Caribbean and Central America Travel

As an overseas territory of France, Martinique is “a little bit of France in the Caribbean Islands.” Martinique has a splendid blend of the French and the Caribbean in its culture, language (Antillean Creole or Créole Martiniquais), music and cuisine.

First sighted by Christopher Columbus in 1493, Martinique’s original inhabitants were the Carib Indians. It wasn’t until 1635 that the first European settled in the island, Frenchman Pierre Belan d’Esnambuc. It was d’Esnambuc’s nephew, Jacques-Dyel du Parquet who developed the island into a rich and wealthy colony. Martinique formally became a French colony in 1658.

During a string of wars and uprisings, Martinique fell into the British rule: during the Seven Year’s War, during the French Revolutionary Wars and during the Napoleonic Wars. Eventually, the island reverted back to the French crown.
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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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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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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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Trinidad and its sister island Tobago, is the perfect example of contrasts. While Tobago is a sleepy small town, Trinidad is just bursting with life. Known largely for its annual Carnival, Trinidad and Tobago can be deserted during the off season.

The carnival, which takes its roots from West African festivals, is celebrated a week before Ash Wednesday. The pre-lenten festival has been adapted in accordance to the Roman Catholic teaching of carne vale – farewell to the flesh. Carnival celebrates life, and Trinidadians & Tobagonians do so with music, extravagant costumes and dancing in the streets.

Calypso is one of the mainstays of the Carnival. This musical genre that originated in Trinidad was the African slaves’ way of communicating with each other, as speaking among slaves are prohibited. Over the years, it evolved as a means of spreading news around the island. It became the people’s medium for expressing their thoughts on island life, current events, and even politics. In recent years however, it was Soca, or soul calypso that has been taking precedent in the carnival. Originating from the calypso, Soca mixes the island beat of the steel pan and electronic percussion which blends into a rich dance music that’s perfect for the festivities of carnival.

Like most islands in the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago’s economy is boosted by tourism. However, unlike the other Caribbean islands, the other pillar of their economy is petroleum, not agriculture.