Locating the Caribbean

1. Its Geography, Climate and History
*

2. *

3. *
 The Caribbean consists of the
Caribbean Sea, its islands and the
surrounding coasts.
 The region is comprised of over 7,000
islands, islets, reefs and cays.
 The Caribbean includes 25 countries
and dependent territories.
 The Caribbean is usually regarded as
a sub-region of North America but is
also closely associated with South
America.
 The Caribbean is sometimes referred
to as the “West Indies”.

4. *
*The islands of the
Caribbean can be separated
as follows:
*Greater Antilles: The 4
largest islands in the
Caribbean: Cuba, Jamaica,
Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico
*Lesser Antilles: The
smaller group of islands
from Virgin Islands down to
Trinidad to Tobago
*The Bahamas are a chain of
about 700 islands

6.  The geography in the Caribbean varies.
 There are islands with relatively flat
terrain of non-volcanic origins such as the
Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Barbados and
Antigua.
 Many are formed by coral reefs or tops of
*
underwater mountains.
 Then there are others that possess rugged,
mountainous terrain such as Cuba, St.
Lucia, Grenada, Hispaniola, Jamaica and
Puerto Rico.
Many are formed by volcanoes or colliding
tectonic plates

9. *
*For the most part, the
Caribbean Islands have a
tropical climate.
*There is a little variation in
the higher elevation of the
mountains of Cuba and
Hispaniola
*The average
temperature is in the
upper 80’s during the
summer and the lower
70’s in the winter.

11. *
*The Caribbean also experiences a
wet season, typically from June-
November.
*This is also the time where
hurricanes pose a major threat,
usually June - November.
*Hurricanes are storms w/heavy
rains & fierce winds (< 75 miles
per hour)
*6 to 12 move through the region
annually
*Can have deadly consequences
*Hurricane Mitch (1998) killed at least
10,000, was the most deadly tropical
storm of the 20th century

12. *

13. Prior to European arrival,
the Caribbean was
estimated to have a
population around
750,000 Native
Americans.
 The first contact with the
Europeans occurred on
October 12, 1492 when
Christopher Columbus
landed on the island of
San Salvador (in modern
day Bahamas.)
*

14. *
*Christopher Columbus nicknamed the islands he discovered
the “West Indies”, for he had truly thought he had landed in
the Pacific islands near India.
*The Caribbean gets its name from the native people who
lived in the islands known as the Carib.

15. Which one is
the
Caribbean?

16. *
SPAIN
FRANCE
BRITAIN

18. *
 Following contact with the
Europeans, the native population
declined mostly due to disease and
genocide.
 Although many of the natives died,
the population steadily rose in the
Caribbean from 1500-1800 due to
the arrival of Europeans and the
importing of slaves.
 In fact, 50% of ALL slaves taken
from Africa ended up in the
Caribbean Islands, around 6 million
individuals.

19. *
*The reason for importing so many African slaves to the Caribbean
was that the Europeans needed labor to work the sugarcane
plantations.
*Sugarcane became the worlds leading crop in the 1700’s. Growing
and harvesting cane is very labor intensive. At first they tried using
the natives, but after they died, large amounts of Africans were
brought in to do the work.
*The Caribbean essentially became Europe’s sugarcane factory.

20. *

21. *
*During the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, the Spanish
were mining staggering amounts of
gold and silver bullion.
*The huge Spanish shipments of this
treasure from the New World back
to Europe attracted many pirates.
*Despite this, practical plunder for a
pirate was:
* Food and water supplies
* Cloth for sails and markets
* Spare parts and pieces for the ship
(masts, ropes, lumber, etc.)
* Slaves (to be sold or used)

22. *
*Captain Morgan (yes, that Captain Morgan!)
* Real name was Henry Morgan
* Led many attacks on Spanish ships and colonies.
* He most famously led a large navy to attack and
destroyed Panama City.
* The British even appointed him governor of
Jamaica!
*Blackbeard
* One of the most famous pirates ever.
* Real name was Edward Teach.
*Was very tall and had a thick, black, plaited
beard. He would also place lit wicks in his hair or
in his hat so that smoke would to give him a more
menacing appearance.
* Had one of the largest pirate ships, the 300 ton
Queen Anne’s Revenge. It had 44 guns!
* His fleet had many ships and over 300 pirates.

23. *
*Pirate flags are perhaps some of the most
infamous symbols of pirates.
*Everyone is familiar with the typical, black
Jolly Roger flag.
*However, pirates had many different flags
with different meanings.
*Many times pirates would fly either a black
or red flag.
* Black flags were the most common. Black flags
were good because that meant the pirates likely
would not kill you, instead they would likely let
you go or provide you quarter.
* You really didn’t want to run into pirates flying a
red flag. Red stands for bloodshed and these
pirates would often kill you or subject you to cruel
torture.

24. *
*Did pirates really make people walk
the plank?
* No, there’s only one recorded instance
of this and historians are even
skeptical about that.
*What about buried treasure?
* Absolutely not! It doesn’t make
sense! Why would bury your
treasure? Most pirates used their
earnings on women or in taverns.
* There are only a few instances of
pirates ever burying their treasure
and it was brief for safekeeping, or
it was done to hide the evidence of
their crime.

25. *
*In the 1800’s many island nations would
revolt and win their independence
from European countries.
*The first movement for independence
was the French colony of St. Domingue
(Haiti), on the island of Hispaniola.
*Almost all of the people who lived in the
colony were slaves and easily
outnumbered their European masters.
*They rose up in revolt and the former colony
declared its independence under the new name of
Haiti meaning “mountainous land” in local
languages.
*Many countries still remain under control of a
parent country.