Destination 》 North America 》 The Caribbean
The Caribbean (Spanish: El Caribe; French: les Caraïbes) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands. The region is south of the North American mainland, east of Central America, and north of South America. The region has more than 700 islands, islets, reefs and cays (keys): Major island countries and dependencies are: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos.
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The Cayman Islands are a self-governing British Overseas Territory in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises three islands — Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman.
Known as a Tax Heaven, the main work on this Caribbean island is not fishing or tourism, but financial services. Just one building on Cayman – Ugland House – has about 20,000 companies registered there, and 100,000 companies in Cayman as a whole. In total, Cayman is home to nearly twice as many companies as people, most of them are just on paper.
Curaçao is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch West Indies, about 65 km (40 mi) north of the Venezuelan coast.
Curaçao was settled by Arawak people from the South American mainland. It was first visited by Europeans in 1499 and was settled by the Spanish and, later, by the Dutch. In 2006 the people of Curaçao and the Dutch government, agreed to dissolve the Netherlands Antilles. On October 10, 2010, Curaçao became countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The Dominican Republic is a Caribbean nation that occupies the eastern two-thirds of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola; Haiti occupies the western third of the island. The Dominican Republic is known for its beaches, resorts and golfing. The Dominican Republic is the second-largest nation in the Caribbean by area (after Cuba), and third-largest by population.
Jamaica, the third-largest island of the Caribbean, has a lush topography of mountains, rainforests and reef-lined beaches. Originally inhabited by the indigenous Taíno peoples, the island came under Spanish rule following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494. Many of the indigenous people were either killed or died of diseases. The island remained a possession of Spain until 1655, when England conquered it, renaming it Jamaica. The island achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 6 August 1962. Jamaica is the birthplace of the Rastafari religion and Reggae music.
Puerto Rico is a Caribbean island, a self-governing commonwealth of the United States of America, with a landscape of mountains, waterfalls and the El Yunque tropical rainforest.
Originally populated by the indigenous Taíno people, Puerto Rico was colonized by Spain following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1493, and remained under Spanish possession for over four centuries. Puerto Rico became United States territory after the Spanish-American War ended in 1898.
Trinidad and Tobago, island country of the southeastern West Indies, is a nation consisting primarily of two Caribbean islands just 11 km (6.8 mi) off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. The country is the most industrialized and one of the most prosperous in the Caribbean. Trinidad and Tobago is well know around the world for its annual Carnival with thousands of Calypso dancers and Steelpan orchestra.
Window on the World 