Geography: Caribbean

Antillean Islands

Stretch of islands beginning with Cuba and ending with Trinidad

Rimland

The mainland coastal zone of the Caribbean, beginning with Belize and extending along the coast of Central America to northern South America ending with French Guiana.

Hurricanes

Tropical storms in Atlantic Basin with abnormally low-pressure centers and winds of up to 74mph or higher.

Hurricane season: July-October

Geothermal energy

Subsurface heat that’s tapped for electricity by drilling wells to release the intense heat deep within earth, felt at geysers, hot springs, and volcanoes.

Caribbean diaspora

Recent large-scale movement from the Caribbean to major cities in North America and Europe.

Circular migration

Temporary labor migration, in which an individual seeks short-term employment overseas, earns money, and then returns home.

Chain migration

A pattern of migration in which people in a sending area become linked to a particular destination, such as Dominicans with Mew York City. Often happens when a family migrates one person at a time.

Transnational migration

Complex social and economic linkages that form between home and host country through international migration. Maintain more enduring ties to home country often because of technological advances. Esp. Dominicans

Plantation America

A cultural region that extends from midway up the coast of Brazil north through the Guianas and the Caribbean and into the southeastern United States. Is a production system that relied on commodities, forced labor, and limited (often elite) access to land.

Monocrop production

Agriculture based upon a single crop like sugar or bananas or coffee.

Creolization

Mix of European and African cultures (and a bit of Amerindian) into unique cultural systems found in Caribbean.

African diaspora

Forced removal of Africans from their native areas to localities around the globe. Often refers to slavery, but can also refer to contemporary migration flows from Africa due to violence and poverty. Results in African communities formed around the world.

Maroons

Runaway slaves who established communities rich in African traditions throughout Caribbean and Brazil.

Indentured labor

A system of unfree labor where a worker is bound by a contract to serve a certain number of years to a particular employer. I’m the Caribbean, many immigrants came from South Asia as indentured laborers.

Monroe Doctrine

Proclamation issued by U.S. President James Monroe in 1823 that the U.S. would not tolerate European military action in the Western Hemisphere. Focused on Caribbean as a strategic area. Repeatedly invoked to justify U.S. political and military intervention.

Neocolonialism

Economic and political strategies by which powerful states indirectly (& directly) extend their influence over other, weaker states.

Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM)

Regional trade organization established in 1972 that included 20 member states mostly from the former English Caribbean colonies.

Free Trade Zones (FTZs)

A duty-free and tax-exempt industrial park created to attract foreign corporations and create industrial jobs.

Offshore banking

Financial services offered by certain European dependencies and microstates like the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands. Often on islands that are confidential and tax-exempt. Offer their services to individual and corporate clients for set fees.

Capital leakage

The gap between the gross receipts an industry brings into a developing area and the amount of capital retained. E.g. tourists spending money on cruise ship but not as much on islands.

Brain drain

Migration of the best-educated people from developing countries to developed nations where economic opportunities are greater.

Brain gain

Potential of return migrants to contribute to the social and economic development of their country of origin with the experiences they have gained abroad (like university in U.S.)