View source for Caribbean Basin

{{Short description|Region of North America}}
{{Infobox continent
|title          = Caribbean Basin
|image          = Caribbean_general_map.png
|image_size     = 400
|caption        = Map of Caribbean region, including dependencies
}}
The '''Caribbean Basin''' or '''Caribbean Proper''' (or the '''Caribbean Basin region'''<ref name="Congress">United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Finance, "Caribbean Basin Initiative--1983: Hearing Before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, Ninety-eighth Congress, First Session, on S. 544, April 13, 1983."  Volume 98, Issue 277 of S. hrg, United States Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office (1983), pp. 53-55 [https://books.google.com/books?id=6KCANRIPNcQC&pg=PA53] (retrieved 26 April 2024)</ref>) is a geopolitical term used to describe countries which generally border the [[Caribbean Sea]].<ref name="randall">{{cite book|title=The Caribbean Basin: An International History|author1=Stephen J. Randall|author2=Graeme S. Mount|date=1998|page=1}}</ref> As a geopolitical concept, the term often includes the country of [[El Salvador]], which only touches the [[Pacific Ocean]], for its similarities to neighbouring countries. The definition has also been taken literally at times{{According to whom|date=April 2024}} and can exclude areas such as [[Barbados]] and the [[Turks and Caicos Islands]] which also do not technically touch the Caribbean Sea.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://journals.flvc.org/flgeog/article/view/128940 | title=What and Where is the Caribbean? A Modern Definition | journal=The Florida Geographer | date=24 May 2021 | volume=52 | issue=1 | pages=3–28 | last1=Williams | first1=Ernest H. | last2=Bunkley-Williams | first2=Lucy }}</ref>

During the [[Cold War]], the then US President [[Ronald Reagan]] coined the term to define the region benefiting from his administration's [[Caribbean Basin Initiative]] (CBI) economic program, approved in [[Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act of 1983|US law in 1983]]. Thus, the Caribbean basin included only the countries of the [[Antilles|Caribbean insular]] and [[Central America]] that met the requirements of the CBI, and [[Cuba]] and [[Nicaragua]], which the American government viewed as politically "repressive" and "economic failure" were excluded.<ref>Barca, Alessandro, "EE. UU. y la cuenca del Caribe. Crónica de un fracaso anunciado." [in] Nueva Sociedad NRO. 64 Enero-Febrero (1983), pp. 110-115. [https://static.nuso.org/media/articles/downloads/1023_1.pdf] (retrieved 26 April 2024)</ref><ref>Mendoza, María de Lourdes Sánchez, "Un acercamiento a la región del Caribe: su importancia estratégica y económica." UNAM (Relaciones Internacionales). (2006) [in] Catalogo Revistas UNAM [https://www.revistas.unam.mx/index.php/rri/article/view/18371]</ref><ref name="Congress"/> As a result of this US foreign policy initiative, the term "Caribbean Basin" began to be used as a geographic description in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite book|title=Politics and Development in the Caribbean Basin|last=Grugel|first=Jean|date=1995|page=2|publisher=Macmillan Press}}</ref>

Canadian historians and academics, Professor [[Graeme S. Mount]] and Professor [[Stephen Randall (political scientist)|Stephen Randall]], citing historian [[Bruce B. Solnick]], posits that: 
:"...one area of the modern Caribbean basin owes its heritage to the legacy of the Spanish Empire; other segments were traditionally British preserve; a third area was French, and a final area, more diminutive, was dominated by the Netherlands in the colonial years.  It is not surprising, therefore, as Solnick notes, that "often the history of the region is treated solely as a function of European colonial expansion."<ref>[[Graeme S. Mount|Mount, Graeme]], and [[Stephen Randall (political scientist)|Randall, Stephen]]; "The Caribbean Basin: An International History." The New International History. Routledge (2013), p. 1, {{ISBN|9781136141164}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=dTpGAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1] (retrieved 26 April 2024)</ref><ref>Solnick, Bruce B., "The West Indies and Central America to 1898." New York: Knopf (1970), pp. ix, 188-9</ref>

In the latter part of the 20th century, following the collapse of European colonialism, the Caribbean became "an American lake" which American hegemony seek to provide a form of unity in the region,<ref>Mount, Graeme; Randall, Stephen; "The Caribbean Basin: An International History." The New International History. Routledge (2013), p. 1, {{ISBN|9781136141164}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=dTpGAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1] (retrieved 26 April 2024)</ref> though the USA never saw itself as a Caribbean nation, nor did [[Venezuela]] until the 1970s.<ref name="Prof Pastor">Pastor, Robert, "Sinking in the Caribbean Basin." [in] United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Finance, "Caribbean Basin Initiative--1983: Hearing Before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, Ninety-eighth Congress, First Session, on S. 544, April 13, 1983."  Volume 98, Issue 277 of S. hrg, United States Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office (1983), p. 203 [https://books.google.com/books?id=6KCANRIPNcQC&pg=PA202] (retrieved 26 April 2024)</ref> That view is supported by the America historian and author, Professor [[Robert Pastor]] who argues that: "...all the nations in and around the [[Caribbean Sea]] seemed to have in common was a view of the United States as the "colossus of the north" and the U.S. view of them as a "backyard."<ref name="Prof Pastor"/>

==Geographical area==
The geographical area runs from the north in the [[Greater Antilles]] (such as [[Cuba]], [[Hispaniola]], [[Jamaica]], and [[Puerto Rico]]) to the west along the Caribbean coast of the [[Yucatan Peninsula]], in [[Mexico]] and the Caribbean coasts of [[Central America]], continuing towards the east by the [[Island arc|arc]] formed by the [[Lesser Antilles]] and to the south by the Caribbean coasts of [[Panama]], [[Colombia]], and [[Venezuela]].{{cn|date=April 2024}} It is customary{{according to whom?|date=April 2024}} to include [[Bermuda]] and the [[Lucayan Archipelago|Bahamian Archipelago]] within this region, although they are located in the [[Atlantic Ocean]] outside the arc, since they share a cultural and historical legacy with other countries in the region.<ref>{{cite book|title=The New Third World|editor1=Alfonzo Gonzalez|editor2=Jim Norwine|chapter=8|year=2019|publisher=Taylor & Francis|author=Thomas J. Anderson|edition=2}}</ref>

===Modern Caribbean Basin countries===
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
# {{AIA}} ({{GBR}})
# {{ATG}}
# {{ABW}} ({{NLD}})
# [[Bajo Nuevo Bank]] {{COL}} (Disputed by {{JAM}}, {{NIC}} and {{USA}})
# {{BLZ}}
# {{IVB}} ({{GBR}})
# {{BES}} ({{NLD}})
##{{Flag|Bonaire}}
##{{Flag|Sint Eustatius}}
##{{Flag|Saba}}
# {{COL}}
## [[Caribbean region of Colombia]]
###{{Flag|Antioquia}}
###{{Flag|Atlántico}}
### {{flagcountry|Bolívar, Colombia}}
### {{Flag|Cesar}} (Does not border the Caribbean Sea)
### {{Flag|Chocó}}
### {{flagcountry|Córdoba, Colombia}}
### {{Flag|La Guajira}}
### {{Flag|Magdalena}}
### {{flag|San Andrés y Providencia}}
### {{flagcountry|Sucre, Colombia}}
# {{CYM}} ({{GBR}})
# {{CRI}}
##{{Flag|Limón}}
# {{CUB}}
# {{CUW}} ({{NLD}})
# {{DMA}}
# {{DOM}}
# {{ELS}}
# {{FRA}}
##{{GLP}}
##{{MTQ}}
# {{GRD}}
# {{HAI}}
# {{HND}}
##[[Atlántida Department|Atlántida]]
##[[Bay Islands Department|Bay Islands]]
##[[Colón Department (Honduras)|Colón]]
##[[Cortés Department|Cortés]]
##[[Gracias a Dios Department|Gracias a Dios]]
# {{GUA}}
##{{Flag|Izabal}}
# {{JAM}}
# {{MEX}}
##{{Flag|Quintana Roo}}
# {{MSR}} ({{GBR}})
# {{Flag|Navassa Island}} (Disputed by {{HTI}})
# {{NIC}}
## {{Flag|North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region}}
## {{Flag|Río San Juan}}
## {{Flag|South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region}}
# {{PAN}}
## {{Flag|Bocas del Toro}}
## [[Colón Province]]
## {{Flag|Guna Yala}}
## {{flagcountry|Ngobe-Bugle}}
## {{Flag|Veraguas}}
# {{PRI}} ({{USA}})
# {{BLM}} ({{FRA}})
# {{SKN}}
# {{LCA}}
# {{MAF}} ({{FRA}})
# {{VIN}}
# [[Serranilla Bank]] {{COL}} (Disputed by {{HND}}, {{JAM}}, and {{USA}})
# {{SXM}} ({{NLD}})
#{{flag|Trinidad and Tobago}}
# {{VIR}} ({{USA}})
# {{VEN}}
## [[Venezuelan Caribbean]]
### {{Flag|Anzoátegui}}
### {{Flag|Aragua}}
### {{Flag|Carabobo}}
### {{Flag|Falcón}}
### {{Flag|Federal Dependencies of Venezuela}}
### {{Flag|Miranda}}
### {{Flag|Nueva Esparta}}
### {{Flag|Sucre}}
### {{Flag|Vargas}}
### {{Flag|Zulia}}
}}

==See also==
{{portal|Caribbean}}
* [[Caribbean Basin Initiative]]
* [[Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act]]
* [[Greater Caribbean]]

==Further reading==
*McCalla *, R., Slack, B., & Comtois, C. (2005). "The Caribbean basin: adjusting to global trends in containerization. Maritime Policy & Management", 32(3), 245–261. [https://doi.org/10.1080/03088830500139729]
*Pastor, Robert, "Sinking in the Caribbean Basin." Foreign Affairs. Vol. 60, No. 5 (Summer, 1982), pp. 1038-1058. Council on Foreign Relations (1982) [in] [[JSTOR]] [https://www.jstor.org/stable/20041274]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Caribbean topics}}
[[Category:Caribbean Basin|*]]