Locating the Caribbean

Locating the Caribbean

To find the Caribbean on a world map:

We are learning to:

• locate the Caribbean on a world map

• identify the location of the Caribbean and your country using lines of latitude and longitude.

• First find the continents of North America and South America.

• Look at the narrow strip of land that joins the two continents.

• To the east you will see the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

• The Caribbean region is located in and around the Caribbean Sea.

Activity

Your teacher will hand out blank maps of the Caribbean. Insert the Tropic of Cancer, the Caribbean territories and their capitals, and the surrounding bodies of water.

The Caribbean: Political Map

for the Caribbean: Locating the Caribbean

Locating your country on the world map

For example, Trinidad and Tobago is made up of two islands to the east of the Caribbean Sea and to the north of Venezuela. The country is located between latitudes 10ºN and 12ºN and between longitudes 60ºW and 63ºW.

Activity 4.1

Follow the steps for locating Trinidad and Tobago to find your own country’s longitudes and latitudes.

1. Copy and complete.

a) The Caribbean region is located in the ____ Sea.

b) To the east of the Caribbean is the _____________.

c) Many Caribbean territories have the ___ Sea on their southern coast and the ___ Ocean on their northern coast.

2. For each of the following territories, find the territory’s capital city on the map. Describe where it is located – to the east, west, north or south of the island or territory.

a) Barbados b) Saint Lucia c) Saint Vincent

3. Name Trinidad and Tobago’s nearest neighbours: a) in the Caribbean Sea b) on the mainland of South America

Discussion

The countries of the Caribbean are considered part of North America although some are closer to South America. Why? Do you agree that this should be the case?

Key vocabulary islands

Caribbean area and territories

We are learning to:

• name and locate Caribbean territories, their capitals, seas and oceans on maps of the Caribbean

• compare sizes of Caribbean territories.

Territories of the Caribbean

The Caribbean is made up of many islands, islets, reefs and cays, as well as some of the mainland countries that border on the Caribbean Sea. In the table on the next page, you can see the land areas and population sizes of the countries that make up the Caribbean territories. As you can see, there are larger and smaller territories that make up the Caribbean region. On the next two pages we will look at reasons that we group the territories together as a region. The countries of the Caribbean Community are not the only countries of the Caribbean region. Geographers divide the islands of the Caribbean Sea into two clusters: the Greater and Lesser Antilles.

Exercise

1. Identify the three largest islands in the Caribbean.

2. a) Which has the greater number of islands – the Greater or Lesser Antilles?

b) Which has the greater landmass – the Greater or Lesser Antilles?

Research

Research the sizes and capitals of the nonsovereign states of the Caribbean (states that are governed by other countries).

Geography for the Caribbean: Caribbean area and territories

The Antilles s

The Greater Antilles is made up of five islands – Cuba, the Cayman Islands, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), Puerto Rico and Jamaica. The Greater Antilles makes up more than 90 per cent of the land area of the West Indies. These islands are also home to more than 90 per cent of the population of the West Indies.

The Lesser Antilles is made up of eight independent countries – Antigua and Barbuda; Barbados; Dominica; Grenada; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Trinidad and Tobago – as well as 16 other non-sovereign states and territories. The islands of the Lesser Antilles are divided into: Windward Islands in the south, Leeward Islands in the north, Leeward Antilles in the west.

Exercise

3. Identify five countries in the Lesser Antilles and name their capital cities.

4. Which cluster of islands has the greater number of small islands – the Greater or Lesser Antilles?

5. Name three of the Leeward Islands and three of the Windward Islands.

Did you know...?

The Puerto Rico Trench to the north of Puerto Rico is the deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean.

Activity

Create a map of the Caribbean for your classroom wall on a large sheet of poster card. On each territory, label it with its name, size and population.