West Indies | Islands, People, History, Maps, & Facts
West Indies encyclopedia encyclopeadia britannica article
Bridget M. Brereton Colin Graham Clarke
The West Indies is a crescent-shaped group of islands separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north. The islands stretch 1,200 miles southeastward from Florida, then 500 miles south, then west along the north coast of Venezuela.
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Encyclopedia Britannica
West Indies, crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north. From the peninsula of Florida on the mainland of the United States, the islands stretch 1,200 miles (1,900 km) southeastward, then 500 miles (800 km) south, then west along the north coast of Venezuela on the South American mainland.

Three major physiographic divisions constitute the West Indies: the Greater Antilles, comprising the islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico; the Lesser Antilles, including the Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, and Grenada; and the isolated island groups of the North American continental shelf—The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands—and those of the South American shelf, including Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire. (Bermuda, although physiographically not a part of the West Indies, has common historical and cultural ties with the other islands and is often included in definitions of the region.)

The shape and alignment of the Greater Antilles are determined by an ancient chain of folded and faulted mountains that in Cretaceous times extended from Central America through the Caribbean. Running west-east, this system is now mostly submerged by the Atlantic and the Caribbean, but remnants of it are visible in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica and in the Sierra de los Órganos and the Sierra Maestra in Cuba. Duarte Peak, in the Dominican Republic, another component of this range, rises to 10,417 feet (3,175 metres) and is the highest point in the Caribbean. Besides interior mountain peaks, each Greater Antillean island has an encircling coastal plain.

Trending north-south, another mostly submerged chain of mountains forms the double arc of small islands that make up the Lesser Antilles. Stretching from Saint Kitts to Grenada, the mountainous inner arc consists of volcanic cones, some still active. The outer arc—running from Anguilla to Barbados—is made up of low, flat islands whose limestone surfaces overlie older volcanic or crystalline rocks.

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Islands and Archipelagos

The West Indies have a tropical maritime climate. Daily maximum temperatures over most of the region range from the mid-80s F (upper 20s C) from December to April to the upper 80s F (low 30s C) from May to November. Nighttime temperatures are about 10 °F (6 °C) cooler. Most islands experience a wet and a dry season; annual rainfall totals range from 30 to 80 inches (800 to 2,000 mm) but reach more than 200 inches (5,000 mm) on the highest peaks. The region’s moisture-laden trade winds produce heavy rainfall on the windward sides of the higher islands. Tropical cyclones (called hurricanes locally) frequently occur between August and October, and relative humidity is high throughout the year.

The forests that once covered most of the West Indies were cut down in many areas by sugar-plantation owners for firewood to heat their refining vats. This practice resulted in soil impoverishment and erosion. Destruction of primeval forest has also occurred as a result of slash-and-burn agriculture. Some countries have recognized the importance of the forests, however, and have passed laws to prevent deforestation. Surviving types of forest include mangrove swamps, which thrive along some coasts; semi-deciduous woodland, found in the Leeward Islands (the northern group of the Lesser Antilles; the southern group is called the Windward Islands) and other areas of prolonged drought; tropical rainforest of the wet lowlands; montane forest, occurring in wet highlands; and elfin woodland, which occurs on exposed peaks.

A large number of plant species in the Caribbean are indigenous to the region. At high elevations in the Greater Antilles, species more typical of midlatitude and subarctic flora are found. Land fauna is an impoverished version of the fauna found on the nearby South American mainland. There are many rodents, including the rabbitlike agouti, and numerous species of bats and lizards. Bird species include several parrots, hummingbirds, ibis, and flamingos. The coastal seas are rich in marine life, including turtles, shellfish, caiman, dolphin, red snapper, bonito, and flying fish. Marine life is largely unexploited for food.

The population of the West Indies is ethnically heterogeneous and largely the legacy of an early plantation society based on slave labour. Most of the population is descended from enslaved Africans or from Spanish, French, British, or Dutch colonists or is of mixed ethnicity. The West Indies’ creole languages, evolved from pidgin variants of European languages, have become the common languages of many of the people. The French and English creoles are a blend of these languages with African and West Indian languages. By contrast, the major Spanish-language communities—Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic—speak pure Spanish. Papiamentu, a Spanish-Dutch (Netherlandic)-Portuguese-English creole, is widely spoken on Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire. South Asians constitute a substantial minority in the region, especially in Trinidad and Tobago, where they make up almost four-tenths of the population. Chinese constitute a smaller minority, and people of European (principally Spanish) descent account for some seven-tenths of the population of Puerto Rico. Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion in the Spanish- and French-speaking islands, while Protestantism is the norm in the English-speaking and Dutch territories.

The region’s birth rate historically has been low in comparison with those of other less-developed countries. Emigration, moreover, has played a more significant role in the West Indies than in most other regions, having the effect of dampening population growth even more. Emigration was substantial throughout the 20th century, and more than half of the natural increase in the region was lost owing to emigration. On the other hand, the death rate also declined steadily in the second half of the century, primarily because of reductions in the rate of infant mortality, and remained comparatively low for a less-developed region of the world. About three-fifths of the West Indies’ population is urban, and the rural population has dwindled on many islands because of considerable rural-to-urban migration.

With the exception of Cuba, which has a centrally planned economy, the West Indies can be characterized as a predominantly free-enterprise market region. The economies of the region are marked by dependence on the export of a few commodities, commonly agricultural, and consequently are extremely vulnerable to external economic events. Weak and unstable foreign markets have contributed to the generally unfavourable international-trade accounts of many West Indian countries.

The per capita gross national product (GNP) of the countries in the region ranged in the early 21st century from less than $400 in Haiti (well below the world average) to more than $30,000 in Cuba (comparable to the per capita GNP of many western European countries) and more than $24,000 in the U.S. Virgin Islands. A number of international trade agreements, including the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), have been established to stimulate the West Indian economy, particularly manufacturing. The CBI was begun by the United States in 1984 to provide duty-free access to the U.S. market for a wide range of products.

Agriculture is the traditional basis of the economies of the West Indies, but production and employment in agriculture have been declining. Most countries are not self-sufficient in food production, and cereals, primarily wheat, are the chief food imports. Sugar, bananas, citrus, cocoa, and spices are the principal exports and the major source of foreign exchange for a number of countries. To reduce vulnerability to external markets, many countries have diversified their agricultural production.

Manufacturing in the West Indies accounts for a minor part of overall economic activity. Several countries, including Barbados, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, have developed significant mineral industries, with the chief mineral exports being bauxite from Jamaica and petroleum from Trinidad.

Among the dependent states, foreign subsidies and remittances provide a major source of income. Tourism has become the major industry on some islands and a major source of foreign exchange. Often, however, it raises the local cost of living without producing much employment. It is also quick to decline during times of economic recession.

Cuba has endeavoured to break the usual pattern of economic dependence on one or two main cash crops so common in the West Indies. Traditionally dependent on the sugar industry, it has attempted to diversify its economy by increasing its imports of capital goods to use as the basis for new industries.

In an attempt to overcome problems of small size and dependence on a few export items, the Caribbean countries have formed economic unions, including the Central American Common Market, which established a regional free-trade zone; the Caribbean Community (Caricom), which promotes cooperation between English-speaking countries; and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, whose members, as signatories of the Lomé Convention of 1975, receive preferential tariffs from the European Union.

The governmental forms of the independent states of the West Indies range from the socialist republic of Cuba to republics such as Dominica and the Dominican Republic and to constitutional monarchies such as Jamaica and Saint Lucia; the majority of these countries have gained their independence from colonial powers since the early 1960s. Dependent states include those in free association with the United States, internally self-governing states within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, dependent territories of the United Kingdom, and overseas départements of France. In most of the region, political parties openly express opposition views. Notable exceptions include Cuba and Haiti. In countries with parliamentary governments, the two-party system is common.

The independent states of the West Indies tend to be aligned with Western countries. The United Kingdom, France, and the United States are responsible for the defense of their overseas lands in the West Indies. The United Kingdom and France also generally maintain close relations with former dependencies, supplying military training, arms, and, in some cases, defense. Moreover, they maintain military bases on several of these strategically important islands.

Standards of living, relative to other less-developed countries, are generally high, particularly in the dependent states that receive large subsidies from central governments. Social welfare programs, particularly in the dependent states, are comprehensive and have contributed to an improvement in health conditions in the region. Health services, however, remain generally inadequate, and, partly because of the high rate of emigration, shortages of medical personnel are common. The main health problems are those associated with the supply and improvement of drinking water and with the disposal of sewage. Diseases of the circulatory system and cancer are major causes of death, while gastroenteritis, influenza, pneumonia, malaria, tuberculosis, and childhood diseases are also major health problems. In the least-developed countries, children and women commonly suffer from nutritional-deficiency diseases. Housing is often substandard, and shortages are chronic throughout the region.

Educational systems are generally well developed, and the great majority of countries have literacy rates exceeding 80 percent. Higher education is available at a number of colleges and universities, including the University of the West Indies, which has campuses and distance-education centres in more than a dozen countries in the region.

In spite of their diversity in ancestry and language, the countries of the West Indies share a largely common culture, the result of their somewhat parallel experiences as plantation colonies. The culture of the Caribbean people is a blend of African, American Indian, European, and, in some cases, Asian influences. The islands take pride in their lively cultural scenes, with dances, parties, and festivals, notably annual carnival celebrations. Reggae music, now world-renowned, originated in Jamaica. Modern Caribbean literature owes much to writers and philosophers of the West Indies, including those who emigrated elsewhere; some notable names include Aimé Césaire (Martinique), V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad), Jean Price-Mars and Edwidge Danticat (Haiti), and C.L.R. James and Derek Walcott, who spoke to themes important to African descendants in the West Indies.

Press and broadcast media are best developed in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, but they are present at least minimally in all of the political units. The extent of government control varies considerably within the region.