The Islands of the Caribbean are those which are located in the Caribbean Sea. There are over 700 islands, reefs, and cays here. While some of them are sovereign nations, most islands belong to a country.
The majority of the islands in the Caribbean belt are located in the tropical zone or near the Atlantic ocean. Also, many of these beautiful islands are uninhabited. A paradise for adventurous souls.
How many of these have you visited? Comment below.
Photo by Cacahuate CC BY SA 4.0
Islands of Caribbean
For detailed individual travel guides to these Caribbean paradises, click on the links below.
Below is the complete list of all major touristy islands in the Caribbean region. There are 15 sovereign island nations and 16 dependent territories, with close political ties throughout the region to Europe and the United States.
The independent island-nations of the Caribbean include:
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Grenada
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Jamaica
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Trinidad and Tobago
Dependencies Islands
- Aruba (Netherlands)
- Bonaire (Netherlands)
- Curaçao (Netherlands)
- Sint Maarten (Netherlands)
- Anguilla (United Kingdom)
- British Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
- Cayman Islands (United Kingdom)
- Montserrat (United Kingdom)
- Turks and Caicos (United Kingdom)
- Bermuda (United Kingdom) – often considered part of the Caribbean, but actually, it is not
- Puerto Rico (United States)
- United States Virgin Islands (United States)
- Guadeloupe (France)
- Martinique (France)
- Saint Barthélemy (France)
- Saint Martin (France)
For a detailed and comprehensive Caribbean region travel guide, read the ultimate Caribbean Travel Guide.
Language
English remains the dominant language in the Caribbean and the official language of at least 18 islands or island groups in the region including the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Florida Keys.
After English, Spanish is the second most common language, primarily spoken in Cuba and Puerto Rico. French is the third most spoken language in the Caribbean with speakers dominating the French territory islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Barts, and St. Martin, and in Haiti, a former French colony.
Caribbean Culture
The culture of the Caribbean is a colorful amalgam of traditions from the many ethnicities found there. The art, music, literature and culinary achievements reflect the legacy of African slaves forcibly brought there to work on sugar plantations, Amerindians who were living on islands before the arrival of Christopher Columbus and the Europeans colonizers.
Local Cuisine
Whether you are on a cruise excursion or you are staying at a resort in one of these beautiful Caribbean islands, you must try:
- Anguilla – rice, peas, and local fish of the day
- Antigua and Barbuda – fungee and pepperpot
- Bahamas – Guava duff, Conch Salad, Peas n’ Rice, and Conch Fritters
- Barbados – cou-cou and flying fish
- Belize – rice and beans, stew chicken with potato salad; white rice, stew beans and fry fish with cole slaw
- British Virgin Islands – fish and fungee
- Cayman Islands – turtle stew, turtle steak, grouper
- Colombian Caribbean Islands – rice with coconut milk, arroz con pollo, sancocho, Arab cuisine (due to the large Arab population)
- Cuba – platillo Moros y Cristianos, ropa vieja, lechon, maduros, ajiaco
- Dominica – wild chicken, rice and peas, dumplings, saltfish, dashin, bakes, coconut confiture, curry goat, cassava farine, oxtail
- Dominican Republic – arroz con pollo with stewed red kidney beans, pan-fried or braised beef, salad/ ensalada de coditos, empanadas, mangú, sancocho
- Grenada – oil down, Roti and rice & chicken
- Guyana – pepperpot, cook up rice, roti and curry, methem, pholourie
- Haiti – griot (fried pork) served with du riz a pois or diri ak pwa (rice and beans)
- Jamaica – ackee and saltfish, callaloo, jerk chicken, curry chicken
- Montserrat – goat, rice
- Puerto Rico – yellow rice with green pigeon peas, saltfish stew, roasted pork shoulder, chicken fricassée, mofongo, tripe soup, alcapurria, coconut custard, rice pudding, guava turnovers, Mallorca bread
- Saint Kitts and Nevis – goat water, coconut dumplings, spicy plantain, saltfish, breadfruit
- Saint Lucia – callaloo, dal roti, dried and salted cod, green bananas, rice and beans
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – roasted breadfruit and fried jackfish
- Suriname – brown beans and rice, roti and curry, peanut soup, battered fried plantain with peanut sauce, nasi goreng, moksie alesi, bara, pom
- Trinidad and Tobago – callaloo, doubles, aloo pie, phulourie, bake and shark, curry with roti or dal-bhaat (rice with pulse), curry crab and dumpling
- United States Virgin Islands – stewed goat, oxtail or beef, seafood, callaloo, fungee
August 25, 2016 12:00 am 1 Comment
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