Caribbean and Central America Travel

One of the top tourist destinations in the Caribbean, Barbados features the spectacular turquoise waters of the Caribbean sea rushing up on its pinkish white sand shores. With a major international airport in the island that acts as point of entry to the Eastern Caribbean, Barbados is almost always the first stop to any tour in the Caribbean.

First known as the Isla de los Barbados in Spanish documents dating back to the 1500s, the name of the island can either be attributed to the bearded fig-tree that is indigenous to the island, or the bearded Amerindians that inhabited the island, or to the sprays of foam that forms on the outlying reefs that looks like a beard.

It was the British, however, who settled on the island. Upon landing in the present-day Holetown in 1625, British sailors found the island uninhabited; the Spaniards have captured the Caribs who used to live there to work as slaves for sugar plantations, while others have fled the island to escape slavery.
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These two spectacular islands in the Caribbean sea boasts of having more than 300 beaches, each one of them more magnificent than the last one. The island nation, part of the Lesser Antilles archipelago, enjoys a tropical climate year round, due to its location just 17 degrees north of the Equator.

It was Christopher Columbus who was the first European to see the island in 1493. He named it Santa Maria de la Antigua after a church in Seville, Spain. It wasn’t until 1632 though, that European settlers came in, due to the aggressive nature of the Carib natives who were inhabiting the island.

It was another Christopher who made a big impact on Antigua‘s history and economy: Sir Christopher Codrington of England. He came into Antigua in 1684 and discovered the island’s potential to support large-scale sugar cultivation. Over the next fifty years, there was a boom in Antigua’s economy, fueled by the sugar plantation that sprouted throughout the island.
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Dominica is one of the most unspoilt islands in the Caribbean. Covered by a lush rainforest, Dominica is a haven for nature lovers, with its many waterfalls, springs, rivers, and the world’s second largest boiling lake.

Not to be confused with the Dominican Republic, Dominica (pronounced Dom-in-eek-a) was discovered by Christopher Columbus on a Sunday – Dominica in Latin. For its Carib Indian settlers, however, the island is known as Wai’tu kubuli, which means “Tall is her body”.

Though history, the island has been claimed by the French, who eventually relinquished the island to the British. Dominica became a British colony in 1763, after hundreds of years of isolation. The emancipation of African slaves in the British empire gave way to Dominica having the first British Caribbean colony headed by Africans. The British took control of the country once again in 1896, but eighty years later Dominica finally became an independent nation.
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The biggest island in the Caribbean, Cuba is a haven for tourists who wants a little of everything: mountain ranges, plains, bays and gorgeous beaches. Located where the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean meet, Cuba is prone to hurricanes, but during the summer season, it has the most pleasant tropical weather.

Cuba had a tumultuous past, having its fair share of revolutions and uprisings. From insurgence from the Spanish colonizers to fighting off modern day capitalists, Cuba’s history and culture was molded.

Nevertheless, Cuba remains one of the most visited island in the Caribbean. Magnificent architecture, thriving party vibe, fine white sand beaches, Cuba manages to move towards the future while being able to keep its environment pristine.
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It was Christopher Columbus who first sighted the Cayman Islands, but it was Sir Francis Drake who was the first recorded visitor to the island. While Columbus named the islands Las Tortugas due to the number of sea turtles he saw, Sir Drake named it after the crocodiles.

The Cayman Islands fell under the British rule under the Treaty of Madrid, along with Jamaica. This happened as settlers from Jamaica came into Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. The islands became a strategic British base in the Caribbean, although it also became a hideout for pirates. Permanent settlement finally happened in the Caymans in 1730.

The Cayman Islands became a dependent of Jamaica, though it was effectively able to govern itself. After 165 years, the Cayman Islands became independent from Jamaica, though it acted like a Jamaican parish. When Jamaica became independent in 1962, the Cayman Islands sought for independence one more, and became a direct dependency to the British Crown.
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