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The Caribbean
by Brian Kidswen
http://www.fontcaribbean.com
The Caribbean is made up of over seven thousand island,
reefs, caves and islets and includes 25 territories that
are sovereign states, overseas departments and
dependencies. Its location is southeast of Mexico and
northwest of Venezuela and all these islands border along
the Caribbean Sea.
The name West Indies originated from Christopher Columbus,
who thought he had landed in the actual Indies, southeast
of Asia, when in reality he had reached the Americas. The
Caribbean is named after the Caribs, one of the dominant
native groups in the region at the time of European
arrival. The Caribbean is often considered part of North
America. The Caribbean became the more popular name to
refer to this area after World War II.
Before becoming a tourist hot spot, the Caribbean was
inundated with different types of religious people and
explorers who heard of Columbus' discovery and ran there
probably to avoid some kind of oppression. Most of these
people were of African or European decent which helped with
the language barrier making it one of the most popular
tourist destinations of today.
The Caribbean's tropical climate, fishing and sailing, are
just a few of the things that make it so popular with
tourist today and golfers love golfing in Jamaica because
of its one-of-a-kind terrain and balmy weather. The energy
and culture of the New Years Day Junkanoo Parade, which is
a mix of Mardi Gras and an African tribal ritual, keep
people partying from downtown Nassau to the Trinidad and
Tobago's Carnival.
The Caribbean's temperature stays pretty much the same all
year, depending on where you're at. Higher elevations of
course will be a bit cooler than sea level. No matter where
you are in the Caribbean though, the northeast trade winds
pretty much moderate the climate, keeping it at a tropical
setting no matter what time of the day it is.
The main economy for the Caribbean today is the tourist
industry. This keeps most of the year-round residents
healthy and happy. There are extensive deposits of bauxite
in the islands and this is mined and processed into
aluminum locally before it's sent to the United States,
which is its largest market. Other islands contain such
minerals as copper, lead, manganese and zinc but they are
pretty much useless. The beautiful beaches and wonderful
climate is what keeps tourists coming again and again.
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