West Indies

B

Plant and Animal Life

The ecology of the islands of the West Indies is typical of other island ecosystems. The variety of native animals is relatively limited. Only a handful of mammal and amphibious species are indigenous. Native species include iguanas, green turtles, hawkbill turtles, and agoutis, rodents which can be destructive to farm crops. The number and diversity of bird and saltwater aquatic species, however, is greater than that of the native animals.

Unique bird species are found on some of the islands. These include the Grenada dove, the Guadeloupe woodpecker, and the yellow-billed parrot in Jamaica. The world’s largest flamingo colony is found in the eastern edge of The Bahamas; another major colony is located on Bonaire in the southwestern Caribbean. An immense variety of aquatic species occur in the region’s waters. The most common fish species include the grunt, butterfly, soldier, squirrel, and angelfish. Over 50 species of hard coral, varying widely in shape and color, are found in the islands’ offshore waters.

Humans have severely affected the plants and animals of the West Indies. While indigenous peoples undoubtedly modified the natural vegetation and animal life of the islands, the arrival of Europeans greatly accelerated the process. The deforestation of islands occurred early in the colonial period, as construction needs, agriculture, and charcoal production each took its toll. Severely deforested and highly eroded, Haiti is an extreme example of this type of environmental degradation.

The introduction of imported plant and animal species transformed the islands. Sugarcane is a prime example. Europeans transported sugarcane from the eastern Mediterranean to the Atlantic islands off the coast of Africa and then to the tropical regions of the Americas. There it was grown as an export crop, thus integrating the islands in the world trade system. Sugarcane was cultivated on large plantations, which over time became increasingly dependent on slave labor. A large number of African slaves were brought to the West Indies to cultivate sugarcane.

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Most other crops and plants that visitors associate with the islands are actually introduced species—bananas, rice, citrus fruits, mangos, breadfruit, and coffee. All draft and farm animals were also introduced. Two introduced species, the rat and the mongoose, have been especially damaging to the native ecology.

IV

Economy

The economy of the West Indies depends largely on agriculture and tourism. A few islands have mineral deposits, and many of the island nations have tried to encourage manufacturing with varying success. Per capita income varies from island to island. By 2003 The Bahamas had the highest annual per capita income in the region, $16,730, largely a result of tourism, which attracted 1.6 million visitors in 2005. In Puerto Rico per capita income was $17,680; in Barbados, $11,465.30; and in Trinidad and Tobago, $11,000.40. Haiti has the region’s lowest per capita income, $500.50 annually.

A

Agriculture

Farming is an important economic endeavor in many West Indian countries. On the larger islands—Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad—one-sixth to one-quarter of the land is farmland. On some of the smaller islands, such as Antigua, Barbados, Grenada, Saint Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, and Saint Vincent, at least half of the total land area is cultivated.

Most of the islands produce similar crops because their climate and land formations are comparable. On the tiny plots of land that dot the steep mountain slopes of the smaller islands, farmers grow sweet potatoes; cassava, or manioc; beans; corn, or maize; and sometimes tobacco. These crops are all indigenous to the region. In addition imported plants flourish, such as sugarcane, yams, bananas, citrus fruits, and coffee.

Some islands have specialized crops: Grenada has nutmeg; Saint Vincent, arrowroot; Dominica, vanilla; Montserrat and Antigua, sea island cotton; and Trinidad, cacao. Jamaica has pimento, also known as allspice, whose leaves and berries yield the aroma and taste of all the spices.

Typically, large plantations produce one or two crops for export. The typical crop is sugarcane, which was introduced first in Barbados in the mid-17th century and later spread to other islands. Although its importance is declining, sugarcane is still an important crop in Barbados, Cuba, Hispaniola, Saint Kitts, Puerto Rico, and several other islands. Sugar processing, including the making of rum and molasses, is important on several islands, notably Barbados.

B

Economic Diversification

Until the 1950s most West Indian islands depended almost wholly on agriculture. During the last half of the 20th century, improved health care, rising birth rates, and increased longevity led to a population increase that agriculture could not support. Few Caribbean countries have an adequate land area to support their current populations. Cuba, with a large percentage of flat, agriculturally rich land, is an exception.

It became apparent that islanders had to develop other sources of income. A few islands possess some mineral wealth. In Trinidad, petroleum and asphalt resources formed the backbone of the island’s economy until the early 1980s, when production of both began a steady decline. Oil refining is still important on Curaçao and Aruba. Jamaica is among the world's leading producers of bauxite, an aluminum ore. The nation currently refines about half of its bauxite for the aluminum market. Cuba exploits nickel, chrome, and cobalt. Mining has stimulated mineral processing industries on a few islands.

Many islands have tried to encourage manufacturing by giving temporary income-tax exemptions to certain industries and by permitting tax-free imports of manufacturing machinery and certain raw materials. Articles for domestic consumption—such as food products, furniture, cement, glass, textiles, and soap—are manufactured in the Dominican Republic, Trinidad, Jamaica, Guadeloupe, and other islands. Some islands have industrial specializations that contribute significantly to the local economy. In Puerto Rico the specialization is pharmaceuticals, and in Aruba it is petroleum refining. In Trinidad and Tobago, petroleum products and refining are important. The principal industry in the Dominican Republic and Haiti is clothing assembly.

Puerto Rico is the most industrialized of the islands. Its industrialization is closely linked to its status as a U.S. commonwealth territory. The Puerto Rican government implemented a sweeping program to promote industrialization beginning in the early 1950s. Known as Operation Bootstrap, this program provided a range of generous incentives to U.S. firms to locate on the island. These included tax breaks, the training of workers at government expense, and low-interest loans for machinery. The program contributed to an impressive transformation of the island’s agrarian economy, and over 1,000 manufacturing plants opened from the early 1950s to 1965. The U.S. government provided additional tax reductions on corporate profits that helped underwrite the program’s success. Today, Puerto Rico boasts a modern industrial sector consisting of light and heavy manufacturing.

During the early 1980s the United States enacted the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA), a broad package of legislation designed to promote industrialization and economic diversification in Caribbean countries. The package provided tax incentives to U.S. investors and preferential trade terms for Caribbean exports to the United States. Despite the legislation’s positive rhetoric, the Congress of the United States hedged on removing or significantly reducing many import duties. As a result, U.S. businesses made only modest new investments in the region. After the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA) was implemented between the United States, Mexico, and Canada in January 1994, imports to the United States under the program declined, since many of the same products could be imported more easily and less expensively from Mexico.

Tourism has fueled economic growth in many islands since the late 1970s. A significant byproduct of the growing tourism industry has been a closer dependence on the United States, the source of most of the tourists and much of the investment in tourist facilities.

For some islands, money sent from West Indians working in foreign countries—mostly on the more prosperous West Indian islands, North America, or Britain—constitutes an important source of income. By the mid-1990s the Jamaican government estimated that the amount of money sent to the country by overseas workers was greater than that earned from tourism.

V

People

The people of the islands are largely descendants of emigrants who arrived from other regions of the world, mainly from Africa. In 2000 an estimated 34.5 million people lived in the West Indies. Population density varies greatly throughout the region. Many of the smaller islands, such as Grenada and Barbados, face acute crowding, and population densities are extremely high. Crowding on the region’s larger islands, such as Cuba and the Dominican Republic, is much less severe.