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.Carribian Islands-Geography. Mongabay.com. Accessed 4-19-2011

 Countries and territories by island group 

 Name  Area(km2)  Population  Density(inhab./km2)  Capital city  Oficiallanguage 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 Lesser Antilles 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 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 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 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.

References