Exam 1: The Caribbean Flashcards
What are the Greater and Lesser Antilles? What areas are included in the rimland?
Greater Antilles: larger islands incl. Jamaica, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the Cayman Islands
* Lesser Antilles: long arc of small islands running N-S from the Virgin Islands to Grenada
- Rimland includes Belize and the Guianas as well as Caribbean coasts of Central and S. America
Generally speaking, how can we describe the region’s climate?
- seasons by rainfall
- avg temp is 70-80 degrees f
Which countries are expected to be most affected by sea level rise (and in what ways)?
- The Bahamas would lose the most land
- Population-wise, Suriname, French Guiana, Guyana, Belize, and the Bahamas would be most affected
What are some of the major threats for the region associated with climate change?
- Increased hurricane intensity may result in significant loss of life and property
- Increased precipitation variability could create droughts and floods + negatively impact agriculture and available freshwater
- Coral reefs are already threatened by pollution and subsistence fishing → higher sea surface temperatures also contribute to coral bleaching and death
What contributed to significant deforestation in the region?
colonization
Why is there significant interest in renewable energy in the region?
Most Caribbean states are net
importers of oil and are highly
dependent on foreign sources
How urbanized is the region? What patterns do we observe in terms of population density?
66%
-Population density is (mostly) quite high and increasingly urban
What happened to indigenous populations once Europeans showed up?
European arrival brought diseases → indigenous population almost entirely wiped out
Where does the name “Caribbean” come from?
Carib people
How did malaria impact the type of workers brought to the region by Europeans?
European planters experimented with white indentured labor at first, but malaria was a problem → reliance on enslaved Africans
Who were the members of the Windrush generation? Why was there such a scandal?
Why were Europeans pretty much free to redesign society and land use in the Caribbean to their liking?
they’d killed most natives
What is the African diaspora?
forced removal of
African people from their native homes and dispersal via the transatlantic slave trade
Why were indentured laborers from South, Southeast, and East Asia brought to the region?
- needed workers who had better immunity to malaria
What made the Caribbean so appealing to European colonizers?
The Caribbean was highly desirable as a strategically located, profitable region for producing sugar, rum, and spices
