Caribbean area and territories

Territories of the Caribbean

We are learning to:

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

• compare sizes of Caribbean territories.

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 a greater number of islands – the Greater or Lesser Antilles?

b) Which has a 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 Trinidad and Tobago: Caribbean area and territories

TerritoryArea (km2)Population size

Antigua and Barbuda44292,436

The Bahamas13,878324,597

Barbados430290,604

Cuba105, 80611, 252,000

Dominica75173,607

Dominican Republic48,4429,980,000

Grenada344110,694

Guyana214,970735,222

Haiti27,75010,110,019

Jamaica10,9912,950,210

Puerto Rico9,1043,508,000

St Kitts and Nevis26151,936

St Lucia616163,922

St Vincent and the Grenadines 389102,627

Suriname163,821579,633

Trinidad and Tobago5,1281,222,363

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% of the land area of the West Indies. These islands are also home to more than 90% 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.

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.

Did you know...?

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