|
| |
 |
COUNTRY LISTINGS |
|
|
 |
|
| Antigua |
| Between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east-southeast of Puerto Rico stand these two pieces of land. The Siboney were the first to inhabit the islands of Antigua and Barbuda in 2400 B.C., but Arawak Indians populated the islands when Columbus landed on his second voyage in 1493. |
| read more |
|
|
|
|
| Bahamas |
| Lucayan Indians inhabited the islands when Christopher Columbus first set foot in the New World on San Salvador in 1492. British settlement of the islands began in 1647; the islands became a colony in 1783. Since attaining independence from the UK in 1973, The Bahamas have prospered through tourism and international banking and investment management. |
| read more |
|
|
|
|
| Barbados |
| The island was uninhabited when first settled by the British in 1627. Slaves worked on the sugar plantations established on the island until 1834 when slavery was abolished. The economy remained heavily dependent on sugar, rum, and molasses production through most of the 20th century. |
| read more |
|
|
|
|
| Belize |
| Belize was the site of several Mayan city-states until their decline at the end of the first millennium A.D. The British and Spanish disputed the region in the 17th and 18th centuries; it formally became the colony of British Honduras in 1854. |
| read more |
|
|
|
|
| Dominica |
| Dominica is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and its name in Latin means ?Sunday?. This was the day it was discovered by Christopher Columbus. Prior to the coming of Columbus the island was called Wai?tu kubuli which means ?Tall is her body?, by the warlike Caribs which occupied the island. |
| read more |
|
|
|
|
| Grenada |
| Carib Indians inhabited Grenada when COLUMBUS discovered the island in 1498, but it remained uncolonized for more than a century. The French settled Grenada in the 17th century, established sugar estates, and imported large numbers of African slaves. Britain took the island in 1762 and vigorously expanded sugar production. |
| read more |
|
|
|
|
| Guyana |
| Exuding natural beauty and a perfect combination of South America and the Caribbean is the country called Guyana, land of many waters. Named by the Amerindians, Guyana is the forth-smallest country in South America after Suriname, French Guyana and Uruguay; substantial portions of its western and eastern territories are claimed by Venezuela and Suriname respectively. |
| read more |
|
|
|
|
| Haiti |
| The native Taino Amerindians - who inhabited the island of Hispaniola when it was discovered by Columbus in 1492 - were virtually annihilated by Spanish settlers within 25 years. In the early 17th century, the French established a presence on Hispaniola, and in 1697, Spain ceded to the French the western third of the island, which later became Haiti. |
| read more |
|
|
|
|
| Jamaica |
| Jamaica is an island of contrasts. Expanses of white beach and palm-ringed coves around the perimeter with thick, lush, rain-forested, very steep mountains inland. The Blue Mountains are famous and their waterfalls are legendary. Probably the most developed of the Caribbean islands, Jamaica offers about anything a tourist might desire. |
| read more |
|
|
|
|
| Montserrat |
| English and Irish colonists from St. Kitts first settled on Montserrat in 1632; the first African slaves arrived three decades later. The British and French fought for possession of the island for most of the 18th century, but it finally was confirmed as a British possession in 1783. |
| read more |
|
|
|
|
| St. Kitts & Nevis |
| First settled by the British in 1623, the islands became an associated state with full internal autonomy in 1967. The island of Anguilla rebelled and was allowed to secede in 1971. Saint Kitts and Nevis achieved independence in 1983. In 1998, a vote in Nevis on a referendum to separate from Saint Kitts fell short of the two-thirds majority needed. Nevis continues in its efforts to try and separate from Saint Kitts. |
| read more |
|
|
|
|
| St. Lucia |
| The island, with its fine natural harbor at Castries, was contested between England and France throughout the 17th and early 18th centuries (changing possession 14 times); it was finally ceded to the UK in 1814. Self-government was granted in 1967 and independence in 1979. |
| read more |
|
|
|
|
| St. Vincent |
| Carib Indians aggressively prevented European settlement on St. Vincent until the 18th century. African slaves, whether shipwrecked or escaped from St. Lucia or Grenada and seeking refuge in St. Vincent, intermarried with the Caribs and became known as "black Caribs". Commencing in 1719, French settlers cultivated coffee, tobacco, indigo, cotton, and sugar on plantations worked by African slaves. |
| read more |
|
|
|
|
| Suriname |
| English in the mid-17th century, Suriname became a Dutch colony in 1667. With the abolition of slavery in 1863, workers were brought in from India and Java. Independence from the Netherlands was granted in 1975. Five years later the civilian government was replaced by a military regime that soon declared a socialist republic. |
| read more |
|
|
|
|
| Trinidad & Tobago |
| First colonized by the Spanish, the islands came under British control in the early 19th century. The islands' sugar industry was hurt by the emancipation of the slaves in 1834. Manpower was replaced with the importation of contract laborers from India between 1845 and 1917, which boosted sugar production as well as the cocoa industry. |
| read more |
|
|
|
