Commonwealth Caribbean

The term Commonwealth Caribbean is used to refer to the independent English-speaking countries of the Caribbean region. Upon a country's full independence from the United Kingdom, Anglophone Caribbean or Commonwealth Caribbean traditionally becomes the preferred sub-regional term as a replacement to British West Indies.^[1]

Territories included

The independent island-nations that are considered as Commonwealth Caribbean include:

•  Antigua and Barbuda
•  The Bahamas
•  Barbados
•  Dominica (predominantly Antillean French Creole-speaking)
•  Grenada (some Antillean French Creole-speaking)
•  Jamaica
•  Saint Kitts and Nevis
•  Saint Lucia (predominantly Antillean French Creole-speaking)
•  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
•  Trinidad and Tobago

Anglophone Caribbean may sometimes also refer to the independent English-speaking countries considered regionally as the "Mainland Caribbean". These include:

•  Belize, once known as British Honduras.
•  Guyana, once known as British Guiana.

Sometimes, it also includes the current Caribbean British overseas territories, however they are usually just referred to as the "British West Indies," and they include:

•  Anguilla
•  British Virgin Islands
•  Cayman Islands
•  Montserrat
•  Turks and Caicos Islands

The Anglophone Caribbean can also include:

•  Bermuda
•  Puerto Rico
•  Sint Maarten
•  Saba
•  Sint Eustatius
•  U.S. Virgin Islands

Bermuda is often excluded from the term "Anglophone Caribbean" due to its location in the North Atlantic Ocean. The U.S. Virgin Islands and the English-speaking islands of the Dutch West Indies, although in the Caribbean, are often excluded due to their lack of a British colonial heritage. Because the Dutch never imposed their language on their Caribbean colonies to the extent of Great Britain and other colonial powers, English is predominant and is an official language (along with Dutch) in St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius. Although English is an official language of Puerto Rico, a great deal of the people use Spanish as their primary language.

The Anglophone Caribbean makes up a composite cricket team that successfully competes in test matches and one-day internationals. The West Indies cricket team also includes the South American country of Guyana, as another former British colony. Bermuda, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the English-speaking Dutch West Indies also participate in Anglophone Caribbean-related activities such as 20/20 Cricket.

Informal Anglophone Communities in Central America

In addition to these formally recognized countries, there are substantial communities of Anglo-Caribbean origin along the Atlantic or Caribbean coast of Central America, as a part of the Western Caribbean Zone. These communities, which began forming in the seventeenth century, include areas of Nicaragua and Honduras that made up the Miskito Kingdom which was under British protection after 1740, the Garifuna community which was deported to the coat in 1797 and took up English as its language, and the many and numerous Anglophone Caribbean people who were brought to Central America by the canal companies (the French and American Panama canal efforts), railroad companies, and particularly the fruit companies, such as United Fruit after the 1870s and particularly in the first decades of the twentieth century. Many have never fully integrated into the otherwise Spanish speaking communities in which they reside.

See also

Geography portal

• English-speaking world
• Anglo America
• British West Indies
• Caribbean Community
• Caribbean English
• French Caribbean and Hispanophone Caribbean (for other parts of the Caribbean)
• Languages of the Caribbean

Notes

1. ^ Staff writer (1989) "The Commonwealth Caribbean" Library of Congress, USA http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/caribbean_islands/cx_appnc.html. Retrieved 31 August 2010 

Further reading

• U.S. Library of Congress - The Commonwealth Caribbean