What is a Caribbean community?

Also known as Caricom, it promotes and supports an unified

Caribbean community that is inclusive, resilient , competitive in sharing economy, special and
cultural prosperity. The Caribbean is classified based on its geographical location, geological
features, political status, historical experiences and lastly the Caribbean Diaspora.

The key feature that tells the location of the Caribbean is the Caribbean Sea. In theory once it
touches the shores of a mass land it is considered “Caribbean “.
The Caribbean consists of 700 islands , reefs, islets and caves. It is located Southeast of the Gulf
of Mexico and North American Mainland, east of Central America and north of America.

The geographical location of the Caribbean deals with the physical location using longitudinal
and latitudinal coordinates. The Caribbean sea, western to the Atlantic Ocean , lies between
latitudes 9 degrees and 22 degrees North. While the longitudinal plane lies between 9 degrees
and 60 degrees west of the green meridian.
Furthermore, there can be no concise geographical location for the Caribbean. This is so because
the Caribbean Sea touches several lands that are not considered Caribbean. Therefore, countries
such as Guyana, Belize, and The Bahamas shores are not washed by the Caribbean Sea, but are
still in close proximity with the Caribbean due to political, historical and economic factors.

Secondly on the agenda, the geological definition refers to the study of the earth’s physical
structure and the plates. Most territories of the Caribbean are located on one plate known as the
Caribbean plate.The Caribbean plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that underlies Central America
and the Caribbean Sea that is the north coast of South America. Northern part of the plate
includes: Belize, Bahamas and Guyana, while the western part includes Costco rica and Panama,
which are not considered as Caribbean countries.
The Caribbean plate is sandwiched between the North American plate which lies to the north
and is convergent. While the South American plate lies mostly to the South and is a transform
plate boundary. The Cocos plate lies to the west and it is a convergent plate boundary. Leaving
the Nazca plate to the west.

The political Caribbean has 3 main political systems that help to develop and divide the French,
Dutch, Spanish and English counties. The political systems are composed of independent,
associated states and colonial dependent countries. Firstly, independent states are Sovereign
entities that make their own laws and run their own affairs without interference from another
country or state, for example Jamaica and Haiti. Commonwealth countries that are independent
are referred to as Anglophones.
Secondly, there are Associated states, these are nations with limited sovereignty, especially a
former colony that now assumes responsibility for domestic affairs but continues to depend on
the colonial ruler for defense and foreign policies. for example, Anguilla and St Lucia . Puerto
Rico is an associated state of the United States.
Thirdly, colonial dependencies, these are territories that do not possess full political
independence or sovereignty as a sovereign state, yet remain politically outside the controlling
state's integral area.These countries include Turks and Caicos , Bermuda , Cayman island,
Montserrat and British Virgin island.
Politically, Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana are not Caribbean countries although
they are located in the Caribbean. This is because in the late 1950s they became overseas
department of Frana. Which leads us to talk about the history of the caribbean.

The Caribbean foundation is built based on the historical features it may possess. It captures
historical past such as plantation slavery, European Colonialism, indentureship, migration and
independence. The Dutch, Spanish , French and English colonized the Caribbean between the
late 1500s and 1800s which resulted in countries having different languages, customs, beliefs and
cultural practices.
Plantation systems led to the decimation of the indigenous people by the mid 1500s. It
introduced the African slaves around mid 1500s and early 1800s and the arrival of the Asians in
the past emancipation period which includes the Chinese and Indians. This helps Guyana, Belize,
Suriname, and Bahamas to be defined as Caribbean countries due to historical trends.

A Diaspora is a population that is scattered across regions separate from their geographic place
of origin.The Caribbean Diaspora consists of people of Caribbean descent living outside of the
region or residing in a different country but still partake of their culture, heritage and beliefs from
their ancestry. The islands of the Caribbean are sorted into 3 main island groups, the Bahamas ,
greater Antilles and lesser Antilles The Greater Antilles consists of the following countries:
Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola that is subdivided into Haiti and Dominican
Republic. The lesser Antilles is grouped into two groups: the leeward islands and the windward
islands. Most of the islands were formed by volcanic eruptions which result in the subduction of
oceanic crust, where the Caribbean Plate falls under the Lesser Antilles subduction zone.
The leeward island are a northern portion of the lesser Antilles and is consist of Anguilla,
Antigua and Barbuda, while The windward islands are the southern portion of the lesser Natilles
and is consist of Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

To conclude , countries are considered Caribbean based on their geographical, geological,

historical, political and cultural definitions. Without these similarities the Caribbean countries
would be hard to classify.