The Caribbean is a set of islands and seas situated to the north of South America and to the east of Mexico. Caribbean island has a fascinating story which matches the magnificent islands. It was discovered back in 1492 by Christopher Columbus, who formerly named it West Indies, who thought it was a part of the Indian sub-continent.

It started when the first Caribbean’s arrived on the island back in 4000BC. They were nomadic hunters who were then followed by Arawaks which is a collective term used for Amerindians who believed to come from Orinoco River Delta.

About 1200 AD harmonious Arawaks were contentedly farming, fishing and minding their own business until the Caribs which were from South America came. Later the Caribs killed Arawak men and imprisoned the women, prompting another wave of movement that sent the Arawaks to far west to Cuba and far north to Bahamas.

Then later on 12 October 1492 Christopher Columbus led European exploration and he established the first European settlement in America. Discovering new domain gives magnificence, but what Columbus and explorers required was gold. In spite of four trips during which Columbus named and alleged much of the district for the Spanish crown, from Trinidad in the south to the Virgin Islands in the north, he never got much gold.

This does not mean that they weren’t rich, the land was fertile, the seas were plentiful and indigenous population, initially they resisted but the toughest of all Caribs remained. The conquistadores were set to take advantage of all, brutally. They majorly focused on the largest islands promising the maximum returns, they seized land, steal and imprisoned people, settling towns in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico and in Jamaica.

Apart from for mineral rich Trinidad, which was taken early by the Spanish, the Eastern Caribbean was left mainly to its own campaign until in 1623 when the English washed up on St Kitts, glinting domino effect on the colonization of Barbados, Nevis, Antigua and Montserrat.

Similarly the French followed and they settled at Martinique and Guadeloupe, while the Dutch on the other hand claimed Saba, Saint Eustatius and Saint Martin. For the next 200 years the Europeans wrestled like children over these islets, and there ownership changed so often that a hybridized culture was developed in some of the islands, like in St-Martin and St Kitts.

• Taino
• Kalinago
• Ciboney
• Ciguayo
• Galibi
• Garifuna
• Igneri
• Lucayan
• Macorix

As the Caribbean island lie near to the equator due to this its climate is tropical to sub tropical. At sea level there is minute deviation in temperature, irrelevant of the time of the day or the season of the year. The temperatures range between 24°C and 32°C.

Likewise the rainfall fluctuates with the altitude, size and water currents. Temperate, moist trade winds blow constantly from the east which in result creates rainforest and semi desert divisions on mountainous islets. Irregular north westerly influence the northern islands in the winters. Due to this, these regions have the benefit of year round sunshine, divided into arid and wet seasons.

Smooth islands receive vaguely less rainfall, but its pattern is steadier. For example, the Blue Mountains situated in eastern Jamaica record about 558 centimeters of rainfall per year, while Kingston, on the southeastern coast, record approximately 399 centimeters. According to the recording stations in the Northern Range in Trinidad determine 302 centimeters of rainfall per year, whereas on the Caroni Plains 140 centimeters are measured.

Hurricanes are an invariable feature of the Caribbean; they last from June to November. They develop at the ocean mostly during the summer months when the temperature is over 27°C and pressure is bellow 950 milli bars. They at times thrash the region, generally strike northwards of Grenada, and to the west of Barbados. In the recent history of Caribbean most destructive hurricanes are recorded in:

• 1955 in Janet
• 1960 in Donna
• 1961 in Hattie
• 1963 in Flora
• 1967 in Beulah
• 1970 in Celia and Dorothy (1970)
• 1975 in Eloise
• 1979 in David
• 1980 in Allen

Two time zones are followed in Caribbean. From west to east GMT -5 and GMT -4 is followed. Regions which follow GMT-5 time zone correspond to the Eastern Standard Time in the United States and Canada. Likewise areas which follow GMT -4 time zones correspond with Atlantic Standard Time Zone which is used in Puerto Rico. Daylight Saving Time is also used by many countries in Caribbean which includes Bahamas, Bermuda and the Turks, though the starting and the ending time varies in each nation.

The populace of Caribbean is approximately 750,000 right away before the European got in touch with, though higher and lower figures are estimated. After the contact, different diseases and genocide leads to a decline in the population of Amerindian. The population, from about 1500 to 1800 get increases as the slaves from West Africa arrived, which includes countries like Igbo, Akan, Kongo, Yoruba and Fon, also by the military hostage and detained prisoners from Ireland, who got exiled in Cromwellian period of influence in England.

By 1800 the population reached up to 2.2million as the immigration from the India and China got increased. When slave trade from Atlantic got ended population got naturally increased. It was estimated up to 37 million.

The Caribbean islands have African population mainly in French Caribbean, Dutch Caribbean and Anglophone Caribbean. These countries have mixed race people minorities and of European people of Portuguese, Dutch, French, English and Italian pedigree. Asians, particularly those of Indian and Chinese ancestry, form a considerable minority in the area and also add to multiracial societies.

The Caribbean’s who speak Spanish have largely mixed race people from Africa, or Europe. Cuba which is the largest island and Puerto Rico have a majority of Europeans with a combination of European Spaniards. Larger islet like Jamaica, have large population of African and an exceptionally great mixed race of Syrian, Chinese, Indian, Europeans, Lebanese and Latin American populations.

The history of the Caribbean goes on an extensive way towards the understanding to its community. Every island has a distinctive cultural individuality twisted by the colonialists of Europe, the African tradition of prisoners, and the continuing legacies of the indigenous Indian tribes. Though there is nothing written about, but Caribbean civilization has perhaps been conserved mostly by the reliable voices of insightful scholars, farmers, merchants and artists. They are finest verbal cultural and historians preservationists.

Due to its tropical situation, the Caribbean way of life is certainly affected by it. The architecture, traditions, music and manners have all, in several way, been twisted by the physical land and weather. The customs of the countries located in Caribbean are a mixture of regal foundation and insidious control by foremost tribal groups of the area such as Africans and East Indians.

However, Jamaica retains only some of colonial civilization, relies greatly on prior colonial tradition and is avidly self-reliant. Jamaica on the other hand also possesses a booming democracy and retains a diplomatic being.

The Caribbean island is dominated mainly by Christianity. Though, many different division and cultural adaptation of Christianity can be found all through the isle. It is said to be the slave’s religion which is developed on the islet, and is full of mixture of believes.

When Europeans came, they brought their own religions to the Caribbean island. The region’s religion became more mixed up when the islands were claimed by different nations as it is observed in the early history. But range of religions exists even on the islets that seldom changed hands.

The major challenge to the expansion of Christianity was slavery. Slaves coming from Africa brought their own religion and spiritual practices, some of them which combined with Catholic practices and became completely new religions. Several slaves who were born in Caribbean were instructed into Christianity. Likewise East Indian immigrants brought their own spiritual practices.

In recent years Caribbean natives formed their own religion which is called Rastafarianism, which is similar to Christianity with noticeably in Caribbean style.

Many different religions exist in Caribbean so they are divided into East Indian religions, Afro-Caribbean Creolized religions and Christianity. Even though some may be better known as comparatively than others, Christianity is by far the leading religion, although the popularity varies across the region.

Papiamento, Haitian Creole, Dutch, French, English and Spanish are the main authorized languages of different countries in the area, though only a few of distinctive Creole languages can also be found from one country to another.

Creole, which is one of the oldest languages are said to be 200 years old. This language came in the Caribbean about in the period of first era of slavery. Creole is a diverse combination of European words and African grammar. It developed out of requirement, because slaves had to talk among the European agricultural estate owners. The language was a derivation of many different languages which includes French Guyana, French Creole, with local dialects in Haiti, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, Guadeloupe and a Dutch, Papiamento, English, Portuguese, African blend, and Jamaica. This Creole language was connected with the deprived manual labor class; due to this mostly parents prohibit their children to converse in this language. In modern times, though, other people are pleased about using this language when they identified its linguistic plea, language’s historical significance and its considerable position in local traditions.