HOW DO YOU DEFINE THE CARIBBEAN?
TREATING THE CARIBBEAN AS IF ONLY THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING ISLANDS COUNT IS NOT CRICKET
By Ricky Browne
Geographically, the Caribbean must be one of the most confusing areas of the world.
The definition of what is Caribbean is very fluid and depends much on the view of the person who is speaking rather than a clear cut statement.
Even the definition of the Caribbean Sea varies, in a way that the Mediterranean Sea never does.
The general definition of the sea is that area that is bounded by Central America in the west, the Greater Antilles islands of Cuba, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico in the North, and the Lesser Antilles in the east. But sometimes allowances are made to include the Bahamas, which are further north than Cuba (while not including Florida) and Barbados in the west, though it sits outside the arc of the Windward and Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.
And then you have the issue of language. The Caribbean area was colonised by many European countries, and later by the United States as well, meaning that several languages are spoken in the region, including Spanish, French, English, Dutch, Haitian Kreyol and Papiamento.
But many people from the English-speaking Caribbean speak about the Caribbean as if it is only composed of those states which recently belonged to the British West Indies. That means ignoring Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, France and its Overseas Departments, and the Dutch islands.
That of course is a ridiculous position, as put together all the English-speaking countries still wouldn’t make up the area or population of Cuba or Haiti or the Dom Rep. But it shows the kind of silo-thinking that is engrained in the English-speaking Caribbean countries.
Virtually all of the countries and territories in the Caribbean area border the Caribbean on one coast and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. There are few islands that can claim to be completely surrounded by the Caribbean, with Jamaica by far the largest.
The other fully-Caribbean islands include the Cayman Islands and the ABC islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.
Barbados is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, even though its west coast is much calmer than its more –exposed east coast. But the island is thought of as being Caribbean, even though it is not in the Caribbean Sea.
The same applies to the Bahamas, which are north of the Caribbean Sea.
Bermuda is even further from the Caribbean, and really doesn’t even come close to counting.
But who wants to go to the Atlantic for their romantic holidays abroad? The Caribbean has a much better ring to it and is a much more marketable term.
English-speakers also like to ignore the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, which all border the Caribbean on their east coasts – except for El Salvador which doesn’t have an eastern coast.
But they make an exception for Belize, formerly British Honduras, because it speaks English. It was run from Jamaica – along with the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands. And it is a part of Caricom, the Caribbean Community – which is composed mainly of English-speaking countries.
But that ignores the fact that Jamaicans and other English-speaking people populated the Caribbean coasts of much of Central America, including places like Bluefields in Nicaragua, Colon in Panama and Limon in Costa Rica.
Honduras owns the Bay Islands in the Caribbean, which include the English-speaking islands of Roatan, Utila and Guanaja.
Many people from the English-speaking Caribbean countries consider Guyana in South America to be a Caribbean country. Its capital of Georgetown is also the home of the Caricom headquarters. But Guyana does not sit on the Caribbean Sea. It is on the Atlantic.
Rationally, you would expect Suriname, which is right next to Guyana to be considered Caribbean as well. It is a member of Caricom after all. But it speaks Dutch – so it is overlooked.
And right beside Suriname is French Guiana which should logically be thought of as Caribbean as well, as it is barely distinguishable from Suriname, at least in geography. But it speaks French, so it is not included.
Colombia, which does have a Caribbean coast, is also not considered Caribbean, though it actually has three islands in the Caribbean sea – San Andres, Providenica and Santa Catalina. The islands sit off the Nicaraguan coast, and many of the people there are of Jamaican descent and speak English, or a patois based on English. But that is ignored.
Nicaragua’s Corn Islands also speak English – but who’s heard of them?
Venezuela also has a Caribbean coast – and has several islands in the Caribbean Sea, including Margarita and Tortuga. But it too is not considered to be a part of the Caribbean by many in the English-speaking group.
Further north there is Mexico, which has a Caribbean coast which is big in tourism – with destinations like Cancun and Cozumel. But virtually no one from the former British West Indies considers Mexico to be a Caribbean country.
In Mexico is the largest country in the Caribbean with a population of 128.9 million. The second largest country in the Caribbean is France with a population of 67 million people. But, again, France is not considered by many to be a Caribbean nation – even though it has several overseas departments in the Caribbean. These include the islands of Martinique,, Guadeloupe and indeed French Guiana. And don’t forget the overseas collectivities of St Martin and St Barts.
St Martin is tiny. But only half of it is owned by France. The other half is owned by the Netherlands, which it calls St Maarten. The Netherlands also owns Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. And don’t forget Saba and St Eustatius. Wit a population of 17 million people, the Netherlands is one of the larger states in the Caribbean.
All told, the 18 or so Caribbean territories that speak English have a population of about six million people. Jamaica, which sometimes likes to think of itself as the largest island in the Caribbean, has a population of 2.8 million people – way less than countries like Mexico and France and Colombia and Venezuela and the Netherlands, but also way less than other island nations like Cuba (11.3 million), Haiti (11.4 million) and the Dom Rep (10.8 million).
The Caribbean region of Colombia including the Caribbean port city of Cartagena, has an estimated population of about nine million people
So basically, the English-speaking islands of the Caribbean represent only a small percentage of the population and area of the Caribbean – even if you throw in Guyana, the Bahamas and Barbados.
The days of divide and rule, where larger nations could control the smaller islands of the Caribbean will continue for as long as English-speaking islands continue their navel-gazing. It is past time for the islands of the former BWI to stop thinking that they are much more relevant that they actually and stop treating their Spanish, French and Dutch-speaking neighbours as if they have nothing in common.
Attempts have been made by Caricom to be closer to Haiti and the Dom Rep, but that hasn’t trickled down to much of the population, who continue to think that the Caribbean includes only those countries that play cricket.
This article was first printed at the Matt Haycox Daily
