Caribbean Basin

TheCaribbean Basin orCaribbean Proper (or theCaribbean Basin region^[1]) is a geopolitical term used to describe countries which generally border theCaribbean Sea.^[2] As a geopolitical concept, the term often includes the country ofEl Salvador, which only touches thePacific Ocean, for its similarities to neighbouring countries. The definition has also been taken literally at times^{[according to whom?]} and can exclude areas such asBarbados and theTurks and Caicos Islands which also do not technically touch the Caribbean Sea.^[3]

During theCold War, the then US PresidentRonald Reagan coined the term to define the region benefiting from his administration'sCaribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) economic program, approved inUS law in 1983. Thus, the Caribbean basin included only the countries of theCaribbean insular andCentral America that met the requirements of the CBI, andCuba andNicaragua, which the American government viewed as politically "repressive" and "economic failure" were excluded.^[4][5][1] As a result of this US foreign policy initiative, the term "Caribbean Basin" began to be used as a geographic description in the 1980s.^[6]

Canadian historians and academics, ProfessorGraeme S. Mount and ProfessorStephen Randall, citing historianBruce B. Solnick, posits that:

"...one area of the modern Caribbean basin owes its heritage to the legacy of the Spanish Empire; other segments were traditionally British preserve; a third area was French, and a final area, more diminutive, was dominated by the Netherlands in the colonial years. It is not surprising, therefore, as Solnick notes, that "often the history of the region is treated solely as a function of European colonial expansion."^[7][8]

In the latter part of the 20th century, following the collapse of European colonialism, the Caribbean became "an American lake" which American hegemony seek to provide a form of unity in the region,^[9] though the USA never saw itself as a Caribbean nation, nor didVenezuela until the 1970s.^[10] That view is supported by the America historian and author, ProfessorRobert Pastor who argues that: "...all the nations in and around theCaribbean Sea seemed to have in common was a view of the United States as the "colossus of the north" and the U.S. view of them as a "backyard."^[10]

The geographical area runs from the north in theGreater Antilles (such asCuba,Hispaniola,Jamaica, andPuerto Rico) to the west along the Caribbean coast of theYucatan Peninsula, inMexico and the Caribbean coasts ofCentral America, continuing towards the east by thearc formed by theLesser Antilles and to the south by the Caribbean coasts ofPanama,Colombia, andVenezuela.^{[citation needed]} It is customary^{[according to whom?]} to includeBermuda and theBahamian Archipelago within this region, although they are located in theAtlantic Ocean outside the arc, since they share a cultural and historical legacy with other countries in the region.^[11]

• Caribbean Basin Initiative
• Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act
• Greater Caribbean

• McCalla *, R., Slack, B., & Comtois, C. (2005). "The Caribbean basin: adjusting to global trends in containerization. Maritime Policy & Management", 32(3), 245–261.[7]
• Pastor, Robert, "Sinking in the Caribbean Basin." Foreign Affairs. Vol. 60, No. 5 (Summer, 1982), pp. 1038-1058. Council on Foreign Relations (1982) [in]JSTOR[8]

• Caribbean Basin

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