Caribbean

The **Caribbean** or **Caribbean Area** (Dutch: _Cariben_ or _Caraiben_, French: _Caraïbe_ or more commonly _Antilles_; Spanish: _Caribe_) is a region of the Americas. It includes the Caribbean Sea, its islands (more than 7,000 islands, small islands and cays, most of them surrounding the sea), and the coastal islands of north South America and east Central America.

## Geography

The Caribbean is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to its east and north, the coast of South America to its south, the coast of Central America to its southwest, and by the Gulf of Mexico to its northwest.

The **West Indies** is the name for the group of the islands of The Bahamas and the _Antilles_. The Antilles are divided into two groups: the larger _Greater Antilles_, on the north limit of the Caribbean Sea, and the _Lesser Antilles_, on the east and south.

The Caribbean islands have many different types of land. Because of this, the islands have many different kinds of plants and animals, even uncommon ones.

Famous islands in the Caribbean include: Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. The countries of Dominican Republic, and Haiti are on Hispaniola.
There is also a lot of white sandy beaches and hot sun there.

## Countries and territories by island group

|Name|Area <small>(km<sup>2</sup>)</small> !! Population !! Density <small>(inhab./km<sup>2</sup>)</small> !! Capital city !! Oficial language|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|colspan="6"|**Greater Antilles**|||||
||264|53,737|204|George Town|English|
||110,860|11,061,886|100|Havana|Spanish|
|Hispaniola|76,420|20,113,564|263|||
||48,670|10,219,630|210|Santo Domingo|Spanish|
||27,750|9,893,934|357|Port-au-Prince|French|
||10,991|2,909,714|265|Kingston|English|
||13,790|3,674,209|266|San Juan|Spanish|
|colspan="6"|**Lesser Antilles**|||||
|colspan="6"|_Leeward Antilles_|||||
|ABC Islands|76,420|20,113,564|263|||
||180|109,153|606|Oranjestad|Dutch|
||294|16,541|56|Kralendijk|Dutch|
||444|146,836|331|Willemstad|Dutch|
|Federal Dependencies|||||Spanish|
|Nueva Esparta|||||Spanish|
|colspan="6"|_Leeward Islands_|||||
||91|15,754|173|The Valley|English|
||443|90,156|204|Saint John's|English|
||151|31,912|211|Road Town|English|
||1,628|405,500|249|Basse-Terre|French|
||102|5,189|51|Plymouth|English|
||13|1,971|152|The Bottom|Dutch|
||22|7,298|332|Gustavia|French|
||261|51,134|196|Basseterre|English|
|Saint Martin|88|70,953|806|||
|Saint Martin|54|31,264|579|Marigot|French|
||34|39,689|1167|Philipsburg|Dutch|
||21|3,791|181|Oranjestad|Dutch|
||1,910|104,737|55|Charlotte Amalie|English|
|colspan="6"|_Windward  Islands_|||||
||430|288,725|671|Bridgetown|English|
||751|73,286|98|Roseau|English|
||344|109,590|319|St. George's|English|
||1,128|403,795|358|Fort-de-France|French|
||616|162,781|264|Castries|English|
||389|103,220|265|Kingstown|English|
||5,128|1,225,225|239|Port of Spain|English|
|colspan="6"|**Lucayan Archipelago**|||||
||13,880|319,031|23|Nassau|English|
||948|47,754|50|Grand Turk (Cockburn Town)|English|

## Name

The name Caribbean comes from _Carib_, Indigenous people living in the Lesser Antilles and north South America when the Europeans came to the Americas.

## History

The 18th century saw many countries trying to colonize the islands. Because of this, Caribbean culture is very similar to those of Africa, India, and many countries in Europe.