Why is the caribbean called the caribbean
CARIBBEAN EXPLAINED! (Geography Now!)
every one so I asked you guys on social
media what the next filler week episode
should be I did a little poll on the two
most popular suggestions on Facebook
Twitter and Instagram the slight
majority on all platforms said they
wanted me to do a filler week on the
Caribbean explained that so here we go
ah the Caribbean now culturally speaking
most of these places are very similar
like they all celebrate their own
version of Carnival y'all love seafood
and play their variation of reggae Sokka
and Calypso music they all have like the
sexiest black people or Creole black
people on the planet anyway on the
technical side the Caribbean is made up
of thousands of islands islets and reefs
divided into 34 island entities 13 of
which are fully sovereign nation states
and the rest are overseas regions
territories dependencies and
Commonwealth's or autonomous
constituencies that belong to the UK
France Netherlands the USA Venezuela and
Colombia generally if it had to be
categorically placed the Caribbean is
considered part of North America
although sometimes others will say it's
just kind of its own thing the island
chains are shaped like a hook engulfing
the Caribbean Sea which is on the
Caribbean plate and of these islands
there are three main island chains the
Lucayan archipelago the Greater Antilles
and the Lesser Antilles in this video
we'll first go through the fully
sovereign states and then the
dependencies and territories keep in
mind we already did a lot of videos on
these so I encourage you to check out
the episodes just go watch them and
before we get into it as you know here
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you Dollar Shave Club Antigua and
Barbuda
one of the four twin island countries
it's kind of like the quieter rich
getaway Island area famous for their
black
Apple frigate bird sanctuary they have
365 beaches one for every day of the
year most of the 90,000 people live on
Antigua Island and only about 2,000 live
on Barbuda the flat marshy island they
also legally owned redonda island which
has nothing but birds and a small
unnamed gecko species on it the Bahamas
named after the Spanish word Baha Mar
meaning shallow sea this was the first
place Christopher Columbus discovered on
his voyage to the New World
long story short because of its location
it's kind of like the Hawaii of the East
Coast this is pretty much where
Americans anywhere east of the
Mississippi like to go on vacation when
they want a tropical island experience
there's so many cruise ships that go
here too many tourist sites like
underwater caves pink sand beaches
fortresses native Taino sites there's
even an island with swimming pigs that
come up to you and ask for food Barbados
Gees Rihanna you still haven't gotten
back to me Barbados is basically the
oddball of the Caribbean for one it's
not even located on the trench line and
for some reason it sits about 100 miles
east of their neighbors which means they
are outside of the hurricane zone and
they rarely get affected it was also the
only Island to have been briefly
colonized by the Portuguese but then
they just kind of abandoned it known as
the bay John people they are one of the
richest nations in the Caribbean known
for their month-long crop / festival
they love eating flying fish and cuckoo
washed down with mountain gay rum pretty
good stuff I've tried it kraken will
always be my number one though but
Barbados you're doing it right
Cuba the largest and most populous of
the Caribbean nations but not the most
populous island that belongs to
Hispaniola the name of the island shared
with Haiti and Dominican Republic Cuba
is of course a spanish-speaking
Caribbean nation considered part of
Latin America we all know about the
revolution the Che Guevara stuff and how
the Marxist Leninist Communist Party has
ruled since the 60s which led to
detention during the Cuban Missile
Crisis clearly it was resolved by the
x-men no but seriously Cuba sticks out
much in that they were pretty much
isolated for a long time and kind of
kept things to themselves there was a
lot of tension against the US although
awkwardly the u.s. still kind of kept
Guantanamo Bay aside from all that
though they have lots of resources and
culture I mean you can still find the
Santeria rituals being performed boxing
and baseball are huge out here they love
doing the Mambo cha-cha and bolero and
rumba Dominica the quiet bookworm girl
youngest sister of the Caribbean
Dominica is probably the most well-kept
island in the Caribbean nature wise and
the government deliberately discourages
mass tourism to maintain the beauty lots
of rare animal species found here
including the national animal the
parrot found on the flag known for their
purple feathers this is a volcanic
island and it is still growing through
the geothermal activity they have the
second largest hot spring in the world
boiling lake and they have the champagne
beach with bubbles coming out of the
ground Dominica also has one of the
highest centenarian populations per
capita on the planet many say it's
because of the healthy diet and the
happy carefree atmosphere Dominican
Republic Dominicans have quite a
reputation first off they share the
island with Haiti and together the
island as a whole has over 20 million
people about twice that of Cuba the
Dominican Republic is of course a
spanish-speaking Latin American country
yet for a long time there was a lot of
tension between them and the French and
Haiti Haiti even took over for a time
and lots of crazy things happen for what
it's worth though Dominicans are
definitely known for being some of the
best baseball players in the world they
along with Chile are the fastest talkers
in the spanish-speaking world and many
people have trouble understanding them
and there's always like this weird
rivalry they have with Puerto Rico and
like everything food dance sports who
has the best celebrities hola let's be
real come on JLo sorry Dominican
Republic for what it's worth though the
majority of the people in the dr are
either black or mixed with black making
it the blackest of all the
latin-american countries uh what else
they love merengue bachata i'ma phone
goes until Stone neighs but don't tell
that to the Puerto Ricans Grenada the
Spice Island Grenada is known for two
things being the world's second-largest
producer of nutmeg after Indonesia
producing about 20% of the world's
supply not bad for one small little
island they even put it on their flag
and the other one is the operation agent
fury invasion in the 80s which was
criticized internationally but it kind
of worked out and the people of Grenada
were like kind of okay with it in the
end and looking up Grenada is also
famous for their interesting jab jab
festival in which people douse
themselves in oil and wear horns and
dance to a drum fueled frenzy to express
freedom somehow Haiti the first black
Republic in the world gaining
independence from France in 1804 they
had a revolution and you know the rest
this place is stereotypically known as
the Voodoo Island since voodoo is still
sometimes practice here in certain areas
haiti is also the largest francophone
nation and population in the americas
more than quebec it's interesting though
because they made their own creole the
official language and use it in schools
written in street signs books it's a
separate thing from french some say
haiti is one of the most unlucky
countries in the Western Hemisphere
nonetheless they are also one of the
most colorful and distinct in the
Caribbean nations with a plethora of
Crale dance music festivals and food oh
man you got a try Haitian food it's so
good Jamaica the Music Island we all
know this guy
not too much I can tell you that you
probably don't already know the
birthplace of reggae ska Rocksteady
genres that would change the face of
music forever they produced the most
music per capita out of any nation in
the world so many famous Jamaicans - not
just in the music industry I'm sure
you've heard of many of them in case
Jamaica has its pride yet its problems
yet overall is probably one of the
chillest nations in the Caribbean oh and
they have the fastest runners in the
world now we reach the three Saints
Saint Kitts and Nevis known as the
mother colony of the West Indies this
was the first European colonized area in
the Caribbean st. Kitts and Nevis is the
smallest sovereign nation in the Western
Hemisphere both in size and population
with only about 55,000 people and of all
the saints st. Kitts and Nevis is the
most English influenced one as opposed
to the others which were French the
island was formed by a volcano and it
has one of the shortest dismisses in the
world at the tip of st. Kitts let's see
there also famous for the drunk monkeys
hundreds of years ago they were brought
over from Africa and now they are known
for taking the leftover drinks that
tourists leave on the beach and they get
totally drunk it's hilarious look it up
st. Lucia known as the Helen of the West
Indies because like Helen of Troy in the
Odyssey the island was fought over
between the British and French 14 times
it's like a weird English French mixed
Island like even though the British got
indefinite control in the 19th century
they still retain some of the French
influence everyone speaks both English
and Lucian French Creole otherwise this
is another volcanic island sulfur
springs is the world's only dive in
volcano let's say they love green figs
and salt fish for a small nation they
post to Nobel laureates saint vincent
and the grenadines
like saint lucia these islands were also
fought relentlessly between the french
and english
finally Treaty of Versailles British you
know video the nation is basically one
big island where the majority people
live st. Vincent which has an active
volcano and 32 smaller islets and keys
many of which are private islands owned
by either companies or people like
mystique Island it has some weird names
of places on it like ginger bread
Buttercup opium and macaroni beach is
one of the few Caribbean countries with
petroglyphs recording ancestry that can
be found in these towns and finally
Trinidad and Tobago the last of the twin
island countries this island nation has
switched between the hands of different
European colonizers more than any other
island nation in the Caribbean started
out Spanish then it became French
British Dutch and then yes even Kor
lander which is like a fancy ancient
term for lithuanian yeah lithuania once
under the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth
took over Tobago for a short period of
time compared to the other states
Trinidad has a very industrialized
economy rooted
Manufacturing and petroleum yes they
have oil and gas reserves they even have
a few skyscrapers built in their
downtown area district very diverse
population wise about two-thirds are
black or mixed with black and the
majority of the rest are Indian like
from India which makes about a fifth of
population Hindu which plays a strong
role in the national festivals and
holidays otherwise yeah what else
Nicki Minaj and now we reach the
overseas territories and dependencies
and constituencies and so on over the UK
they have five islands all of which are
pretty much tax havens first we have
Anguilla yeah that's how you pronounce
it named after the Spanish word for eel
because the islands are kind of shaped
like an eel only about fourteen thousand
people and there's goats everywhere for
some reason and Chuck Norris lived there
once Virgin Islands this used to be a
huge pirate hangout and today you might
be able to find some buried treasure on
Richard Branson named his company after
this place because he loved it so much
he spends about half the year on nectar
Island Cayman Islands supposedly this
was the birthplace of scuba diving
really cool turtles which is where it
got its name from and yeah probably the
biggest tax haven island of them all
Montserrat this island had a huge
volcanic eruption in 1995 that
effectively shut down like half of the
entire island and burned down the old
capital you can still see the old
rulings today and it's kind of
interesting Turks and Caicos this is
like Bahamas little brother that ended
up staying with the UK and at one point
it almost joins Canada and could have
been like Canada's Hawaii no one knows
exactly how they got their name
something about cactus looking like a
Turkish Hat I don't know yeah they have
one of the largest Barrier Reef's in the
world and they also play this thing
called ripsaw music with a handsaw it's
scraped with a knife on a little extra
credit Bermuda is not technically the
Caribbean it's in the Atlantic but it is
a UK overseas territory although
sometimes people have Bermuda classify
themselves as Caribbean and now the
French islands Waterloo and Martinique
these are regions of France and they
hold the exact same status and
legislative power as the regions of
European France they are part of their
euro zone and speak French and Creole
they are like the hawaii's of France
both have active volcanoes one on
Martinique killed lots of people in 1902
beautiful landscape water Lopez disputed
Lee the highest waterfall in the
Caribbean same party lemme this used to
be part of Guadeloupe but it broke off
in 2003 and now it's just a French
collectivity this is an interesting one
because it was the only Island colonized
by the Swedish for a significant amount
of time you can even see the symbolism
and their coat of arms with the three
crowns and finally st. Maarten this is
also a collectivity like Saint
barthélemy
and it's like the weird northern
conjoined twin of the Dutch st. Maarten
that shares the same name
the same island it's basically a resort
town and tropical getaway spot with a
cool Lagoon which brings us to the Dutch
Islands first off the ABC islands Aruba
Bonaire and curaçao two of them are
considered constituent countries within
the kingdom of the Netherlands Aruba
curaçao however poner voted to have
closer ties and is considered a special
municipality all three speak Dutch
although English is widely known and
taught they were once known as the land
of giants as the natives were kind of
supposedly really tall they have
interesting traditional indigenous
sights and petroglyphs and cacti
otherwise yeah you see a very distinct
Dutch style in their architecture and
very colourful buildings on all three of
them then we get to the SSS Island Saba
st. Eustatius and st. Maarten Saba is a
special municipality it is basically
just a jutting volcano potentially still
active and it is the least populated out
of all the Caribbean units with only
about 2,000 people it also has the
shortest airport runway in the world st.
Eustatius is also a special municipality
it's also very small and at one point
they had a huge Jewish population you
can still see the walls of the former
synagogue and Jewish cemetery and
finally st. Maarten it's considered a
constituent country like Aruba and
curaçao they also have that weird
Princess Juliana Airport with planes
that get really close to the beach and
people go under it and now the South
American Islands Venezuela operates the
federal dependencies of Venezuela a
chain of about 600 offshore islands and
islets only populated by about 2,200
people most of whom are on the largest
island la tortuga these islands are also
important not only in giving Venezuela
an extended economic zone but also
maintaining their offshore oil deposits
and for Colombia they administer the San
Andreas or vedenskaya and lock Italian
archipelago Islands confusingly closer
to Nicaragua but nope they took over
them San Andreas is the more popular one
it has a cool resort and the culture
centers of the native inhabitants
interestingly enough though they have a
flag that basically is the same as
Scotland's just a lighter blue hue
finally the islands administered by the
USA you have three of them Puerto Rico
Virgin Islands and Nevada Island the
Virgin Islands are classified as an
unincorporated organized territory of
the USA they were for the longest time
actually colonized by Denmark until they
were sold to the u.s. back in 1916 today
they are known for the pristine tourist
sites and beaches that people like to
have weddings on Puerto Rico is
classified as an unincorporated
territory to the United States and is
the largest of all the territories both
an area and population wise at over 3
million Puerto Rico is very complicated
because in almost every right they are
pretty much like their own
country with incredibly high self
administration and an autonomy they
mostly speak Spanish as their first
language English as the second one they
are you as citizens and can move about
the US with no problem which is probably
why there are actually more Puerto Rican
people living in the u.s. than there are
in Puerto Rico this is a very unique
topic maybe I should just make a whole
separate vil filler week video I don't
know and finally the disputed but mostly
US held island of Nevada Island this has
nobody on it no harbors no air strips
only a lighthouse and since it is become
a wildlife refuge has been closed off to
visitors unless you get a permit from
the Fish and Wildlife office and
boqueron porto rico and that's just
about it
pretty much everything in the caribbean
you have 13 countries 21 overseas
entities of other countries and a few
hurricanes and earthquakes but nothing
can stop that warm tropical joy thanks
for watching stay tuned for the next one
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