From: vprescod@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Veryl A Prescod)
Subject: Re: Carribean vs. West Indies vs Antilles
Organization: The Ohio State University
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 02:24:36 GMT

>>>The Caribbean is all those
>>>islands which lie in the Caribbean, and whose culture does not include crick
et,
>>>so Cuba, Puerto Rico, Bahamas (actually I don't know whether B'mas plays) I
>>>consider Caribbean, but not West Indian.  Antilles are those islands which a
re
>>>Dutch and French speaking!!!
>>
>> Also continental countries bordering the Caribbean sea (e.g. Suriname,
>> Venezuala, Guyana, Nicaragua etc.).
>>>
Robert, I do not think that the Caribbean sea washes the shore of Suriname and
Guyana, I think that they only get the Atlantic Ocean, I may be wrong, but I
doubt it!!  Also, I consider Nicaragua and Venezuela, as part of mainland
America or as Central America, or South America, I had included Guyana as
West Indies (and I do think that it is a colonial term, I never said that I
liked it!) because of my earlier definition - THEY PLAY CRICKET.

If any one of you cannot see a cultural difference between those islands who
play cricket and those who don't then you should visit Trinidad, Barbados,
Jamaica, Antigua or Guyana when there is test cricket going on.

>1. I think Southern Florida SHOULD be considered as part of the Caribbean
>whether people like it or not.  Let's face it: the Greater Miami area has
>been a Latin American and Caribbean metropolis for a while.

I agree that you can call South Florida Caribbean, after all, the Caribbean sea
washes it's shores, but until you guys start to play serious cricket up there,
don't try to refer to it as West Indies.
>
>2. As far as the definitions are concerned, the same expressions can be
>used to refer to different parts of the Caribbean.  In general, it is
>understood that "Antilles" is synonymous with "Caribbean". However,
>in France, it is used to describe Martinique, Guadeloupe and St Martin
>ONLY.  As far as West Indies is concerned, I have always thought it
>as being equivalent to "Caribbean".  It is quite clear that Veryl
>(and probably many other English-speaking persons) don't think the
>same way.  (When I mail stuff to Haiti, I always write on the
>envelope 'Haiti (West Indies)'. Isn't that telling?).
>
>3. Because of what I have outlined in #2, I have come to reject the
>expressions 'Antilles' and 'West Indies' when talking about the
>Caribbean. Their multiple definitions (depending on the context)
>make them less effective in describing the region as a whole.
>Also, Caribbean comes from the word 'Karib' or 'Caraibes' (name of
>one of the 'original' ethnic groups that inhabited these lands).
>Therefore, it historically precedes "Antilles" and "West Indies"
>which came about after the "discovery" of the Americas.
>
>4. I LOVE Veryl's circular - or is it recursive? - description of
>the Caribbean ("the Caribbean is all the the islands in the
>Caribbean"?). I think that quote is pretty close.
>
>Patrice Backer

Yes Patrice, I usually do not use the term West Indies, and when I do, it
refers to those islands which I outlined earlier, and the Caribbean is all 
inclusive.   The term West Indies is only still here because of the
cricket team ( I know all yuh fed up of hearing cricket), but if there
were no cricket team, I suspect that that word would have been
phased out long ago, it is more familiar in the criketing world, most
U.S. citizens have are not even familiar with the term West Indies, but then
again, most U.S. citizens are not familiar with any place outside of their own
state! (sorry Americans, but you know that there is some truth there!)

Veryl
(another Trini on de net)