Caribbean History
Most islands at some point were, or still are, colonies
of European nations:
Spanish West Indies - Cuba, Hispaniola (present-day Dominican Republic,
and until 1609, Haiti), Puerto Rico, Jamaica (until 1655), the Cayman
Islands, Trinidad (until 1797) and Bay Islands (until 1643)
French West Indies - Anguilla (briefly), Antigua and Barbuda (briefly),
Dominica (briefly), Dominican Republic (briefly), Grenada (briefly), Haiti,
Montserrat (briefly), Saint Lucia (briefly), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
(briefly), Sint Eustatius (briefly), St Kitts (briefly), Tobago (briefly),
Saint Croix (briefly), the current French overseas départements of Martinique
and Guadeloupe (including Marie-Galante, La Désirade and Les Saintes),
and the current French overseas collectivities of Saint Barthelemy and
Saint Martin.
British West Indies/Anglophone Caribbean - Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda,
Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bay Islands, British Virgin Islands, Cayman
Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica (from 1655), Montserrat, Saint
Croix (briefly), Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago (from 1797) and the Turks and Caicos
Islands
Danish West Indies - present-day United States Virgin Islands
Dutch West Indies - present-day Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, Virgin
Islands, Saint Croix (briefly), Tobago and Bay Islands (briefly)
Swedish West Indies - present-day French Saint-Barthélemy.
Portuguese West Indies- present-day Barbados, known as Los Barbados in
the 1500s when the Portuguese occupied the island during the same time
as Brazil. However, the Portuguese abandoned Barbados in 1533, nearly
a century prior to the British arrival on the island.
The mostly Spanish-controlled Caribbean in the sixteenth centuryThe British
West Indies were formerly united by the United Kingdom into a West Indies
Federation. The independent countries which were once a part of the B.W.I.
still have a unified composite cricket team that successfully competes
in test matches and one-day internationals. The West Indian cricket team
includes the South American nation of Guyana, the only former British
colony on that continent.
In addition, these countries share the University of the West Indies
as a regional entity. The university consists of three main campuses in
Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, a smaller campus in the Bahamas
and Resident Tutors in other contributing territories.
Click
here for a more detailed history of the Caribbean.
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