Omissions? [21], The Lesser Antilles is a volcanic island arc rising along the leading edge of the Caribbean Plate due to the subduction of the Atlantic seafloor of the North American and South American plates. They hoped that the Federation would coalesce into a single, independent nation. In countries with parliamentary governments, the two-party system is common. Daily maximum temperatures over most of the region range from the mid-80s F (upper 20s C) from December to April to the upper 80s F (low 30s C) from May to November. Standards of living, relative to other less-developed countries, are generally high, particularly in the dependent states that receive large subsidies from central governments. These islands have nothing to do with India – they were named the West Indies because when Christopher Columbus arrived on the island of Hispanola (where the Dominican Republic and Haiti are), he thought that he was in India. [19] It is estimated that nearly 70% of Cuba consists of karst limestone. Often, however, it raises the local cost of living without producing much employment. In 1492, Christopher Columbus became the first European to record his arrival at the islands, where he is believed by historians to have first set foot on land in The Bahamas. Press and broadcast media are best developed in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, but they are present at least minimally in all of the political units. Island region of the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean, This article is about the group of islands in the, For the West Indies international cricket team, see, For the 1979 Algerian-Mauritanian film, see, For the main body of water in this subregion, see, Countries and territories by subregion and archipelago. The economies of the region are marked by dependence on the export of a few commodities, commonly agricultural, and consequently are extremely vulnerable to external economic events. Health services, however, remain generally inadequate, and, partly because of the high rate of emigration, shortages of medical personnel are common. Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion in the Spanish- and French-speaking islands, while Protestantism is the norm in the English-speaking and Dutch territories. West Indies or West India was the namesake of several companies of the 17th and 18th centuries, including the Danish West India Company, the Dutch West India Company, the French West India Company, and the Swedish West India Company. Tropical cyclones (called hurricanes locally) frequently occur between August and October, and relative humidity is high throughout the year. Tourism has become the major industry on some islands and a major source of foreign exchange. Nighttime temperatures are about 10 °F (6 °C) cooler. (Bermuda, although physiographically not a part of the West Indies, has common historical and cultural ties with the other islands and is often included in definitions of the region.). All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions © 2020 worldatlas.com, The 10 Least Densely Populated Places in the World. The forests that once covered most of the West Indies were cut down in many areas by sugar-plantation owners for firewood to heat their refining vats. However, based on proximity, these islands are sometimes grouped with the Windward Islands culturally and politically. Besides interior mountain peaks, each Greater Antillean island has an encircling coastal plain. Modern Caribbean literature owes much to writers and philosophers of the West Indies, including those who emigrated elsewhere; some notable names include Aimé Césaire (Martinique), V.S. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. The extent of government control varies considerably within the region. [14] The islands of the Greater Antilles are composed of strata of different geological ages including Precambrian fragmented remains of the North American Plate (older than 541 million years), Jurassic aged limestone (201.3-145 million years ago), as well as island arc deposits and oceanic crust from the Cretaceous (145-66 million years ago). Running west-east, this system is now mostly submerged by the Atlantic and the Caribbean, but remnants of it are visible in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica and in the Sierra de los Órganos and the Sierra Maestra in Cuba. Naipaul (Trinidad), Jean Price-Mars and Edwidge Danticat (Haiti), and C.L.R. However, based on proximity, these islands are sometimes grouped with the Windward Islands culturally and politically. consist of over 3,000 individual islands and reefs. [10], West Indian is the official term used by the U.S. government to refer to people of the West Indies.[11]. Updates? The French and English creoles are a blend of these languages with African and West Indian languages. Chinese constitute a smaller minority, and people of European (principally Spanish) descent account for some seven-tenths of the population of Puerto Rico. In the late sixteenth century, French, English and Dutch merchants and privateers began their operations in the Caribbean Sea, attacking Spanish and Portuguese shipping and coastal areas. ~ Disputed territories administered by Colombia. 41,116,200. The Dutch, allied with the Caribs of the Orinoco, would eventually carry the struggles deep into South America, first along the Orinoco and then along the northern reaches of the Amazon. The subregion includes all the islands in the Antilles, plus The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, which are in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Greater Antilles include some of the most well-known individual islands, including Cuba and Puerto Rico. These Africans wrought a demographic revolution, replacing or joining with either the indigenous Caribs or the European settlers who were there as indentured servants. About three-fifths of the West Indies’ population is urban, and the rural population has dwindled on many islands because of considerable rural-to-urban migration. Emigration was substantial throughout the 20th century, and more than half of the natural increase in the region was lost owing to emigration.

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