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Caribbean Islands GEOGRAPHIC SETTING
The Commonwealth Caribbean islands make up a large subcomponent
of the hundreds of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming a wide arc
between Florida in the north and Venezuela in the south, as well as
a barrier between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean (see fig. ___, Regional Map). Varying considerably in size, the islands,
which are the isolated upper parts of a submerged chain of volcanic
mountains, are scattered over thousands of square kilometers of
sea. The entire region lies well within the northern tropics.
The three principal geological formations found throughout the
Caribbean are igneous and metamorphic rocks, limestone hills or
karst, and coastal, sedimentary plains of varying depths, resulting
in three prevailing types of topography, found either separately or
in combination. The first consists of high (over 1,200 meters),
rugged, sharply dissected mountains--such as the Blue Mountains in
eastern Jamaica, the Morne Diablotins in central Dominica, the
Pitons in St. Lucia, and the Northern Range in Trinidad--all
covered with dense, evergreen rain forests and cut by swiftly
flowing rivers. The second typography consists of very hilly
countryside, such as the high plateau of central Jamaica, or the
islands of St. Kitts, Antigua, and Barbados. There the hills seldom
rise above 600 meters and are more gently sloped than the high
mountains, but karst areas are still rugged. Finally, the coastal
plains skirt the hills and mountains, with their greatest
extensions usually on the southern or western sides of the
mountains. Active volcanoes exist in Dominica, St. Vincent, and St.
Lucia, and there are crater lakes formed by older activity in
Grenada. All the islands have rugged coastlines with innumerable
inlets fringed by white or dark sands (depending on the rock substratum ) of varying texture. The beaches of Negril, Jamaica, and
Grand Anse, Grenada, have fine-textured white sands that extend for
nearly eleven kilometers each.
The Caribbean climate is tropical, moderated to a certain
extent by the prevailing northeast trade winds. Individual climatic
conditions are strongly dependent on elevation. At sea level there
is little variation in temperature, regardless of the time of the
day or the season of the year. Temperatures range between 24°C
and
32°C. In Kingston, Jamaica, the mean temperature is 26°C,
whereas
Mandeville, at a little over 600 meters high in the Carpenters
Mountains of Manchester Parish, has recorded temperatures as low as
10°C. Daylight hours tend to be shorter during summer and
slightly
longer during winter than in the higher latitudes. The conventional
division, rather than the four seasons, is between the long rainy
season from May through October and the dry season, corresponding
to winter in the northern hemisphere.
Even during the rainy period, however, the precipitation range
fluctuates greatly. Windward sides of islands with mountains
receive much rain, whereas leeward sides can have very dry
conditions. Flat islands receive slightly less rainfall, but its
pattern is more consistent. For example, the Blue Mountains of
eastern Jamaica record around 558 centimeters of rainfall per year,
whereas Kingston, on the southeastern coast, receives only 399
centimeters. Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, has an average
annual rainfall of 127 centimeters, while Bathsheba on the central
east coast receives 254 centimeters--despite the fact that
Bathsheba is only about 27 kilometers away by road. Recording
stations in the Northern Range in Trinidad measure some 302
centimeters of rainfall per year, while at Piarco Airport on the
Caroni Plains the measurement is only 140 centimeters. Most of the
rainfall occurs during short heavy outbursts during daylight hours.
In Jamaica, about 80 percent of the rainfall occurs during the day.
The period of heaviest rainfall usually occurs after the sun has
passed directly overhead, which in the Caribbean islands would be
sometime around the middle of May and again in early August. The
rainy season also coincides with the disastrous summer hurricane
season, although Barbados, too far east, and Trinidad and Tobago,
too far south, seldom experience hurricanes.
Hurricanes are a constant feature of most of the Caribbean,
with a "season" of their own lasting from June to November.
Hurricanes develop over the ocean (usually in the eastern
Caribbean) during the summer months when the sea surface
temperature is high (over 27°C) and the air pressure falls
below
950 millibars. These conditions create an "eye" about 20 kilometers
wide, around which a steep pressure gradient forms that generates
wind speeds of 110 to 280 kilometers per hour. The diameter of
hurricanes can extend as far as 500 to 800 kilometers and produce
extremely heavy rainfalls as well as considerable destruction of
property. The recent history of the Caribbean echoes with the names
of destructive hurricanes: Janet (1955), Donna (1960), Hattie
(1961), Flora (1963), Beulah (1967), Celia and Dorothy (1970),
Eloise (1975), David (1979), and Allen (1980).
The natural resources of the Commonwealth Caribbean islands are
extremely limited. Jamaica has extensive deposits of bauxite, some
of which is mined and processed locally into alumina, with the
United States being the largest market for the bauxite and alumina.
In addition, Jamaica has large quantities of gypsum. Trinidad and
Tobago has petroleum, pitch, and natural gas. Small,
noncommercially viable deposits of manganese, lead, copper, and
zinc are found throughout most of the islands. Nevertheless, most
of the territories possess nothing more valuable than beautiful
beaches, marvelously variegated seas, and a pleasant climate
conducive to the promotion of international tourism.
Industrialization varies from territory to territory, but
agriculture is generally declining on all the islands. The sugar
industry, once the mainstay of the Caribbean economies, has
faltered. Although the labor force employed in sugar production
(and in agriculture in general) still forms the major sector of the
employed labor force in Barbados and Jamaica, the contribution that
sugar makes to the gross domestic product (GDP--see Glossary) has
steadily dropped. Barbados has kept its sugar industry going, but
it has steadily reduced dependence on sugar exports and diversified
its economy. For example, in 1946 Barbados had 52 sugar factories
producing nearly 100,000 tons of sugar and employing more than
25,000 persons during crop-time. Although production had increased
by 1980, the number of factories had declined to eight, and the
number employed was slightly less than 9,000. Furthermore, the
proportion of GDP contributed by sugar and sugar products had
declined from 37.8 percent to 10.9 percent over the same period.
Since the 1950s, light manufacturing, mining, and processing of
foods and other commodities have been used to bolster employment
and increase the local economies. Although these sectors have been
important contributors to the GDP of the individual states, in no
case does this contribution exceed 20 percent of the total.
Moreover, industrialization has provided neither sufficient jobs
nor sufficient wealth for the state to offset the decline in
agricultural production and labor absorption.
The Commonwealth Caribbean islands, like the rest of the region
(except Cuba), find themselves in a difficult trading situation
with the United States. From the regional perspective, the United
States accounts for between 20 and 50 percent of all imports and
exports. On the other hand, the Commonwealth states account for
less than 1 percent of all United States imports and exports and
less than 5 percent of the more than US$38 billion of overseas
private investment in the Western hemisphere. But the interest in
the Commonwealth Caribbean islands cannot be measured in economic
terms only. The Caribbean is clearly within the American sphere of
interest for political and strategic considerations that defy
economic valuation.
Data as of November 1987
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