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The
Caribbean Basin: The
region of the world known as the Caribbean basin is
a body of land and water situated in the Atlantic
Ocean between North and South America.
Viewed from high above the Caribbean looks
like a tub whose long axis has a NORTHWEST/SOUTHEAST
direction. The rim of this tub which could be better
described as a basin has an eastern and a
western part.
The eastern rim from the northeast to the southeast.
From the most northern of the the 700 island
or Cays( pronounced keys) of the Bahamas the eastern
rim form a curve which extends all the way down to
south America. It is known as the west Indies.
The western rim starts from the northern part of
central America in Mexico and finishes with the
Northern portion of South America in Venezuela. It
is the western limit of the Caribbean sea which
communicates with the Golf of Mexico Through the
passage between western point of Cuba and Acapulco
in Mexico.
The
West Indies:
Called
INDIAS OCCIDENTALES in Spanish, INDES
OCCIDENTALES in French and WEST-INDIË in
Dutch, the West Indies is a crescent-shaped group of
islands more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) long
separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea
on the west and south from the Atlantic Ocean on the
east and north.
From the North American mainland peninsula of
Florida in the north, the islands stretch 1,200
miles (1,930 km) southeastward, then 500 miles (800
km) south, then west along the north coast of
Venezuela on the South American mainland.
The land area of the
islands is nearly 91,000 square miles (236,000
square km). The total
population of the West Indies in 1990 was estimated
at 33,640,000
The islands of the West
Indies are formed by two main chains of mountains.
One chain runs west-east and forms the islands of
the Greater Antilles( Cuba, Hispagnola / Kyskeya(Haiti
and the Dominican Republic) Jamaica and Puerto Rico.
The other chain trends north-south and forms the
Lesser Antilles which runs from the Virgin Islands
to the coast of Venezuela. These mountain chains are
now mostly submerged by the Atlantic Ocean and
Caribbean Sea, with only the higher peaks visible
above the water. Besides interior mountain peaks,
each Greater Antillean island has an encircling
coastal plain. 
Note:
Learn more about The
West Indies
Western
Caribbean, Central and South America:
The
western/southern border of the Caribbean basin is
formed by the countries of Central America and South
America that surround the Caribbean Sea.
Mexico
Mexico
is the most northern country of the Caribbean basin
but it is seen by most people as the most
southern part of North America. Geopolitically and
economically, it is the transition between the more
industrialized northern portion of the American
continent and the less industrialized southern
region. Mexico is the border of the two bodies of
water in the region, the Gulf of Mexico to the north
and the Caribbean Sea to the South. Those two
bodies of water are linked by a passage between
Cancun Mexico and the western tip of Cuba.
Central
America
Central
America is the piece of land situated between
Mexico and South America. Geologists and physical
geographers sometimes extend the northern boundary
of Central America to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in
Mexico. Within the region are the countries of
Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua,
Costa Rica and Panama.
Southern
rim upper portion of South America
This
border of the Caribbean basin is formed by two
countries: Columbia and Venezuela. Venezuela is not
only part of southern border of the Caribbean Sea
but it also has an island, the Margarita Island ,
which is part of the Caribbean.
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