The
Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean
Sea, its islands (most of which enclose the sea),
and the surrounding coasts. The region is located
southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern America,
east of Central America, and to the north of South
America.
Situated largely on the Caribbean Plate, the region
comprises more than 7,000 islands, islets, reefs,
and cays. These islands, called the West Indies,
generally form island arcs that delineate the
eastern and northern edges of the Caribbean Sea.
These islands are called the West Indies because
when Christopher Columbus landed here in 1492
he believed that he had reached the Indies (in
Asia).
The region consists of the Antilles, divided into
the larger Greater Antilles which bound the sea
on the north and the Lesser Antilles on the south
and east (including the Leeward Antilles), and
the Bahamas which are in fact in the Atlantic
Ocean north of Cuba, not in the Caribbean Sea.
Geopolitically, the West Indies are usually reckoned
as a subregion of North America and are organised
into 27 territories including sovereign states,
overseas departments, and dependencies. At one
time, there was a short-lived country called the
Federation of the West Indies composed of ten
English-speaking Caribbean territories, all of
which were then UK dependencies.
The region takes its name from that of the Carib,
an ethnic group present in the Lesser Antilles
and parts of adjacent South America at the time
of European contact. In the English-speaking Caribbean,
someone from the Caribbean is usually referred
to as a "West Indian," although the
phrase "Caribbean person" is sometimes
used.
