Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), organization founded by the Treaty of Chaguaramas (Trinidad; 1973, revised 2001) and including Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti (suspended 2004–6), Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands are associate members. Its purpose is to promote economic integration and development, especially in less-developed areas of the region. Besides managing a common market, CARICOM formulates policies regarding health, education, labor, science and technology, tourism, foreign policy, and the environment. CARICOM's headquarters are in Georgetown, Guyana. In 2005 the organization established the Caribbean Court of Justice, which functions for participating nations as a final court of appeals and as a court of original jurisdiction for settling disputes among CARICOM nations. In 2006 Caricom inaugurated its single market and economy when six of its members participated in the establishment of a CARICOM single market. The establishment of a single economy for participating nations is planned for 2008. Other affiliated institutions include the Caribbean Development Bank, the Univ. of Guyana, and the Univ. of the West Indies.

Caribbean Countries

Anguilla, or Snake Island, is the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, and is a British overseas territory with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state, represented by a Governor. The locally elected Chief Minister of the island serves as head of government. The United Nations Committee on Decolonization includes Anguilla on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. The Capital city is The Valley

Antigua and Barbuda is an island nation located in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Antigua and Barbuda are part of the Lesser Antilles archipelago with the island of Guadeloupe to the south, Montserrat to the southwest, Saint Kitts and Nevis to the west and Saint Barthélemy to the northwest. Capital City - St John's

Aruba is an island in the Caribbean Sea, just a short distance north of the Venezuelan Paraguaná Peninsula, and it forms a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Unlike much of the Caribbean region, it has a dry climate and an arid, cactus-strewn landscape. This climate has helped tourism, however, as visitors to the island can reliably expect warm, sunny weather. - Capital City - Oranjestad

Barbados is an island nation located towards the east of the Caribbean Sea and the west of the Atlantic Ocean, part of the eastern islands of the Lesser Antilles, with the nations of Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines being its closest neighbors. The island is 430 km2 (166 square miles), and is primarily low, with some hills in the island's interior. It is located 13º north of the Equator and 59º west of the Prime Meridian, about 434.5 km (270 miles) northeast of Venezuela - Capital City - Bridgetown

The British Virgin Islands are a group of over 50 islands and Cays located in the northeast Caribbean. They include Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, Jost Van Dyke, Great Camanoe, Guana Island, Peter Island, Salt Island, Beef Island, Cooper Island, Ginger Island, Norman Island, and many other small islands all clustered around Sir Francis Drake Channel. They are an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. The United Nations Committee on Decolonization includes the British Virgin Islands on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. - Capital City - Road Town

The Cayman Islands are an overseas territory of the United Kingdom in the West Indies, comprising the islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman. - Capital city - George Town

The Republic of Cuba is an Island in the eastern Caribbean that lies at the confluence of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. To the north are found the United States and the Bahamas, to the west Mexico, to the southwest the Cayman Islands and Jamaica, and to the southeast Haiti. - Capital City - Havana

The Commonwealth of Dominica which geographically lies between two overseas departments or "territories" of France: Guadeloupe to the North, and Martinique to the South, Dominica is sometimes referred to as "French Dominica" or by the nickname "The Nature Isle of the Caribbean" due to its seemingly unspoiled natural beauty in comparison to other isles in the region - Capital City - Roseau

The Dominican Republic is a Spanish-speaking representative democracy located on the eastern portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, bordering Haiti. A legacy of unsettled, mostly non-representative, rule for much of the 20th century — most notably the thirty-two year reign of the military leader Rafael Leónidas Trujillo — lasted until 1961. The Dominican Republic ("do-MIN-i-kun") also called Quisqueya by its inhabitants, should not be confused with Dominica ("do-min-EE-ka"), another Caribbean country. - Capital City - Santo Domingo

Grenada is an island nation in the southeastern Caribbean Sea including the southern Grenadines. Grenada is the second-smallest independent country in the Western Hemisphere (after Saint Kitts and Nevis). It is located north of Trinidad and Tobago, and south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Capital City - St. George's

Guadeloupe is an archipelago in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a total area of 1,704 km². It is an overseas département (département d'outre-mer, or DOM) of France. Like the other DOMs, Guadeloupe is also a région of France, and an integral part of the Republic. - Capital City - Basse Terre

Haiti is a country situated on the western third of the island of Hispaniola and the smaller islands of La Gonâve, La Tortue (Tortuga), Grande Caye, and Ile a Vache in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba; the Dominican Republic shares Hispaniola with Haiti. Its total land area is 10,714 square miles (27,750 square km) and its capital is Port-au-Prince on the main island of Hispaniola. Capital City - Port-Au-Prince

Jamaica is a country in the Caribbean Sea, located south of Cuba and to the west of Hispaniola, on which Haiti and the Dominican Republic are situated. The name of the country derives from the name Xaymaca, meaning land of wood and water, given to it by the original Arawak or Taino people from South America, who first settled there around the year 1000 - 400 BC. - Capital City - Kingston

Martinique is an overseas département (département d'outre-mer, or DOM) of France, located in the Caribbean Sea. The capital is Fort-de-France. Population at the 1999 census: 381,427 inhabitants. Population as of 2004 estimates: 393,000 inhabitants. - Capital City - Fort-de-France

Montserrat is an island in the Caribbean Sea, named after the mountain of the same name (located near Barcelona, Spain see Montserrat (mountain)) by Christopher Columbus in 1493. Montserrat is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. The United Nations Committee on Decolonization includes Montserrat on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. - Capital City - Plymouth

The Netherlands Antilles (Dutch: Nederlandse Antillen), previously known as the Netherlands West Indies, are part of the Lesser Antilles and consist of two groups of islands in the Caribbean Sea that form an autonomous part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (none of the other Antilles use this term in their name). The islands' economy is dependent mostly upon tourism and oil, though a large amount of money is also made through illegal drug trafficking. - Capital City - Willemstad

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico) is a self-governing unincorporated organized territory of the United States located east of the Dominican Republic in the northeastern Caribbean. Puerto Rico, the smallest of the Greater Antilles, includes the main island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller islands and keys, including Mona, Vieques, and Culebra. Of the latter three, only Culebra and Vieques are inhabited year-round. Mona is uninhabitated through large parts of the year except for employees of the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources. People can visit the island for hiking and camping by getting the required permits - Capital City - San Juan

Saint Lucia is an island nation in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north of the islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and south of Martinique. Saint Lucia's first known inhabitants were Arawaks, believed to have come from northern South America around 200-400 A.D. - Capital City - Castries

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an independent sovereign state of the Caribbean, part of the Commonwealth of Nations. Carib Indians aggressively prevented European settlement on St. Vincent until the 18th century. African slaves, whether shipwrecked or escaped from St. Lucia or Grenada and seeking refuge in St. Vincent, intermarried with the Caribs and became known as "black Caribs" - Capital City - Kingstown

The Commonwealth of The Bahamas is an independent English-speaking nation in the West Indies. An archipelago of 700 islands and cays (which are small islands), the Bahamas is located in the Atlantic Ocean, east of Florida in the United States, north of Cuba and the Caribbean, and west of the British dependency of the Turks and Caicos Islands. - Capital City - Nassau

The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is a nation located in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the coast of Venezuela. It is an archipelagic state consisting of two main islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and 21 smaller islands, the most important being Chacachacare, Monos, Huevos, Gaspar Grande (or Gasparee), Little Tobago and St Giles Is. The larger and more populated island is Trinidad, while the island of Tobago is smaller (303 square kilometres; about 6% of the total area) and less populous (50,000 people; 4% of the total population). Citizens are officially called Trinidadians or Tobagonians or Citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, but are informally referred to as Trinis or Trinbagonians. - Capital City - Port Of Spain

The Turks and Caicos Islands is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom consisting of two groups of tropical islands in the Caribbean, southeast of the Bahamas. The thirty islands total 166 sq. mi. (430 km²), primarily of low, flat limestone with extensive marshes and mangrove swamps. The weather is usually sunny and relatively dry, but suffers frequent hurricanes. The islands have limited natural fresh water resources; private cisterns collect rainwater for drinking. The primary natural resources are spiny lobster and conch. The United Nations Committee on Decolonization includes the Turks and Caicos Islands on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. Capital City - Cockburn Town, Grand Turk

The United States Virgin Islands is a group of islands in the Caribbean that is a dependency of the United States. These islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands. The United Nations Committee on Decolonization includes the U.S. Virgin Islands on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.Capital City - Charlotte Amalie

Belize is a small nation on the eastern coast of Central America, on the Caribbean Sea bordering Mexico to the northwest and Guatemala to the west and south. The country is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy which recognizes Queen Elizabeth II as Sovereign. The nation of Honduras is a near neighbour, 75 km away (47 miles) across the Gulf of Honduras to the east. The name is derived from Belize City, the former capital and largest city, and the Belize River. In Spanish it is usually called Belice. - Capital City - Belmopan

The Republic of Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south-southeast. Since the civil war of 1948 that brought President José Figueres Ferrer to power, the country has been free of violent political conflict. Figueres also abolished the military and today, Costa Rica has only a national police force. Unlike most of its continental neighbors, Costa Rica, alongside Uruguay, is seen as an exceptional example of political stablity in the region, and sometimes refered to as the "Switzerland of Latin America." - Capital City - San Jose

The Co-operative Republic of Guyana is a nation along the northern coastline of South America. It constitutes the western part of the wider region of Guiana (an Amerindian word meaning Land of Many Waters), and is bordered to the east by Suriname, to the south by Brazil, to the west by Venezuela and to the north by the Atlantic Ocean. The border with Venezuela is one that is disputed, as is the most southern part of the border with Suriname (upper Corentyne river). - Capital City- Georgetown

Panama (Spanish: Panamá) is the southernmost country of Central America. It constitutes the last part of a natural land bridge between the North American and South American continents. It borders Costa Rica to the west and Colombia to the east. Capital City - Panama

The Republic of Suriname, more commonly known as Suriname or Surinam, (formerly known as Netherlands Guiana and Dutch Guiana) is a country in northern South America, in between French Guiana to the east and Guyana to the west. The southern border is shared with Brazil and the northern border is the Atlantic coast. The most southern parts of the borders with Guyana and French Guiana are disputed (upper Corantijn and Marowijne rivers—the map shows the Guyana and Guiana versions of the border). Capital City - Paramaribo

St Martin/St Maarten, The smallest island in the world ever to have been partitioned between two different nations, St. Martin/St. Maarten has been shared by the French and the Dutch in a spirit of neighborly cooperation and mutual friendship for almost 350 years.The border is almost imperceptible. and people cross back and forth without ever realizing they are entering a new country. There are four boundries, Belle Vue / Cole Bay, French Quarter / Dutch Quarter, Low Lands / Copecoy and Oyster Pond, testifying to centuries of peaceful cohabitation and the treaty that made the arrangement possible -The Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis (also known as the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis),[2] located in the Leeward Islands, is a federal two-island nation in the West Indies. It is the smallest sovereign nation in the Americas, in both area and population.

The Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis (also known as the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis), located in the Leeward Islands, is a federal two-island nation in the West Indies. It is the smallest sovereign nation in the Americas, in both area and population.
The capital city and headquarters of government for the federated state is on the larger island of Saint Kitts.