Map of the Caribbean TheCaribbean orCaribbean Area (Dutch :Cariben orCaraiben ,French :Caraïbe or more commonlyAntilles ;Spanish :Caribe ) is aregion of theAmericas . It includes theCaribbean Sea , itsislands (more than 7,000 islands, small islands andcays , most of them surrounding the sea), and the coastal islands of northSouth America and eastCentral America .
The Caribbean is bordered by theAtlantic Ocean to its east and north, thecoast ofSouth America to its south, the coast ofCentral America to its southwest, and by theGulf of Mexico to its northwest.
TheWest Indies is the name for the group of the islands ofThe Bahamas and theAntilles . The Antilles are divided into two groups: the largerGreater Antilles Lesser Antilles
The Caribbean islands havemany different types of land . Because of this, the islands have manydifferent kinds ofplants andanimals , even uncommon ones.
Famous islands in the Caribbean include:Cuba ,Hispaniola ,Jamaica , andPuerto Rico . The countries ofDominican Republic , andHaiti are on Hispaniola.There is also a lot of white sandy beaches and hot sun there.[ 1]
Name Area[ 2] (km2 ) Population[ 3] Density(inhab./km2 ) Capital city Oficial Greater Antilles Cayman Islands 264 53,737 204 George Town English Cuba 110,860 11,061,886 100 Havana Spanish Hispaniola 76,420 20,113,564 263 Dominican Republic 48,670 10,219,630 210 Santo Domingo Spanish Haiti 27,750 9,893,934 357 Port-au-Prince French Jamaica 10,991 2,909,714 265 Kingston English Puerto Rico 13,790 3,674,209 266 San Juan Spanish Lesser Antilles Leeward Antilles ABC Islands 76,420 20,113,564 263 Aruba 180 109,153 606 Oranjestad Dutch Bonaire 294 16,541 56 Kralendijk Dutch Curaçao 444 146,836 331 Willemstad Dutch Federal Dependencies Spanish Nueva Esparta Spanish Leeward Islands Anguilla 91 15,754 173 The Valley English Antigua and Barbuda 443 90,156 204 Saint John's English British Virgin Islands 151 31,912 211 Road Town English Guadeloupe 1,628 405,500 249 Basse-Terre French Montserrat 102 5,189 51 Plymouth English Saba 13 1,971 152 The Bottom Dutch Saint Barthélemy 22 7,298 332 Gustavia French Saint Kitts and Nevis 261 51,134 196 Basseterre English Saint Martin 88 70,953 806 Saint Martin 54 31,264 579 Marigot French Sint Maarten 34 39,689 1167 Philipsburg Dutch Sint Eustatius 21 3,791 181 Oranjestad Dutch United States Virgin Islands 1,910 104,737 55 Charlotte Amalie English Windward Islands Barbados 430 288,725 671 Bridgetown English Dominica 751 73,286 98 Roseau English Grenada 344 109,590 319 St. George's English Martinique 1,128 403,795 358 Fort-de-France French Saint Lucia 616 162,781 264 Castries English Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 389 103,220 265 Kingstown English Trinidad and Tobago 5,128 1,225,225 239 Port of Spain English Lucayan Archipelago Bahamas 13,880 319,031 23 Nassau English Turks and Caicos Islands 948 47,754 50 Grand Turk (Cockburn Town) English
The name Caribbean comes fromCarib Indigenous people living in theLesser Antilles and northSouth America when theEuropeans came to the Americas.
The18th century saw many countries trying tocolonize the islands.[ 4] culture is very similar to those ofAfrica ,India , and many countries inEurope .
