Caribbean and Central America Travel

When Christopher Columbus first set eyes on these islands, he named it Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Vírgenes or Saint Ursula and her 11,000 Virgins. He named it after the legend of Saint Ursula, who set sail from England with 11,000 virgin handmaidens to join her future husband, Governor Conan Meriadoc of Armorica. The name was later shortened to Las Vírgenes (The Virgins).

The Virgin Islands archipelago is divided into two: The British and the US virgin islands. The British Virgin Islands is comprised of the islands of Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada and Jost Van Dyke, along with over fifty other smaller islands and cays.

While Christopher Columbus is the first European who’ve seen the islands, it was the Arawak Indians from South America who were the first settlers in the island. They were later replaced by the Caribs, a tribe from the islands of the Lesser Antilles.
(more…)

When people are asked where their dream vacation is, they would say the Caribbean. And when they say The Caribbean, the first to come to mind is the Bahamas.

Sprawling in a 100,000 square mile archipelago, Bahamas offers travelers 700 islands to choose from. Each island offers something different from the one before, thereby assuring travelers that there’s something for everybody.

Christopher Columbus was the first European to arrive in the islands. He dropped anchor in San Salvador in 1492 and encountered the Arawaks, the native island people. He called them “indians,” thinking that he docked in the West Indies. The Arawaks or Lucayans as they are also called, were taken as slaves and their population began to decrease. Eventually, the islands became uninhabited.
(more…)

One of more popular Caribbean vacation destinations, Aruba certainly lives up to the hype. Bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to its east, crashing unto dramatic cliff face and the Caribbean Sea lapping in gently on its western beaches, this island is the perfect destination for sun and sea lovers.

First discovered by the Spaniards in 1499, they deemed it useless and was left to the native people of Aruba. During the war between Spain and Holland, Aruba was seized by the Dutch in 1636. The Dutch settled in the islands soon after. It wasn’t until the 19th century though, that gold was discovered in Aruba. This brought on a new surge of immigrants, mainly from Europe and Venezuela.

(more…)

Central America is the name of the region that connect North and South America. It is also sometimes referred to as the “southern end of North America.”

This narrow strip of land separates the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. On its narrowest point, Darien in Panama, the land is only about 30 miles (50 kilometers) wide. It is said that there is no area in Central America that is more than 125 miles from a body of water. Like the Caribbean, Central America also lies on the Caribbean Plate. This region gets its fair share of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The region is mountainous (with majority of its people living in the mountains than in the lowlands), though there are also a stretch of lowland along both coasts. The seven countries in Central America occupies a total land area of 202,265 square miles (523,865 square kilometers).
(more…)

Then people talk about the Caribbean, images of fine white sand beaches, clear turquoise waters and hammocks tied to palm trees first come to mind. It is indeed, one of the world’s primary vacation destination.

Located in the Americas, it is bordered in the north by North America, in the east by Central America and in the south, South America. The Caribbean is composed of over 7,000 islands resting on the Caribbean Plate.

Also known as the West Indies, this region comprises of several territories and countries. The United States, United Kingdom and other European countries like the Netherlands and France have territories in the Carribean.
(more…)