Caribbean Missions

Missionaries Serving:

Michael and Deborah Woodham

Climate

The Caribbean climate is tropical, moderated by the northeast trade winds. The long rainy season lasts from May to October, and the dry season corresponds to winter in the north. Hurricanes are a constant feature of most of the Caribbean, and are most frequent from June to November.

People

Before Europeans settled on the islands, they were inhabited by three different peoples: the Arawaks, the Caribs, and the Ciboney. These indigenous tribes were wiped out by European colonists. With the exception of Trinidad, where East Indians and Africans are nearly equal in number, the Caribbean has mostly African-derived populations.

Religions

Caribbean’s are mostly Christians with denominations of the Uniting Church, Anglican, Baptist and Roman Catholic Churches represented. Some islands are primarily Roman Catholic, and many people believe in voodoo.

Languages

Many different languages are spoken in the Caribbean, primarily Spanish, Portugese, Dutch, French, English, Creole and AmerIndian languages.

Estimated 2000 Population

34 million

Geography

The Commonwealth Caribbean islands make up a large subcomponent of the hundreds of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming a wide arc between Florida in the north and Venezuela in the south, and a barrier between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Varying considerably in size, the islands, which are the isolated upper parts of a submerged chain of volcanic mountains, are scattered over 2,000 square miles of ocean. They one of the premier tourist destinations in the world. This cluster of islands includes Aruba, the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Tobago and the British and U.S. Virgin Islands. There are three types of topography in the Caribbean: high, rugged mountains covered with dense, evergreen rain forests and cut by swiftly flowing rivers; hilly countryside; and coastal plains which skirt the hills and mountains. Active volcanoes exist in Dominica, St. Vincent, and St. Lucia All the islands have rugged coastlines and inlets fringed by white or dark sands.

History

Christopher Columbus was the first European to visit several of the Caribbean islands in 1492. In 1496 the first permanent European settlement was made by the Spanish on Hispaniola. By the mid 1600’s the English, French, and Dutch had settlements, and in the following century there was constant warfare among the European colonial powers for control of the islands. Some islands flourished as trade centers and became targets for pirates. Large numbers of Africans were imported to provide slave labor for the sugarcane plantations that developed there. Until the early 20th century, the islands remained pawns of the imperialistic powers of Spain, Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands. The United States entered the scene in the late 19th century and is the region’s dominate economic influence. Spain lost its last possession after the Spanish-American War in 1898. Most of the former British possessions gained independence in the 1960’s and 1970’s.