Limón ( Spanish pronunciation: [liˈmon] ) is one of seven provinces in Costa Rica . The province covers an area of 9,189 km, and has a population of 386,862.
78-515: The majority of its territory is situated in the country's Caribbean lowlands, though the southwestern portion houses part of an extensive mountain range known as the Cordillera de Talamanca . The province shares its northern border with Nicaragua via the Río San Juan , its western borders with the provinces of Heredia , Cartago , and Puntarenas , and its southern border with Panama via
156-472: A UNEP report, the Caribbean coral reefs might get extinct in next 20 years due to population explosion along the coast lines, overfishing, the pollution of coastal areas and global warming. Some Caribbean islands have terrain that Europeans found suitable for cultivation for agriculture. Tobacco was an important early crop during the colonial era, but was eventually overtaken by sugarcane production as
234-702: A decline in the Amerindian population. such as the Kongo , Igbo , Akan , Fon and Yoruba as well as military prisoners from Ireland , who were deported during the Cromwellian reign in England . Immigrants from Britain , Italy , France , Spain , the Netherlands , Portugal and Denmark also arrived, although the mortality rate was high for both groups. Jamaican people Jamaicans are
312-578: A devastating impact on the population, so starting in 1503, slaves from Africa were imported to the colony. While early slave traders were Portuguese and Spanish, known as the First Atlantic System, by the 17th century the trade became dominated by British, French, and Dutch merchants. This was known as the Second Atlantic System. 5 million African slaves would be taken to the Caribbean, and around half would be traded to
390-541: A few still are, colonies of European nations; a few are overseas or dependent territories : The British West Indies were united by the United Kingdom into a West Indies Federation between 1958 and 1962. The independent countries formerly part of the B.W.I. still have a joint cricket team that competes in Test matches , One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals . The West Indian cricket team includes
468-549: A little over a week (to include two weekends). Activities include parades, food, music, dancing, and, on the last night, a concert headed by a major Latino/Caribbean music act in the Parque Vargas. Previous headliners have included Eddy Herrera (2002), Damian Marley (2003), El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico (2005), and T.O.K. (2006). The festival goes on rain or shine, though at times it is susceptible to local emergencies: Event planners cancelled carnaval in 2007 due to
546-722: A major dengue outbreak that afflicted all of Limón, and again in 2008 due to an epidemic trash-removal problem that has since been resolved. On August 31, Día del Negro ("day of the black person") is held to showcase the black people in Limón. Everyone wears African garments, and the children and adults play music and dance in the middle of the street to traditional music. Caribbean The Caribbean ( / ˌ k ær ɪ ˈ b iː ən , k ə ˈ r ɪ b i ən / KARR -ib- EE -ən, kə- RIB -ee-ən , locally / ˈ k ær ɪ b i æ n / KARR -ib-ee-an ; Spanish : el Caribe ; French : les Caraïbes ; Dutch : de Caraïben ),
624-601: A more efficient means to ship to Europe. Although he secured two English bank loans in 1871 and got the American Henry Meiggs to take on the project, work stopped in 1873 due to financial, logistical, and labor issues. The railroad sat unfinished until the presidency of Próspero Fernández . In 1884, thanks to the effort of the Minister of Public Works, Bernardo Soto , Costa Rica hired Meiggs' nephew, Minor Keith , to renegotiate Costa Rica's debt and complete
702-470: Is Afro-Caribbean, 7% is indigenous, less than 1% is Chinese, and nearly 75% consider themselves a mix of Afro-Caribbean, indigenous, Chinese, and/or mestizo blood. Spoken languages include Spanish, an English creole called Limonese Creole , Chinese , English, and the indigenous languages of the province's three main groups (the Bribri, KéköLdi, and Babécar). Due mainly to the surge in tourism starting around
780-822: Is a subregion in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean . Bordered by North America to the north, Central America to the west, and South America to the south, it comprises numerous islands , cays, islets, reefs, and banks. It includes the Lucayan Archipelago , Greater Antilles , and Lesser Antilles of the West Indies ; the Quintana Roo islands and Belizean islands of
858-712: Is disproportionately held by the White Jamaicans, Chinese Jamaicans and the Afro-European (or locally called the Brown Man or Browning Class) - i.e. despite being a minority group(s) (less than 25% of the country's population) controls most of the country's wealth. Responses of the 2011 official census . A more precise breakdown of the Responses of the 2011 official census by the University of
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#1732761325267936-399: Is now Tortuguero to hunt turtles from May through September. As years passed, these populations eventually settled along the coast and founded the towns of Cahuita (named after the sangrillo or cawa tree), Old Harbour (Puerto Viejo), Grape Point (Punta Uva), and Manzanillo (named after the manchineel tree). The Afro-Caribbean population established an amicable trading relationship with
1014-522: Is often used to describe a pirate operating in this region. The Caribbean region was war-torn throughout much of its colonial history, but the wars were often based in Europe, with only minor battles fought in the Caribbean. Some wars, however, were born of political turmoil in the Caribbean itself. In 1791, a slave rebellion in the French colony of Saint-Domingue led to the establishment in 1804 of Haiti ,
1092-667: Is questioned. Consistent dates of 3100 BC appear in Cuba . The earliest dates in the Lesser Antilles are from 2000 BC in Antigua . A lack of pre-ceramic sites in the Windward Islands and differences in technology suggest that these Archaic settlers may have Central American origins. Whether an Ortoiroid colonization of the islands took place is uncertain, but there is little evidence of one. DNA studies changed some of
1170-689: Is warm year round, in the 70s, 80s and 90s, and only varies from winter to summer about 2–5 degrees on the southern islands and about a 10–20 degrees difference on the northern islands of the Caribbean. The northern islands, like the Bahamas, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, may be influenced by continental masses during winter months, such as cold fronts. Aruba: Latitude 12°N Puerto Rico: Latitude 18°N Cuba: at Latitude 22°N Lucayan Archipelago Greater Antilles Lesser Antilles All islands at some point were, and
1248-469: The 2004 Haitian coup d'état , the US were accused by CARICOM of arranging it to remove elected Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In 1965, 23,000 US troops were sent to the Dominican Republic to quash a local uprising against military rule (see Dominican Civil War ). President Lyndon Johnson had ordered the invasion to stem what he deemed to be a "Communist threat." However, the mission appeared ambiguous and
1326-676: The Caribbean . The Caribbean is sometimes considered alongside Latin America as a region. Generally, the Caribbean region is organized into 33 political entities , including 13 sovereign states , 12 dependencies , 7 overseas territories , and various disputed territories . From 15 December 1954 to 10 October 2010, there was a territory known as the Netherlands Antilles composed of five islands, all of which were Dutch dependencies. From 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962, there
1404-825: The Caribbean Community . On the continental mainland of the Americas , the Caribbean coasts of Mexico , Central America, and South America, including the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, Bay Islands Department of Honduras, the North and South Caribbean Autonomous Regions of Nicaragua, the Limón Province of Costa Rica, Cartagena and Barranquilla in Colombia, Maracaibo and Cumaná in Venezuela, are considered part of Caribbean. As with
1482-727: The Cayman Islands , born Jamaicans, as well as Caymanians of Jamaican origin, make up 26.8% of the population. Outside of Anglophone countries, the largest Jamaican diaspora community lives in Central America, where Jamaicans make up a significant percentage of the population. According to the official Jamaica Population Census of 1970 , ethnic origins categories in Jamaica include: Black (Mixed) ; Chinese ; East Indian ; White ; and 'Other' (e.g.: Syrian or Lebanese ). Jamaicans who consider themselves Black (according to
1560-711: The Cuban Revolution of 1959, relations deteriorated rapidly leading to the Bay of Pigs Invasion , the Cuban Missile Crisis , and successive US attempts to destabilize the island, based upon Cold War fears of the Soviet threat. The US invaded and occupied Hispaniola for 19 years (1915–34), subsequently dominating the Haitian economy through aid and loan repayments. The US invaded Haiti again in 1994 . After
1638-468: The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico , while the more seasonal dry tropical savanna climates are found in Cuba , northern Colombia and Venezuela , and southern Yucatán, Mexico . Arid climates are found along the extreme northern coast of Venezuela out to the islands including Aruba and Curacao , as well as the northwestern tip of Yucatán. While the region generally is sunny much of
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#17327613252671716-642: The Indian subcontinent and Asia ; as well as modern immigration from around the world. The region takes its name from the Caribs , an ethnic group present in the Lesser Antilles and parts of adjacent South America at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Americas . The two most prevalent pronunciations of "Caribbean" outside the Caribbean are / ˌ k ær ɪ ˈ b iː ə n / ( KARR -ə- BEE -ən ), with
1794-784: The Monroe Doctrine , the United States gained a major influence on most Caribbean nations. In the early part of the 20th century this influence was extended by participation in the Banana Wars . Victory in the Spanish–American War and the signing of the Platt Amendment in 1901 ensured that the United States would have the right to interfere in Cuban political and economic affairs, militarily if necessary. After
1872-495: The Río Sixaola . Within the province there are six cantons, or counties, which include Pococí , Guácimo , Siquirres , Matina , Limón , and Talamanca . Each cantón has several local districts. Limón is one of the most culturally diverse of Costa Rica's provinces, housing a significant Afro-Caribbean and indigenous population. Several languages (Spanish, Limón Creole) are spoken, and due mainly to its cultural ties to
1950-787: The Yucatán Peninsula ; and the Bay Islands , Miskito Cays , Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia, and Santa Catalina , and Corn Islands of Central America. It also includes the coastal areas on the continental mainland of the Americas bordering the region from the Yucatán Peninsula in North America through Central America to the Guianas in South America. Situated largely on the Caribbean Plate ,
2028-525: The cantón of Talamanca. Unlike the rest of the country, Limón does not adhere to the dry-wet season cycle. It rains throughout the year, though the driest months tend to occur in September and October. Limón is home to the country's largest concentration of Chinese, Afro-Caribbean and indigenous groups (mainly the Bribri , Kéköldi and Cabécar ). According to the 2000 census, 16% of Limón's population
2106-538: The plantation system . [REDACTED] The oldest evidence of humans in the Caribbean is in southern Trinidad at Banwari Trace , where remains have been found from 7,000 years ago. These pre-ceramic sites, which belong to the Archaic (pre-ceramic) age, have been termed Ortoiroid . The earliest archaeological evidence of human settlement in Hispaniola dates to about 3600 BC, but the reliability of these finds
2184-426: The 1970s, Limón is home to a host of foreign expatriates. Among the most common are Americans, Canadians, Nicaraguans, South Americans (mainly Colombian and Ecuadorian), and Europeans (Spanish, Dutch, German, Swiss, and Italian). The United Fruit Company laid the foundation of what keeps the limonense economy going. Although the fruit conglomerate has long been dismantled, banana and plantain exports remain one of
2262-728: The 800,000 acres (3,200 km) of Caribbean land the Costa Rican government gave him and the success of the banana sales, Keith eventually founded and grew the enormously lucrative United Fruit Company . Several town names in Limón (mainly in Talamanca) trace their origin to Keith and his associates: Penhurst (just above Cahuita, and actually marked as Penshurt in street signs and local maps), Fields, Olivia, and Margarita (all three lying east of Bribrí, off of route 32). Ever since major development occurred in Limón, an undercurrent of political resentment has been felt between limonenses and
2340-557: The Americas in 1502, setting anchor near Isla Uvita , just off the shore of present-day Puerto Limón. Due mainly to the region's hot and inhospitable weather and fervent resistance from indigenous groups, the Spanish tried but eventually gave up the idea of colonizing the Caribbean lowlands and instead opted to exploit the central valley and Pacific regions. Starting in the early 19th century, Afro-Caribbeans from Bocas del Toro (Panama), San Andrés (Colombia), and Nicaragua visited what
2418-954: The Bahamas and the Leeward Islands ; the Island Caribs and Galibi in the Windward Islands; and the Ciboney in western Cuba. The Taínos are subdivided into Classic Taínos, who occupied Puerto Rico and part of Hispaniola; Western Taínos, who occupied the Bahamian archipelago, Cuba, Jamaica , and part of Hispaniola; and the Eastern Taínos, who occupied the northern Lesser Antilles . The southern Lesser Antilles, including Guadeloupe , Dominica , and Trinidad, were inhabited by both Carib-speaking and Arawak-speaking groups. Soon after Christopher Columbus came to
Limón Province - Misplaced Pages Continue
2496-644: The British Caribbean islands. Slavery was abolished first in the Dutch Empire in 1814. Spain abolished slavery in its empire in 1811, with the exceptions of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo. Slavery was not abolished in Cuba until 1886. Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807 , and slavery proper in 1833 . France abolished slavery in its colonies in 1848. The Caribbean was known for pirates , especially between 1640 and 1680. The term " buccaneer "
2574-423: The Caribbean islands, dishes like rice and beans are ubiquitous throughout the province, along with reggae , calypso , and soca music (see "Demographics"). The capital is Puerto Limón , and other important cities include Siquirres , Puerto Viejo de Talamanca , and Guápiles . Locals refer to themselves as limonenses. Columbus was the first European to visit Limón during his fourth and final voyage to
2652-608: The Caribbean itself, but according to the Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage , the most common pronunciation in Caribbean English stresses the first syllable instead, / ˈ k ær ɪ b i æ n / ( KARR -ih-bee-an ). The word "Caribbean" has multiple uses. Its principal ones are geographical and political. The Caribbean can also be expanded to include territories with strong cultural and historical connections to Africa, slavery , European colonisation and
2730-629: The Caribbean region varies: Some islands in the region have relatively flat terrain of non-volcanic origin. These islands include Aruba (which has minor volcanic features), Curaçao , Barbados , Bonaire , the Cayman Islands , Saint Croix , the Bahamas , and Antigua . Others possess rugged towering mountain-ranges like the islands of Saint Martin , Cuba , Hispaniola , Puerto Rico , Jamaica , Dominica , Montserrat , Saba , Sint Eustatius , Saint Kitts , Saint Lucia , Saint Thomas , Saint John , Tortola , Grenada , Saint Vincent , Guadeloupe , Martinique and Trinidad and Tobago . Definitions of
2808-536: The Caribbean, both Portuguese and Spanish explorers began claiming territories in Central and South America. These early colonies brought gold to Europe; most specifically England, the Netherlands, and France. These nations hoped to establish profitable colonies in the Caribbean. Colonial rivalries made the Caribbean a cockpit for European wars for centuries. Columbus, and the early colonists of Hispaniola, treated
2886-543: The Dutch. Sea water was pumped into shallow ponds, producing coarse salt when the water evaporated. The natural environmental diversity of the Caribbean islands has led to recent growth in eco-tourism . This type of tourism is growing on islands lacking sandy beaches and dense human populations. Life expectancy in some countries of the Caribbean in 2022, according to estimation of the World Bank Group : At
2964-484: The Limón population. Recent major investment initiatives are a break with the past, and may help to improve relations between the Caribbean district and the central valley (see "Economy"). The majority of Limón's land lies at sea level, though its western border sees an increase in altitude due largely to the Cordillera de Talamanca. The province's indigenous populations largely reside in reserves that occupy much of
3042-757: The Orinoco around 650 AD and another group, the Arauquinoid, expanded into these areas and up the Caribbean chain. Around 1300 AD a new group, the Mayoid, entered Trinidad and remained the dominant culture until Spanish settlement. At the time of the European discovery of most of the islands of the Caribbean, three major Amerindian indigenous peoples lived on the islands: the Taíno in the Greater Antilles ,
3120-432: The South American nation of Guyana , the only former British colony on the mainland of that continent. In addition, these countries share the University of the West Indies as a regional entity. The university consists of three main campuses in Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, a smaller campus in the Bahamas and Resident Tutors in other contributing territories such as Trinidad. The Caribbean islands have one of
3198-547: The United States' One-drop rule definition of Black), made up 92% of the working population. Those of non-African descent or mixed race made up the remaining 8% of the population. But according to a more precise study conducted by the local University of the West Indies - Jamaica's population is more accurately 76.3% African descent or Black, 15.1% Afro-European (or locally called the Brown Man or Browning Class), 3.4% East Indian and Afro-East Indian, 3.2% Caucasian, 1.2% Chinese and 0.8% Other. Wealth or economic power in Jamaica
Limón Province - Misplaced Pages Continue
3276-436: The United States, Britain, France and the Netherlands still have some Caribbean possessions . The decline of the export industries meant a need to diversify the economies of the Caribbean territories. The tourism industry started developing in the early 20th century, rapidly developing in the 1960s when regular international flights made vacations affordable and is now a $ 50 billion industry. Another industry that developed in
3354-414: The United States. Between the 1960s and 80s, most of the British holdings in the Caribbean achieved political independence, starting with Jamaica in 1962 , then Trinidad and Tobago (1962), British Guiana (1966), Barbados (1966), the Bahamas (1973), Grenada (1974), Dominica (1978), St. Lucia (1979), St. Vincent (1979), Antigua and Barbuda (1981), and St. Kitts and Nevis (1983). Presently,
3432-643: The West Indies Many Jamaicans now live overseas and outside Jamaica, while many have migrated to Anglophone countries, including over 400,000 Jamaicans in the United Kingdom , over 300,000 in Canada and 1,100,000 in the United States . There are about 30,500 Jamaicans residing in other CARICOM member including the Bahamas , Antigua & Barbuda (12,000), Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago . There are also communities of Jamaican descendants in Central America, particularly Costa Rica , Nicaragua , and Panama . Most of Costa Rica's Afro-Costa Rican and Mulatto population, which combined represents about 7% of
3510-412: The central government. This is especially true for the Afro-Caribbean population, who, until 1948, had to obtain legal permission to leave Limón province, and were not recognized as citizens. Roads and electricity were slow to come to most of the province (the latter did not arrive to Cahuita until late 1976), and the traditional disparity of resources – along with racism – created resentment among some of
3588-496: The citizens of Jamaica and their descendants in the Jamaican diaspora . The vast majority of Jamaicans are of Sub-Saharan African descent, with minorities of Europeans, Indians, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and others of mixed ancestry. The bulk of the Jamaican diaspora resides in other Anglophone countries , namely Canada , the United States and the United Kingdom . Jamaican populations are also prominent in other Caribbean countries , territories and Commonwealth realms , where in
3666-411: The coastal areas of the mainland, Belize , Panama , Guyana , Suriname , and French Guiana are often completely included within the Caribbean due to their strong political and cultural ties with the region. Geopolitically, the islands of the Caribbean are often regarded as a subregion of North America , though sometimes they are included in Middle America , or regarded as its own subregion as
3744-448: The earlier foraging inhabitants—presumably through disease or violence—as they settled new islands." Between 400 BC and 200 BC, the first ceramic-using agriculturalists, the Saladoid culture , entered Trinidad from South America. They expanded up the Orinoco River to Trinidad, and then spread rapidly up the islands of the Caribbean. Some time after 250 AD another group, the Barancoid, entered Trinidad. The Barancoid society collapsed along
3822-432: The early 20th century was offshore banking and financial services , particularly in The Bahamas and the Cayman Islands , as the proximity of the Caribbean islands to North America made them an attractive location for branches of foreign banks seeking to avail themselves of less complicated regulations and lower tax rates. The United States has conducted military operations in the Caribbean for at least 100 years. Since
3900-682: The first humans is correlated with extinction of giant owls and dwarf ground sloths . The hotspot contains dozens of highly threatened animals (ranging from birds, to mammals and reptiles), fungi and plants. Examples of threatened animals include the Puerto Rican amazon , two species of solenodon (giant shrews) in Cuba and the Hispaniola island, and the Cuban crocodile . The region's coral reefs, which contain about 70 species of hard corals and from 500 to 700 species of reef-associated fishes have undergone rapid decline in ecosystem integrity in recent years, and are considered particularly vulnerable to global warming and ocean acidification. According to
3978-409: The first republic in the Caribbean. Neighboring Santo Domingo (now Dominican Republic ) would attain its independence on three separate occasions in 1821, 1844 and 1865. Cuba became independent in 1898 following American intervention in the War of Independence during the Spanish-American war . Following the war, Spain's last colony in the Americas, Puerto Rico , became an unincorporated territory of
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#17327613252674056-544: The fringe of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea just to the north of the island of Puerto Rico, is the deepest point in all of the Atlantic Ocean. The region sits in the line of several major shipping routes with the Panama Canal connecting the western Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. The climate of the area is tropical , varying from tropical rainforest in some areas to tropical monsoon and tropical savanna in others. There are also some locations that are arid climates with considerable drought in some years, and
4134-533: The government has reported lower drop-out rates over the past few years. Health care is provided for the province by Hospital Dr. Tony Facio Castro . Every second week of October, Puerto Limón hosts a festival called carnaval . The event's start is credited to local community leader and activist, Alfred Josiah Henry Smith (known as "Mister King"), who helped organize the first carnaval in October 1949. The event coincides with Columbus Day (known locally as Día de la Raza ) on October 12, and traditionally lasts for
4212-403: The indigenous peoples brutally, even enslaving children. In 1512, after pressure from Dominican friars, the Laws of Burgos were introduced by the Spanish Crown to better protect the rights of the New World natives. The Spanish used a form of slavery called the Encomienda , where slaves would be awarded to the conquistadors, who were charged with protecting and converting their slaves. This had
4290-418: The island of Barbados in the Lesser Antilles, are considered to be a part of the Caribbean despite not bordering the Caribbean Sea. All the islands in the Antilles , including the Lucayan Archipelago, form the West Indies , a term often interchangeable with the Caribbean . The archipelago of Bermuda is not part of the Caribbean, as it lies in the Sargasso Sea to the north, but it is an associate member of
4368-425: The job. Seeking to minimize fixed costs, Keith planted banana crops along the lines as a cheap source of food for his work force. After finishing the project, but losing money due to low passenger numbers, Keith placed bananas in the empty cars and shipped them to the United States as a (subsequently successful) business experiment.This railroad was built as an export railroad, not a passenger railroad. Combined with
4446-486: The most diverse eco systems in the world. The animals, fungi and plants, and have been classified as one of Conservation International 's biodiversity hotspots because of their exceptionally diverse terrestrial and marine ecosystems, ranging from montane cloud forests , to tropical rainforest , to cactus scrublands . The region also contains about 8% (by surface area) of the world's coral reefs along with extensive seagrass meadows, both of which are frequently found in
4524-408: The municipality afloat. However, local leaders hope to benefit from the government's recent major investment initiatives in the province. Access to education – especially in Talamanca – is a problem that the government has tried to tackle. Whereas about 45% of limonenses possess a high-school degree (about the national average), only about 22% of talamanqueños (those from Talamanca) have achieved
4602-466: The number of fungal species endemic to some Caribbean islands. For Cuba, 2200 species of fungi have been tentatively identified as possible endemics of the island; for Puerto Rico , the number is 789 species; for the Dominican Republic , the number is 699 species; for Trinidad and Tobago, the number is 407 species. Many of the ecosystems of the Caribbean islands have been devastated by deforestation , pollution, and human encroachment. The arrival of
4680-438: The peaks of mountains tend to have cooler temperate climates . Rainfall varies with elevation, size and water currents, such as the cool upwellings that keep the ABC islands arid. Warm, moist trade winds blow consistently from the east, creating both rain forest and semi arid climates across the region. The tropical rainforest climates include lowland areas near the Caribbean Sea from Costa Rica north to Belize , as well as
4758-643: The primary stress on the third syllable , and / k ə ˈ r ɪ b i ə n / ( kə- RIB -ee-ən ), with the stress on the second. Most authorities of the last century preferred the stress on the third syllable. This is the older of the two pronunciations, but the stressed-second-syllable variant has been established for over 75 years. It has been suggested that speakers of British English prefer / ˌ k ær ɪ ˈ b iː ə n / ( KARR -ə- BEE -ən ) while North American speakers more typically use / k ə ˈ r ɪ b i ə n / ( kə- RIB -ee-ən ), but major American dictionaries and other sources list
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#17327613252674836-439: The project. Native Costa-Ricans comprised the bulk of the labor force as the railroad began construction, though small proportions of Afro-Caribbeans and Chinese were also hired. When the project entered the Caribbean lowlands, however, many workers died from exhaustion and malaria , which prompted Keith to aggressively recruit outside the country, bringing in large numbers of Jamaicans , Chinese, and even Italians to finish
4914-432: The region has thousands of islands, islets , reefs , and cays . Island arcs delineate the northern and eastern edges of the Caribbean Sea : the Greater Antilles in the north and the Lesser Antilles , which includes the Leeward Islands , Windward Islands , and the Leeward Antilles , to the east and south. The nearby northwestern Lucayan Archipelago , comprising The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands , and
4992-456: The region's indigenous populations, and this cohesive existence laid the foundation for these two groups to eventually become the most populous in the province. Limón became accessible to large-scale economic activity and settlement after the government decided to build a railroad from San José to present-day Puerto Limón (or, as the locals call it, Limón). Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez proposed the project in 1870, shortly after his successful coup, as
5070-551: The region's staple crop. Sugar was produced from sugarcane for export to Europe. Cuba and Barbados were historically the largest producers of sugar . The tropical plantation system thus came to dominate Caribbean settlement. Other islands were found to have terrain unsuited for agriculture , for example Dominica , which remains heavily forested. The islands in the southern Lesser Antilles , Aruba , Bonaire and Curaçao , are extremely arid, making them unsuitable for agriculture. However, they have salt pans that were exploited by
5148-656: The region's top sources of income, as well as the ports of Limón and Moín (administered by the government's Junta de Administración Portuaria y de Desarrollo Económico de la Vertiente Atlántica [Japdeva] ), and tourism. Although Limón province ranks third in overall poverty statistics, Talamanca ranks as one of the poorest counties in the country, with a significant portion of its mainly indigenous population of nearly 26,000 residents having spotty access to potable water, electricity, and roads. Two major tourist sites – Cahuita and Puerto Viejo/Manzanillo – exist in Talamanca, and taxes collected from and investment due to tourism help keep
5226-447: The same qualification. Recognizing the tie between education and poverty, the government recently launched the avancemos education initiative, in which poor and at-risk high-school students are eligible for a national scholarship to help pay for school and therefore reduce the chances of dropping out. As of 2009, about 150,000 students receive a stipend (about 47% of the total public-high-school population). Though not officially linked,
5304-413: The shallow marine waters bordering the island and continental coasts of the region. For the fungi, there is a modern checklist based on nearly 90,000 records derived from specimens in reference collections, published accounts and field observations. That checklist includes more than 11,250 species of fungi recorded from the region. As its authors note, the work is far from exhaustive, and it is likely that
5382-408: The stress on the third syllable as more common in American English too. According to the American version of Oxford Online Dictionaries, the stress on the second syllable is becoming more common in UK English and is increasingly considered "by some" to be more up to date and more "correct". The Oxford Online Dictionaries claim the stress on the second syllable is the most common pronunciation in
5460-452: The terms Greater Antilles and Lesser Antilles often vary. The Virgin Islands as part of the Puerto Rican bank are sometimes included with the Greater Antilles. The term Lesser Antilles is often used to define an island arc that includes Grenada but excludes Trinidad and Tobago and the Leeward Antilles. The waters of the Caribbean Sea host large, migratory schools of fish, turtles, and coral reef formations. The Puerto Rico Trench , located on
5538-606: The time of European contact , the dominant ethnic groups in the Caribbean included the Taíno of the Greater Antilles and northern Lesser Antilles , the Island Caribs of the southern Lesser Antilles, and smaller distinct groups such as the Guanajatabey of western Cuba and the Ciguayo of eastern Hispaniola. The population of the Caribbean is estimated to have been around 750,000 immediately before European contact, although lower and higher figures are given. After contact, social disruption and epidemic diseases such as smallpox and measles (to which they had no natural immunity) led to
5616-538: The traditional beliefs about pre-Columbian indigenous history. According to National Geographic , "studies confirm that a wave of pottery-making farmers—known as Ceramic Age people—set out in canoes from the northeastern coast of South America starting some 2,500 years ago and island-hopped across the Caribbean. They were not, however, the first colonizers. On many islands they encountered a foraging people who arrived some 6,000 or 7,000 years ago...The ceramicists, who are related to today's Arawak -speaking peoples, supplanted
5694-411: The true total number of fungal species already known from the Caribbean is higher. The true total number of fungal species occurring in the Caribbean, including species not yet recorded, is likely far higher given the generally accepted estimate that only about 7% of all fungi worldwide have been discovered. Though the amount of available information is still small, a first effort has been made to estimate
5772-506: The west of Barbados. The principal hurricane belt arcs to northwest of the island of Barbados in the Eastern Caribbean. A great example being recent events of Hurricane Irma devastating the island of Saint Martin during the 2017 hurricane season. Sea surface temperatures change little annually, normally running from 30 °C (87 °F) in the warmest months to 26 °C (76 °F) in the coolest months. The air temperature
5850-488: The wet and dry seasons. Seasonally, monthly mean temperatures vary from only about 5 C (7 F) in the northern most regions, to less than 3 C in the southernmost areas of the Caribbean. Hurricane season is from June to November, but they occur more frequently in August and September and more common in the northern islands of the Caribbean. Hurricanes that sometimes batter the region usually strike northwards of Grenada and to
5928-419: The year, the wet season from May through November sees more frequent cloud cover (both broken and overcast), while the dry season from December through April is more often clear to mostly sunny. Seasonal rainfall is divided into 'dry' and 'wet' seasons, with the latter six months of the year being wetter than the first half. The air temperature is hot much of the year, varying from 25 to 33 C (77 F to 90 F) between
6006-571: Was also a short-lived political union called the British West Indies Federation composed of ten English-speaking Caribbean territories, all of which were then British dependencies. The modern Caribbean is one of the most ethnically diverse regions on the planet, as a result of colonization by the Spanish , English , Dutch , and French ; the Atlantic slave trade from Sub-Saharan Africa ; indentured servitude from
6084-478: Was roundly condemned throughout the hemisphere as a return to gunboat diplomacy . In 1983, the US invaded Grenada to remove populist left-wing leader Maurice Bishop. The US maintains a naval military base in Cuba at Guantanamo Bay . The base is one of five unified commands whose "area of responsibility" is Latin America and the Caribbean. The command is headquartered in Miami, Florida. The geography and climate in
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