership roles within the Seventh-day Adventist Church, eventually becoming the leader of the West Indies Union of Seventh-day Adventists, which had jurisdiction over Jamaica, The Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Read more...
Saba has a land area of 13 square kilometres (5.0 sq mi), the population was 1,915 as of January 2019 with a population density of 148 inhabitants per square kilometre (380/sq mi). It is the smallest territory by permanent population in the Americas. Its towns and major settlements are The Bottom (the capital), Windwardside, Zion's Hill and St. Johns. Read more...
French Guianan cuisine or Guianan cuisine is a mixture of French, Bushinengue, and indigenous cuisines, supplemented by influences from the cuisines of more recent immigrant groups. Common ingredients include cassava, smoked fish, and smoked chicken. Chinese restaurants may be found alongside Creole restaurants in major cities such as Cayenne, Kourou and Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni. Read more...
In Haiti, Hazel destroyed 40 percent of the coffee trees and 50 percent of the cacao crop, affecting the economy for several years. The hurricane made landfall near Calabash, North Carolina, destroying most waterfront dwellings. It then traveled north along the Atlantic coast. Hazel affected Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York; it brought gusts near 160 km/h (100 mph) and caused $281 million (1954 USD) in damage. When it was over Pennsylvania, Hazel consolidated with a cold front and turned northwest towards Canada. When it hit Ontario as an extratropical storm, rivers and streams in and around Toronto overflowed their banks, which caused severe flooding. As a result, many residential areas in the local floodplains, such as the Raymore Drive area, were subsequently converted to parkland. In Canada alone, over C$135 million (2018: C$1.3 billion) of damage was incurred. Read more...
Reggae (/ˈrɛɡeɪ/) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the word "reggae", effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. While sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of popular Jamaican dance music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that was strongly influenced by traditional mento as well as American jazz and rhythm and blues, especially the New Orleans R&B practiced by Fats Domino and Allen Toussaint, and evolved out of the earlier genres ska and rocksteady. Reggae usually relates news, social gossip, and political commentary. Reggae spread into a commercialized jazz field, being known first as "rudie blues", then "ska", later "blue beat", and "rock steady". It is instantly recognizable from the counterpoint between the bass and drum downbeat and the offbeat rhythm section. The immediate origins of reggae were in ska and rocksteady; from the latter, reggae took over the use of the bass as a percussion instrument.
Reggae is deeply linked to Rastafari, an Afrocentric religion which developed in Jamaica in the 1930s, aiming at promoting Pan Africanism. Soon after the Rastafarian movement appeared, the international popularity of reggae music became associated with and increased the visibility of Rastafarianism spreading the Rastafari gospel throughout the world. Reggae music is an important means of transporting vital messages of Rastafarianism. The musician becomes the messenger, and as Rastafarians see it, "the soldier and the musician are tools for change." Read more...
Bath Hotel, Nevis, photograph by Jose Anjo of Antigua
Illustration circa 1815 showing "Incendie du Cap" (Burning of Cape Francais) during the Haitian Revolution. The caption reads: "General revolt of the Blacks. Massacre of the Whites".
Political evolution of Central America and the Caribbean from 1700 to present
A container ship docked in the deep water harbour of Bridgetown, Barbados, which opened in 1961.
The slaves brought to the Caribbean lived in inhumane conditions. Above are examples of slave huts in Bonaire provided by Dutch colonialists. About 5 feet tall and 6 feet wide, between 2 and 3 slaves slept in these after working in nearby salt mines.
A 19th-century lithograph by Theodore Bray showing a sugarcane plantation. On right is "white officer", the European overseer, watching plantation workers. To the left is a flat-bottomed vessel for cane transportation.
Spanish Caribbean Islands in the American Viceroyalties 1600.
A carriage on a street in Martinique, one of the Caribbean islands that has not become independent. It is an overseas region of France, and its citizens are full French citizens.
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