CARIBBEAN ISLAND'S HISTORY
LOCATION: Puerto Rico is the smallest and easternmost island of the Greater Antilles, which also include Cuba, Hispaniola and Jamaica.
SIZE: The island of Puerto Rico measures 3,435 square miles.
POPULATION: There are about 3.7 million people on the island and nearly 1.5 in the capital, San Juan.
LANGUAGE: Spanish is the official language, but almost everyone speaks English, too.
TIME ZONE: Puerto Rico is on Eastern Standard time during the summer months; during the rest of the year, it is on Atlantic time, one hour later than Eastern Standard time.
CURRENCY: The U.S. dollar.
The crews of Christopher Columbus' ships first sighted the island nearly 500 years ago, in 1493. At that time, it was known as Borinquen by the native Taino Indians. Permanent settlement of the island began in 1508, when Juan Ponce de Leon arrived with 50 men.
Initially, the Spanish had high hopes for the island they called San Juan Bautista; they expected to find gold. There was none, but the Spaniards soon realised the island's military and economic importance. Governor Ponce de Leon had the capital moved to its present and more strategically located site in 1521, and christened it Puerto Rico. Soon thereafter, the governor re- named the island Puerto Rico and the town San Juan.
The city's role as an outpost of the Spanish empire began in 1540, with the completion of La Fortaleza. The battlements upon which the fort El Morro still stands were completed 51 years later, in time to resist an attack from the British privateer Sir Francis Drake. Three years later, the Earl of Cumberland conquered the city, but severe dysentery promptly sent the Earl and his men back to Britain.
During this time, the Indian population suffered greatly. The peaceful Tainos were eventually exterminated, and the Carib Indians, who had initially resisted the invaders, were also decimated.
By the mid-16th century, Spanish ships were already bypassing Puerto Rico. Except for the city of San Juan, during the next three centuries Puerto Rico was practically forgotten
The 19th century saw the beginning of the struggle for independence from Spain. The population began to swell, and agriculture, especially coffee bean growing, flourished. The fight for freedom culminated in 1897, when the great political leader Luis Munoz Rivera finally won a Charter of Autonomy from the Spanish government. The charter, however, would be short-lived.
The Spanish-American War was in progress, and on July 25, American troops landed at Guanica.
When the war ended in 1898 and the Treaty of Paris was signed, Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States. In 1917, Congress granted Puerto Ricans American citizenship. Today, Puerto Rico occupies a unique status as a Commonwealth of the United States. It has its own constitution and a system of government very similar to that of most states in the Union.
LOCATION: About 20 miles off the coast of Venezuela, Aruba is the "A" in the ABC islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.
SIZE: 19.6 miles long by 6 miles wide. Approximately 74 square miles.
POPULATION: Approximately 17,000 in Oranjestad and 80,000 on the island.
LANGUAGE: The official language is Dutch; English, Spanish and a local dialect, Papiamento, are also spoken.
TIME ZONE: Atlantic Standard Time year round.
CURRENCY: The Aruba florin (A fl.). Current exchange rate is approximately 1.77. U.S. dollars, traveller’s checks and major credit cards are widely accepted.
Aruba has a fascinating history, one that has been coloured by warring European colonisers, a boom- and-bust economy and the creation of a new language. The latter is something Arubans are especially proud; Papiamento, the language of the island, is a unique combination of Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, English, African and Indian words. It is spoken only on the Dutch "ABC' islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.
The island was discovered by Alonzo de Ojeda, who claimed it for the Spanish Crown in 1499. The Spanish never colonised Aruba; they thought it was barren and pronounced it an isla inutil, a "useless island." Therefore, instead of decimating the natives, a common practice in those days, the Spanish let the Arawak Indian population survive, and many of today's Arubans are of Indian descent.
In 1634, near the culmination of their 80-year war with Spain, the Dutch took over the island. Peter Stuyvesant named governor of Aruba (as well as the rest of the Netherlands Antilles) in 1643, a post he held until 1647. From the 17th century on, the Dutch were in control, with the exception of a brief period of English domination between 1805 and 1816, during the Napoleonic Wars. Gold was discovered on the island in 1825 and mined successfully until 1913, by which time three million pounds had been extracted. As the yield turned meagre and mining became unprofitable, Aruba’s economic outlook appeared grim. But even as the gold diminished, the aloe plant was becoming the primary agricultural crop, and the basis of the island's first major industry. Aruba's dry climate was found to be ideal for growing this versatile member of the lily family, used in cosmetics and lotions as well as medicinally. The island soon became the world's leading aloe producer.
Then, in 1929, the Lago Oil and Transport Company, a subsidiary of Standard Oil of New Jersey, built a large refinery at the south-eastern tip of the island.
The Lago refinery became the largest in the world, assuring Aruba its place as one of the most prosperous islands in the Caribbean. The refinery was sold to Coastal Corporation and is operational today.
By 1985, tourists had discovered Aruba's perfect beaches and incredibly clear aqua-blue waters, ensuring prosperity for the foreseeable future.
Good fortune of a different sort came the island's way in 1986, when Aruba became a separate entity within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Before this date, it had been a member of the Netherlands Antilles, the six Dutch Caribbean islands. Now the Kingdom comprises the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
LOCATION: 3,000 foot elevation in north central Venezuela, approximately 20 miles from the Caribbean coast.
POPULATION: 4 million people in Caracas and 70,000 in La Guaira.
LANGUAGE: Spanish is the official language, though English is spoken.
TIME ZONE: One hour ahead of Eastern Standard time.
CURRENCY: Bolivar (Bs) is the monetary unit. Approximately 500 Bs=$1 US. No need to convert to U.S. dollars. The recommended stores accept dollars, travellers’ checks and major credit cards.
Diego de Losada, a Spanish conquistador, founded Santiago de Leon de Caracas on July 25, 1567; Spanish colonists began arriving soon thereafter. The town quickly became an important trade centre for the Spaniards and was named the capital of the General Captaincy of Venezuela in 1578.
However, Caracas remained relatively tranquil until the War of Independence broke out in 1803. It was here that most influential revolutionaries gathered in 1811 to sign their Declaration of Independence.
Venezuela's ultimate victory in 1824 was due primarily to the leadership of a caraqueno (as a resident of Caracas is called), Simon Bolivar, known ever after as the Liberator.
Caracas remained essentially a conservative, Catholic town until 1870, when General Antonio Guzman Blanco emerged as the caudillo, or military dictator.
Guzman Blanco proceeded to confiscate Roman Catholic church lands and abolish all ecclesiastic privileges in Venezuela. Until he was overthrown in 1880, he maintained relative political stability, had many roads built and was instrumental in establishing secular schools. In the ensuing decades, Caracas developed into one of the most progressive cities in Latin America.
Today, Caracas, located 18 miles inland from its busy port of La Guaira, is the capital of the richest nation in Latin America. Venezuela remains one of the largest oil producers in the world.
The drive from La Guaira to Caracas is on one of South America's most expensive roads to build and takes 45 minutes. It's uphill through two lengthy tunnels. Beyond the city is Mount Avila, almost 7,400 feet above Caracas. The peak is part of El Avila National Park that forms the city's impressive northern backdrop and services as a green wall separating Caracas from the Caribbean Sea.
LOCATION: Southernmost island of the Windward Antilles, between Trinidad to the South (90 miles) and St. Vincent to the North (60 miles)
SIZE: 21 miles by 12 miles wide, totalling 133 square miles
TIME ZONE: During the winter Grenada is on Atlantic Standard time, one hour ahead of Eastern Standard. During Daylight Savings Time, Grenada is on Eastern Standard Time.
POPULATION: Approximately 95,000. 27,000 live in St. George.
LANGUAGE: English is the official language and an African, French patois is also spoken.
CURRENCY: The Eastern Caribbean dollar (EC $) $1 US= $2.65 EC. The US dollar is widely accepted.
Grenada was sighted by Christopher Columbus on his third voyage in 1498, but the first permanent European settlement on the island was established in 1650 by the French. During the 15th-century dynastic wars, the island was held alternately by France and England until 1783, when the Treaty of Paris ceded Grenada to the British. It wasn't until 1974 that the three-island nation, comprising Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique, achieved independence, becoming one of the smallest independent countries in the Western Hemisphere. Although political instability halted tourism in the early 1980s, intervention by the United States and several Caribbean countries in October 1983 restored order. Near the end of the following year, Grenadians chose their new Prime Minister in the first free elections since the unrest.
The government consists of a prime minister supported by a cabinet of six ministers; a governor-general appointed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the advice of the prime minister; and a House of Representatives and a Senate.
Grenada is known as the Isle of Spice because it is the largest spice-producing island in the Western Hemisphere. The nutmeg tree was introduced here in 1843, and the production of the aromatic seed and mace, the seed's fibrous covering, has since grown into one of the country's biggest industries, an enterprise that also includes the cultivation and export of ginger, cloves, cocoa, cinnamon and several other spices.
Today, Grenada is expanding its economic base in the tourism and light manufacturing sectors. Tourists will find many new attractions, including a National Parks system and first-rate facilities for diving excursions, as well as a growing list of restaurants and resorts.
LOCATION: Dominica is located between Guadeloupe and Martinique, and is separated from both neighbours by wide channels. Roseau the capital, is found on the south-western side of the island.
SIZE: 29 miles long and 16 miles wide, for a total of 298 square miles.
TIME ZONE: One hour ahead of Eastern Standard time during the winter months.
POPULATION: About 20,000 in Roseau; about 74,000 on the island of which 3,000 are indigenous Caribs.
LANGUAGE: English is the official language and is spoken throughout the island. A patois (a mix of French and Creole) is spoken by many.
CURRENCY: Eastern Caribbean dollar (EC$). Current exchange rate is approximately PC 2.65=$1 U.S. dollar.
The Caribs had been calling the island home for some 500 years, since Columbus sailed by on November 3, 1493. He christened it Dominica in recognition of the Lord's day and continued north without making landfall. The island was largely ignored for the next 200 years; the French and British then sparred for it with the latter gaining permanent control in 1805. Dominica gained independence in 1978. The following year, the island was devastated by Hurricane David. In 1980, however, a bright spot appeared on the horizon after a storm of a different sort; in the midst of the social turmoil surrounding the forced resignation of Patrick John, the island's first Prime Minister. Mary Eugenia Charles stepped into this position. She worked tirelessly to bolster Dominica's primarily agricultural economy while protecting the island's greatest source - its untamed beauty. Mary Eugenea Charles retired in June 1995 when the United Workers Party won the general election.
SIZE: The island of St. Thomas measures 32 square miles; it is 13 miles long and 3 miles wide.
LOCATION: St. Thomas and the other U.S. Virgin Islands are situated in the north-eastern part of the Caribbean adjacent to the Anegada Passage, a gateway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
TIMEZONE: The U.S. Virgin Islands are on eastern daylight time during the summer months; during the rest of the year, they are on Atlantic time, one hour later than eastern standard time.
POPULATION: Approximately 55,000 people on St. Thomas.
LANGUAGE: English is the official language of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
CURRENCY: The U.S. dollar.
Ever since Columbus discovered what are now the U.S. Virgin Islands during his second voyage to the New World in 1493, they have proved to be an irresistible lure for more foreign powers than any other nation. The flags of Spain, France, England, Holland, Denmark and the United States have flown over these islands. The first successful colonisation attempt commenced officially in 1666, when the Danes took possession of St. Thomas.
Soon after the Danish settlement, it became apparent that St. Thomas' future lay in her port. The tiny settlement with four taverns became known as Tap Hus, or "Beer Hall," until 1691, when it was renamed Charlotte Amalie, in honour of the consort of King Christian V.
In 1685, the Danes signed a treaty with the Duchy of Brandenburg that allowed the Brandenburg American Company to establish a slave trading post on the island.
At about the same time, two early governors gave their tacit approval to the use of St. Thomas as a pirate refuge, knowing that the local merchants would benefit from the open sale of pirate booty.
From 1700 to 1750, when piracy was on the wane, legitimate trade was on the upswing and prosperous merchants replaced buccaneers on Main Street.
Then in 1764, King Frederick V declared St. Thomas a free port, which made the town the trading centre of the West Indies by 1800.
When the governor-general granted freedom to the island's slaves in 1843, the economy suffered an immediate decline. Around the same time, as mankind took a giant step forward with the switch from sail power to steam, the Virgin Islands, once so necessary as stopover points for sailing vessels, became a backwater.
During World War 1, the Americans became fearful that Denmark would fall to the Germans, thus making the Virgin Islands a German base in the Caribbean. In 1917, the U.S. bought the islands for a total of $25 million in gold.
Prosperity returned after World War II, primarily because of the islands' freeport status and the increased availability of air and sea travel. In the late 1950's, St. Thomas moved into a new position of eminence as a tourist mecca.
SIZE: The island of Barbados measures 166 square miles.
LOCATION: Barbados is part of the Lesser Antilles group and is located cast of the central Windward Islands.
TIME ZONE: Barbados is on Atlantic Time, one hour later than Eastern Standard Time.
POPULATION: The total island population is 260,000, and approximately 80,000 live in the Bridgetown area.
LANGUAGE: English.
CURRENCY: The Barbados dollar. $1 U.S. = 2 Bds. (U.S. currency is accepted everywhere.)
The island's earliest inhabitants were the Arawak Indians, a peaceful tribe from South America that inhabited many of the Caribbean islands centuries before European colonisation. In 1536, Pedro a Campos, a Portuguese explorer, discovered this 14-by-21 mile haven and named it Barbados, "the bearded ones," for the shaggy exposed roots of the ficus trees that grow there.
Since the island was on the Spanish side of the line of demarcation that separated the Portuguese empire from the Spanish territories, a Campos never asserted a claim to it. The island remained without a sovereign ruler until the English arrived early in the 17th century. Under the leadership of Captain John Powell, the island was claimed for the King of England. Two years later the first colonists arrived and settled in Jamestown, now Holetown, a city just north of modern Bridgetown.
In the late 17th century, Barbados became an island of vast plantations, and thousands of slaves were brought in from Africa to help cultivate the cane fields. Even at this early date, the island was already attracting tourists. It became fashionable to go to Barbados for one’s health, and in 1751, George Washington himself accompanied his ill half- brother, Lawrence, to Barbados for a change of air. Unfortunately for George, he contracted the smallpox that marked him for life.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Barbados' economic fortune paralleled the success and decline in the sugar trade. And during this time, the island's strategic importance was not overlooked. In fact, the coastline once boasted 26 forts, and the evidence of early British military occupation is still visible on the island.
In 1966, Barbados became an independent nation, administered by a governor-general appointed by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, and a Prime Minister representing the majority party in the House of Assembly.
LOCATION: St. Lucia is one of the Windward Islands group of the Lesser Antilles located between Martinique and St. Vincent.
SIZE: 28 miles by 13 miles across. 233 square miles.
POPULATION: There are about 140,000 people living on the island, with nearly 50,000 residing in Castries.
LANGUAGE. The official language is English but many islanders speak a French-Creole patois.
CURRENCY: The Eastern Caribbean dollar (EC$) approximately 2.65 EC$=$1 US; U.S. dollars are widely accepted.
TOURIST INFORMATION: Tourism Association, located in Pointe Seraphine.
Christopher Columbus has traditionally been given credit for discovering St. Lucia in 1502, but some relatively new theories challenge this view. According to one, Juan de la Cosa, a lieutenant under Columbus, discovered the island in 1499. Another version attributes the find to a group of shipwrecked French sailors who allegedly landed here on December 13, 1502, the feast day of St. Lucie. And an incongruous fact is the appearance of the island of St. Lucia on a Vatican globe dated 1502.
At any rate, during the next 300 years, St. Lucia was alternately occupied by British and French forces as they battled on land and sea for control of the West Indies. In 1802, the Treaty of Paris established France's sovereignty over the island, but by the following year, the two nations were at war again. The 1814 Treaty of Paris ceded St. Lucia to Britain, and the island remained a British possession until 1967, when it became a self-governing associate state of Great Britain. In February 1979, St. Lucia became an independent nation within the British Commonwealth.
LOCATION: At the juncture of the Windward and Leeward Islands. 65 miles from Antigua.
SIZE: Shaped like a cricket bat. Five miles across at the widest point by 23 miles long. Total area 65 square miles.
POPULATION: The total population is 40,000
LANGUAGE: English.
CURRENCY: East Caribbean Dollar. $2.65 EC = $1 U.S. dollar. U.S. dollar is accepted throughout the island.
TOURIST INFORMATION: Located downtown in the Pelican Mall building.
The first permanent European settlement on the island of St. Christopher, or St. Kitts as it is now known, was established by an Englishman, Captain Thomas Warner, in 1624. Although the island was inhabited by the Caribs, their chief granted the English settlers’ permission to remain. The French privateer Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc and his crew weren't far behind. For the next 80-plus years, the British and French struggled for control of the island. The 1783 Treaty of Versailles gave the British dominion over St. Kitts and Nevis.
In 1877, St. Kitts became a Crown Colony. Nevis united with it five years later. During the 1930s, political unrest led to important social reforms, giving the islanders a greater say in their own government. In 1967, the federation of St. Christopher, Nevis and Anguilla was declared a state. Shortly thereafter, Anguilla dropped out of the union and the state of St. Christopher and Nevis was declared totally independent on September 19, 1983. In 1988, the name St. Christopher was officially changed to St. Kitts.
LOCATION: St. Maarten is a part of the Leeward Islands group of the lesser Antilles
SIZE: 37 square miles.
POPULATION: There are approximately 40,000 people on the Dutch side and 30,000 on the French side.
LANGUAGE: Dutch is the official language of St. Maarten, while French is the official language of St. Martin. English is widely spoken.
CURRENCY: The Netherlands Antilles guilder in St. Maarten and the French franc in St. Martin. U.S. dollars, traveller’s checks and credit cards are accepted everywhere.
St. Maarten is the smallest island in the world to he divided between two sovereign powers, the current boundary a result of numerous wars between great European powers in the 17th century. Ownership of the island is split between the Dutch and French, yet no rift exists between the peoples of these cultures. The island's inhabitants are quite proud of their nearly 350-year history of peaceful coexistence.
According to legend, Columbus discovered the island in 1493 on the feast day of St. Martin of Tours. During the 140 years that followed, the Spanish, French and Dutch disputed possession, or at least the right to use the resources, of St. Maarten/St. Martin.
On March 23, 1648, a treaty was concluded atop Mount Concordia delineating the boundaries of the island. The Dutch received 16 square miles and the French received 21 square miles, owing to the latter's superior naval presence in the region when the treaty was signed.
The French and Dutch were not always as neighbourly as they are today - the territory underwent 16 changes of flag from 1648 to 1816, with France, Holland and even Britain claiming it at times.
The establishment of sugarcane plantations during the late 1700s inevitably brought with it slavery. The exploitive colonial system remained intact and prospered so long as there were slaves; however, once slavery was abolished (in 1848 on the French side and in 1863 on the Dutch), the economy suffered greatly. The island became mired in a depression that lasted until 1939, when all import and export taxes were rescinded and the island became a free port.
Thereafter, St. Maarten/St. Martin developed as a hub of trade in the Caribbean, the most dramatic advances were made in the late 1950's with the opening of the airport. In the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's, hotels began to proliferate around the island and more cruise ships began to visit. Today, the island's appeal is stronger than ever.