The islands

There are about 7000 Caribbean islands. Cuba is the largest. Hispaniola, the island that comprises Haiti and the Dominican Republic, is second in size. They are followed by Jamaica and Puerto Rico. Only about 30 of the islands are well known. Most of the Caribbean islands are little more than peaks of mountains submerged beneath the sea, looking like rocks poking out of the ocean. If one could gather all of these islands together into a single landmass, it would fit comfortably within a state the size of the American state of Wyoming.

The West Indian archipelago stretches for more than 2,000 miles (3,2000 km) from Cuba to the North cost of South America.

The islands are divided into three main groups: the Bahamas, The Greater Antilles, and the Lesser Antilles.

The larger (well known) islands

• Anguilla
• Antigua & Barbuda
• Aruba (Netherlands)
• Bahamas (The)
• Barbados
• British Virgin Islands (UK)
• Cayman Islands (UK)
• Cuba
• Curacao (Netherlands)
• Dominica
• Dominican Republic
• Grenada
• Guadaloupe (French)
• Haiti
• Jamaica
• Martinique (French)
• Monsterrat (UK)
• Netherlands Antiles (Netherlands)
• Puerto Rico (US)
• St. Kitts & Nevis
• St. Lucia
• St. Vincent & the Grenadines
• Trinidad & Tobago
• Turks & Caicos Islands (UK)
• Virgin Islands (US)

The ethnic composition of Caribbean Islands

Most West Indian countries have large black majorities. Haiti and Jamaica have the largest numbers of black population. Whites account for some 70% of the population of Cuba and Puerto Rico, which between them have more than 40% of the Caribbean population. Trinidad has a large segmented East Indian population. Mulatto or mixed raced people are the majority (75%) in the Dominican Republic.

Statistics of the larger islands