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89-491: The Toronto Caribbean Carnival , formerly and affectionately known as Caribana , is a festival of Caribbean culture and traditions held each summer in the city of Toronto , Ontario , Canada. It is a pan-Caribbean Carnival event and has been billed as North America 's largest Festival, frequented by over 1.3 million tourists each year for the festival's Grand Parade and an overall attendance of 2.3 million. Beginning in July,

178-472: 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

267-508: A video on demand streaming service dedicated to Caribbean films. The event is normally staged at Toronto's Royal Cinema . Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada , the 2020 festival was staged online through CaribbeanTales TV. The festival also sponsors an incubator program to fund film projects by emerging filmmakers within the Caribbean diaspora. This Toronto -related article is

356-533: A Calypso Monarch for the year. In addition to the main parade, the Caribbean community also celebrates a smaller pre-dawn parade known as J'ouvert (Pronounced "Jou-vay"). This too has been modelled after Trinidad Carnival . In Caribbean French-creole this means "day open" or morning. The J'ouvert portion of Carnival is the more rhythmic part of the Carnival celebration and is usually featured with steelpan bands, and persons using improvised musical instruments. It

445-636: A Caribbean nation). Caribana's roots has links to slavery and the struggle for emancipation, as well as post-colonial pan-Caribbean influence of the 1960s. Following the carnival format, particularly that of the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival , Caribana's Caribbean influences include traditions from many of the islands: John Canoe in Jamaica, Crop Over in Barbados, and other similar festivals in Cuba, Haiti, and

534-758: 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. CaribbeanTales International Film Festival The CaribbeanTales International Film Festival

623-578: 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

712-512: A different festival under the name “Carnival Extravaganza.” The Carnival was created in response to the CCC's Caribana, which celebrated a pan-Caribbean culture and the Black Canadian identity. The CDA’s intention was to make a Carnival which was more “authentic” and reflected Trinidadian culture. In 1974 and 1976, the province turned down an application by the CCC and gave a substantial sum to

801-541: 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

890-525: A gift from Canada's Caribbean community, as a tribute to Canada's Centennial . Billing itself as a multicultural nation, the Canadian government invited ethno-cultural groups to contribute celebrations with representations of their ethnic diversity. Caribana emerged during a time when many Caribbean residents emigrated to Canada following immigration reform, internationally acclaimed singers were popularizing Caribbean music (for example Harry Belafonte sang to

979-630: A naming sponsor until 2017, when Peeks became the new title sponsor and the festival became the Peeks Toronto Caribbean Carnival. In June 2019, Peeks' title sponsorship was removed and the festival was called the Toronto Caribbean Carnival for 2019. The 2020 and 2021 editions of the event were cancelled because of the global COVID-19 pandemic ; consequently, it took place in a "virtual format" on July 3, 2020. In order to accommodate restrictions during

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1068-510: A part of Afro-Caribbean folklore and include things like Red Devils (people covered in red paints), Blue Devils (people covered in blue paints), Green devils, Black devils ( Jab Jab -traditionally portrayed in the Island of Grenada), Yellow devils, White devils, (usually people throwing baby powder or flour.) or people just covered in other concoctions which are supposed to resemble mud or oil. Caribana has run annually since 1967, first performed as

1157-676: A sold-out crowd at the O'Keefe Centre in Toronto), Civil Rights Movement activities including the Canadian visits by Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. , and Muhammad Ali 's fight against the Canadian heavyweight champion George Chuvalo . Introduced by immigrants from the Caribbean , Caribana showcases multiple cultures and traditions from same heritage backgrounds coming together to celebrate their heritage ties (namely, Afro-Caribbeana persons of African descent born or living in

1246-525: Is an annual film festival , staged in Toronto , Ontario . The festival programs a lineup of films from Caribbean countries, as well as films from the Caribbean diaspora in Canada. The festival was launched in 2006 by filmmaker Frances-Anne Solomon , through her CaribbeanTales Media Group production firm. In 2009, the festival also launched a separate sister event for youth films, staged during Black History Month . In 2013, it launched CaribbeanTales TV,

1335-538: Is not usually accompanied by any singing but will have a lot of whistles and other music makers. Spectators and or persons "playing Mas" will occasionally get themselves covered from head-to-toe with mud, flour, baby powder, or different water-colored paints in the tradition of the Caribbean-based J'ouvert celebrations. In many instances, everyone in the band is supposed to resemble evil spirits while parading around at night. There are some common characters that are

1424-522: 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 ,

1513-667: 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

1602-689: 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

1691-469: 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

1780-620: 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

1869-741: The Caribbean Plate , 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

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1958-711: 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

2047-468: 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

2136-642: 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

2225-784: 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

2314-834: The Turks and Caicos Islands , and 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

2403-538: 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

2492-460: The 37th festival, the consul general of Trinidad and Tobago worked with Caribbean Cultural Committee to increase support from the business community; the committee received around CA$ 1 million that year from the national, provincial, and city governments, but it cost about twice that to run the festival. In 2006, the City of Toronto government , unsatisfied by the CCC's financial audit report, invited

2581-890: 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

2670-564: The Band of the Year twenty times. A King and Queen of the Band is also judged, and winning is considered claiming the biggest prize of the festival. In the 1970s, the parade route originally followed Bloor and Yonge Streets ending at Toronto City Hall concluding with a concert at Nathan Phillips Square. In the 1980s, the parade ran along Bay and University Avenue. Since 1991, when the parade shifted to Lake Shore Boulevard into Exhibition Place, In 1993,

2759-593: 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 "

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2848-513: The CDA. By 1980, the two organizing committees came together and the CCC once again was the sole organizing committee of Caribana. During this decade, the competing interests of the Metro police, city officials, and the corporate sponsors of Caribana threatened to overshadow the CCC's leadership. For example, in 1985, the police recommended moving the popular Olympic Island picnic event to the mainland but

2937-547: The CPA, and seven additional members chosen by the festival’s stakeholders, including the CCC. The Caribana Arts Group (CAG), which succeeded the CCC in 2005, applied but was denied funding to resume its organization of Caribana. In 2006, the FMC board included two members of the CAG; however, both representatives withdrew from the board in 2010. Due to an ongoing dispute about the ownership of

3026-482: The Caribana Marketplace covered market was added at Marilyn Bell Park along the parade route. In 2009, barricades were introduced to separate the spectators from those playing mas . In May 2010, the festival added a new initiative to involve post-secondary schools. The only college to participate was Centennial College School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culture, where they created a costume theme of

3115-704: The Caribbean Centennial Committee, transformed into the Caribbean Committee for Cultural Advancement (CCAC) in 1968 when they decided that the event should be an annual celebration. One year later, the CCAC incorporated as the Caribbean Cultural Committee (CCC). This group consisted of ten individuals with its board members mostly made up of expatriate-Caribbean nationals living in Canada. One of these members

3204-608: 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

3293-692: 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

3382-536: 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

3471-692: The Dominican Republic. Caribana also taps into the legacy of the pre-Lenten Calypso Carnival celebrations organized by the Canadian Negro Women's Organization (CANEWA) and headed by Kay Livingstone . From 1952 to 1964, CANEWA produced, funded, and hosted these annual one-day celebrations of Caribbean culture through food, dance, and music as fundraisers for scholarships to assist Black students to attend recently desegregated schools in southern Ontario. The centuries-long Black Canadian tradition of Emancipation Day parades are also an influence on Caribana. Emancipation Day Parades began to celebrate

3560-543: 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

3649-608: The Federal Government being the largest beneficiary. The participation demographics of over 1.2 million attendees indicates that 58% of attendees are from outside the Greater Toronto Area and over one million individuals from the United States. Approximately 72% of participants have previously attended Caribana. 43°37′56″N 79°25′01″W  /  43.6322°N 79.4169°W  / 43.6322; -79.4169 Caribbean Situated largely on

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3738-416: 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 ,

3827-432: 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

3916-399: The TMBA to apply for funding to operate and manage Caribana for 2006. In the end, a city-appointed committee, the Festival Management Committee (FMC), in arrangement with the CCC board members, agreed to organize Caribana for one year. The proposed structure of the FMC’s board of directors was to include: two representatives from the TMBA, one representative from the OSA, one representative from

4005-430: The Tropical Amazon. The night before the grande parade, all the kings and queens (leaders) of the bands compete on stage at Lamport Stadium to be named King and Queen of Carnival. Joella Crichton has been awarded Queen of the Carnival nine times and was subject of "Becoming a Queen" a ninety minute documentary which screened at the CaribbeanTales International Film Festival . Started in 1980, this judged event crowns

4094-436: 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

4183-414: 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,

4272-532: The Working Word Co-operative. In 2011, the Ontario Superior Court Of Justice ruled that the Caribana Arts Group (CAG), the successors of Caribbean Cultural Committee (CCC), has legal rights to the name Caribana. The first named festival sponsor was Scotiabank ( Scotiabank Caribana from 2007 to 2011 and Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival from 2011 to 2015). In October 2015, Scotiabank announced that it would end its sponsorship with Toronto's Caribbean Carnival parade after six years. The festival continued without

4361-411: 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

4450-426: The course of the festivities celebrating Caribbean culture. While the Parade of Bands is the most-well known festivities, events vary per year and in the past has included exhibits (for example the first Caribana displayed every book published by a Caribbean writer, including Austin Clarke who was the centrepiece of the exhibition); theatre plays (such as Austin Clarke's "Children of the Scheme" which dealt with

4539-448: 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

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4628-432: 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

4717-442: The energy of masqueraders, the creativity of presentation and so on. Work on the costumes begin soon after the previous year's celebration and usually takes one full year to complete all of the costumes. As of 2017, Whitfield Belasco has led a band since his brother recruited him from the Trinidad Carnival to help organize the first Caribana in 1967. Louis Saldenah has actively participated in Caribana since 1977 and has been awarded

4806-430: The event a "beacon of hope" for all Canadians, as a symbol of racial harmony. "Carry a Can to Caribana" launched, in support of Daily Bread Food Bank . With attendance down, the board chair blamed the federal and provincial tourism ministries for not funding their American advertising campaign. In 1997, the bandleaders threatened to boycott the parade if they were not paid for the year’s previous festival and provided with

4895-479: The festival had built up a debt to the City. The City of Toronto forgave the entire outstanding debt after the 1992 event. The same year, Caribana developed a new partnership with Toronto-area hotels. In 1993, the organization fired its operating chief. Following Puff Daddy 's performance in 1997, many observers raised concerns regarding cultural retention and festival organizers' moral-cultural responsibility. At launch in Nathan Phillips Square , Premier Bob Rae calls

4984-682: 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

5073-409: 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

5162-465: The flat-bed of 18 wheeler trucks. Much of the music associated with the event, such as steel pan , soca and calypso . Floats can also be found which play chutney , dancehall and reggae music. The bands are the most important part of the main Carnival parade. Each band displays an artistic theme through costume-making. In competition with one another during the parade, they pass a judging spot which will rate each band section for its costume design,

5251-544: 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

5340-403: 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

5429-429: The liberation of the enslaved throughout the Americas and were largely observed around the same time as the Calypso Carnivals. The founders of this parade were largely descendants of fugitive slaves and other Black American immigrants. The parades were marked as a Black victory over the British and operated as a military-style event, displaying military regalia, marching bands, and drum corps. Emancipation Day Parades became

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5518-486: 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

5607-425: The most notable displays by and for Black Canadians prior to Caribana. The founding organizers' goal of using festival profits to create a Black community centre remain unfulfilled. Plans for the first Caribana began in February 1966, when a group from Toronto’s West Indian community came together in an abandoned firehall on Bathurst Street and formed a celebration for Canada’s centennial. The group, originally named

5696-457: The multi-week festivities lead up to the parade which occurs over the Simcoe Day long weekend, the first weekend in August. The festival also coincides with August 1 Emancipation Day observances that commemorate the emancipation of slaves of African descent . The main stakeholders of the events are the Toronto Mas' Bands Association, the Organization of Calypso Performing Artistes, and the Ontario Steelpan Association. Several events occur over

5785-513: The necessary seed-money to fund production for 1997. The bandleaders were organized under the Ontario Mas Producers Association (OMPA) and the Toronto Mas Makers Association (TMMA). The OMPA would become the Toronto Mas Band Association (TMBA) in 2000. By the early 2000s, several organizations formed which represented different groups involved in Caribana. The TMBA oversaw the making and promotion of mas bands and represented their interests. The Ontario Steelpan Association (OSA), organized in 2002, did

5874-505: The north, but it is an associate member of 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

5963-447: The notions of Canada, the Caribbean, bacchanal and merrymaking. A naming dispute arose over the use of "Caribana." The Caribbean Cultural Committee claimed that it legally held the trademark for "Caribana". In April 2010, a panel for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ruled that Scotiabank, as the sponsors of the Caribana festival, did not have grounds for being awarded the domain name caribana.com from its current owners

6052-466: 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

6141-468: The pandemic during the summer of 2021, the festival pivoted to a foodie event with steel pans and masqueraders and replaced the grande parade with a food truck festival. The entire event, which is one of the first Caribbean Carnivals along with those in New York City , Notting Hill and Boston to be held outside of the Caribbean region. Economic studies estimate that the festival contributes approximately $ 400 million into Ontario's economy each year with

6230-438: 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

6319-473: The picnics continued until 2009. In 1991, the Caribana parade was moved to Exhibition Place and Lakeshore Boulevard. Previously, participants jumped up and played mas down Yonge Street or University Avenue on their way to the Toronto Islands. As the festival became a permanent annual event, the festival organization became dependent on borrowing money from the City of Toronto prior to the festival, to be repaid out of festival profits (if any) afterwards. By 1992,

6408-686: The plight of Caribbean women who came to Canada on the domestic immigrant worker scheme); and fashion shows . While the Caribbean Festival holds events over several weeks, the culmination of the Caribana event is the final weekend which is punctuated by the street Parade of Bands. This weekend traditionally coincides with the civic holiday in August. The street Parade of Bands consists of costumed dancers (called "Mas players") along with live Caribbean music being played from large speakers on

6497-643: 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

6586-551: 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

6675-700: The same for the steelpan musicians. These associations, which also included the Ontario Calypso Performing Artistes (OCPA), formed in 1981, became key stakeholders in Caribana. In 2001, the City of Toronto granted permits for the TMBA to organize the parade. In 2002, the parade and king and queen crowning were also organized by the TMBA. The following year, the CCC was again the sole organizer of Caribana’s events. In September 2004, after

6764-478: The settlement of the trademark infringement in 2011, the festival’s name was changed to "Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival." The name changed to "Toronto Caribbean Carnival" in 2015 when Scotiabank discontinued their sponsorship. In 2019 UNESCO the Canadian Commission officially recognizes the festival and names it a Cultural heritage property. The name Caribana was invented by the organizers to capture

6853-413: 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

6942-589: 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

7031-702: 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

7120-771: 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

7209-427: The trademark "Caribana," the 2006 festival was promoted as "the Toronto Caribbean Carnival (Caribana)". In 2009, the festival was advertised as the "Scotiabank Caribana Festival" which resulted in a trademark lawsuit from CAG, as Caribana was trademarked in 1977, following unsuccessful attempts to reach a licensing agreement. As the successor organization of the CCC, the CAG is the trademark holder to "Caribana." Following

7298-538: 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

7387-411: 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

7476-506: 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

7565-435: 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

7654-419: 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

7743-564: Was Trinidadian-born librarian Rita Cox . Charles Roach and Julius Alexander Isaac (the first Black judge of the Federal Court of Appeal) were among the community leaders who organized the first Caribana. The CCC changed its name to the Caribbean Committee for Cultural Advancement (CCCA) in 1968 and Caribbean Cultural Committee (CCC) in 1969. In 1970, the Carnival Development Association (CDA) organized

7832-571: 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

7921-478: 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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