Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Dominica, Barbados, Grenada, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, Haiti, Belize, El Salvador, Hondorus, Nicaragua, Panama, Guatemala, and Costa Rica

Geography & Statistics

Please click here for a full listing of the geography and statistics for the region.

History of the Region

The story of this region begins with the natives who lived here thousands of years ago, and eventually built some of the first civilizations in the Western hemisphere, namely the Mayans and later the Aztecs. There was no unifying civilization in the Caribbean, but the various tribes that inhabited the islands traded amongst themselves—mainly for luxuries, as the communities were self-sustaining. When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492, he was seeking a trade route to the Far East, but instead found other riches in the form of new land. It did not take long for the Spanish to explore more of Latin America, and the Spaniards quickly took as much gold as they could from the richer civilizations like the Aztecs and the Incas. As for the Caribbean, the Spanish enslaved the native people, forcing them to produce agricultural products, the most lucrative of which was sugar, to trade with other countries. The discovery of the “New World” lead to the expansion of many other European nations into the Western Hemisphere, leading to a boom in trade and riches for the Imperialist nations of Europe, and enslavement, exploitation, and even extinction for the natives.

Political reforms in Spain and the other countries controlling Latin America and the Caribbean lead to discontent among the people, and revolts began throughout the region, attempting to break free of European control. By 1825, all of Latin America and the Caribbean islands—with the exceptions of Cuba and Puerto Rico—had declared itself independent from Spain. Trade did not flourish, however, as unrest continued in Latin America as a result of numerous dictators and warlords trying to carve out a piece of territory for themselves. British trade came to dominate the area once Spanish control was gone, and gradually, peace was mostly restored by the late 1800’s. The focus of the Latin American nations was now shifted to agricultural commerce, mining, and modernization. However, the nations in Latin America and the Caribbean did not industrialize much, leading to trade in raw materials, and domination of their economies by outside nations—with the U.S. becoming the dominant power in the region in the early and mid 1900’s.

Neither of the World Wars directly impacted the region, but the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union brought about increased American influence into the area, as a precaution against Soviet expansion. The Soviets had exclusive trade agreements with Communist Cuba, importing the Cuban’s entire sugar cane crop, but hindering her economy by not allowing trade with other nations. The U.S., in turn, would only trade with non-communist nations, also importing sugar and other agricultural crops from the area. Today, Latin America and the Caribbean still rely on the agricultural trade as their biggest source of income, and also rely on a steady influx of tourists to provide economic growth. None of the Latin American or Caribbean nations import much material because their economy is too small and must rely on exports to survive. Specifically, the region is a big producer of sugar, citrus, coffee, various fruits, and other agriculture.

Politics

Politically speaking, many of the countries in the Latin American region are unstable. If you look at the history section, you’ll see that there have been many times in Latin American history when countries had replaced entire governments more than several times within a few years. Most of theses states are also quite dependent on foreign aid. Their economies mostly consist of tourism and agriculture and with a few countries having a significant amount of natural resources.

Of the countries in Latin America, the following are driven solely by tourism: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, and Grenada. Antigua and Barbuda, as a country is a constitutional monarchy with a parliament modeled after the United Kingdom’s parliament. 

What’s good to note about the above is that most Latin American countries are dependent on the US in more than one way:
1) US provides much of their trade GDP
2) Most of their income comes from US travel

Also, another thing to notice is that in conjunction with the US supplying most of these places with the necessary funding to stay alive, most of these countries have, under a United States UN resolution sponsored their own democratization in support of the US. Most of Latin American history, nonetheless, still remains unstable because of the recent history of the governments and the very slow growth or even decline in GDP or economic activity.

The Future and Beyond

The Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region share many common traits in the way they practice trade, as well as their predicted direction in the future. Much of LAC depends on the welfare of the US economy, trends in global economics in terms of commodity pricing, and weather. Under a widespread practice of agriculture, the region is highly vulnerable to the shocks of the global market. In addition, the potentially harsh weather conditions of seasonal tropical storms can hurt the efficiency of their economies. With continual efforts toward diversification of industries, most of LAC is turning to tourism as a primary source of income, but it is worth noting that even this industry is vulnerable. The region is beginning to understand the importance of trade to compensate for the weakness of one another and have made mixed efforts and progress toward privatization and welcoming more open trade. LAC also faces difficult challenges domestically, ranging from inefficient government policies and institutions to unequal incomes, unemployment and inflation. Many changes must be implemented for them to become more stabilized for the future, especially with concentration on domestic affairs and education of the public to make them more active and wise in deciding their fate. While using foreign aid sparingly to establish themselves and practicing more efficient methods of economics, they have the ability to grow in the Western hemisphere.

Did you know?

Cuba is the largest island of the West Indies group (equal in area to Pennsylvania)

About one-third of Jamaica's two million plus population lives in the capital, Kingston

Nicaragua is the largest of the Central American nations, not ocunting Mexico

In 1999, the U.S. formally handed control of the Panama Canal over to Panama

Puerto Rico is a posession of the U.S., but has not yet voted to become a state

The monetary unit of Guatemala is called the Quetzal

The literacy rate in Honduras is only 74%