Portal:Caribbean/Selected geography article

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Selected geography articles list

Geography articles 1-20

Portal:Caribbean/Selected geography article/1

The Bahamas are a group of about 700 atolls and cays in the western Atlantic Ocean, of which only between 30 and 40 are inhabited. The largest of the islands is Andros Island, located 120 miles south-east of Florida. The Bimini islands are to its northwest. To the North is the island of Grand Bahama, home to the second largest city in the country, Freeport, Bahamas. The island of Great Abaco is to its east. In the very south is the island of Great Inagua, the second largest island in the country. Other notable islands include Eleuthera Island, Cat Island, Bahamas, San Salvador Island, Acklins Island, Crooked Island, Bahamas, and Mayaguana . Nassau is the capital and largest city, located on New Providence. The islands have a subtropical climate, moderated by the Gulf Stream.

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Cuba is an island nation located in the Caribbean Sea, with the geographic coordinates 21°3N, 80°00W. Cuba has a total land area of 110,860 km²–slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It has 3735 km of coastline and 29 km of land borders–all with the United States territory at Guantánamo Bay, where the U.S. Navy's Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located.

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Antigua and Barbuda lie in the eastern arc of the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, separating the Atlantic Ocean from the Caribbean Sea. Antigua is 650 km southeast of Puerto Rico; Barbuda lies 48 km due north of Antigua, and the uninhabited island of Redonda is 56 km southwest of Antigua. The largest island, Antigua, is 21 km (about a dozen miles) across and 281 km² (about a hundred square miles) in area, or about two-thirds the size of New York City, seven eighths the area of Inner London or 86% greater than the London Borough of Bromley. Barbuda covers 161 km² (about 5% more than Bromley), while Redonda encompasses a mere 2.6 km² making it like the City of London, about 1-square-mile (2.6 km²).

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Barbados is the easternmost island of the Lesser Antilles, situated 480 kilometers north of Guyana, 160 kilometers east of St. Vincent, and 965 kilometers southeast of Puerto Rico. This isolated pear-shaped island extends for 34 kilometers along a north-south axis and has a maximum breadth of 23 kilometers, giving it a total land area of 430 square kilometers.

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Dominica is an island in the Caribbean Sea, located about halfway between Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago. Its coordinates are 15 25 N, 61 20 W. The island is roughly four times the size of Washington, DC (in area, not population). The island's climate is tropical, moderated by northeast trade winds and heavy rainfall. The interior features rugged mountains of volcanic origin. Volcanism is still quite evident on the island, the most popular examples being Dominica's boiling lake and "valley of desolation." The boiling lake (the world's second largest) is within a crater and is fed by a waterfall - the boiling is believed to be caused by the heat of a magma chamber beneath the lake.

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Grenada is a Caribbean island (one of the Grenadines) between the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, north of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located at 12°07′N 61°40′W / 12.117°N 61.667°W / 12.117; -61.667. There are no large inland bodies of water on the island, which consists entirely of the state of Grenada. The coastline is 121 km long. The Grenadan climate is tropical, tempered by northeast trade winds. The land is volcanic in origin with mountains in the interior. The lowest point is at sea level, and the highest is 840 m on Mount Saint Catherine.

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The nation of Haiti comprises the western three-eighths of the island of Hispaniola, west of the Dominican Republic and between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. Haiti's geographic coordinates are at a longitude of 72° 25′ west and a latitude of 19° 00′ north. The total area is 27,750km,² of which 27,560km² is land and 190km² is water. This makes Haiti slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Maryland. Haiti has 1,771km of coastline and a 360km-border with the Dominican Republic. Haiti's lowest elevation is at sea level; its highest point is Pic la Selle at 2,680 m. There are no navigable rivers; the largest lake is Etang Saumâtre, a salt-water body located in the southern region.

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Jamaica lies 145 kilometers south of Cuba and 160 kilometers west of Haiti. Its capital city, Kingston, is about 920 kilometers southeast of Miami. At its greatest extent, Jamaica is 235 kilometers long, and it varies between 35 and 82 kilometers wide. With an area of 10,911 square kilometers, Jamaica is the largest island of the Commonwealth Caribbean and the third largest of the Greater Antilles, after Cuba and Hispaniola. Pedro Bank, an area of shallow seas, with a number of cays (low islands or reefs), extending generally east to west for over 160 kilometers, lies southwest of Jamaica. To the southeast lie the Morant Cays, fifty-one kilometers from Morant Point, the easternmost point of mainland Jamaica.

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Saint Lucia is one of many small land masses composing the insular group known as the Windward Islands. Unlike large limestone areas such as Florida, Cuba, and the Yucatán Peninsula, or The Bahamas, which is a small island group composed of coral and sand, St. Lucia is a typical Windward Island formation of volcanic rock that came into existence long after much of the region had already been formed. St. Lucia's physical features are strikingly beautiful. Dominated by high peaks and rain forests in the interior, the 616 square-kilometer island is known for the twin peaks of Gros Piton and Petit Piton on the southwestern coast, its soft sandy beaches, and its magnificent natural harbors. Mount Gimie, the highest peak, is located in the central mountain range and rises to 958 meters above sea level, a contrast that is also evident in the abrupt climatic transition from coastal to inland areas. The steep terrain also accentuates the many rivers that flow from central St. Lucia to the Caribbean. Fertile land holdings, which support banana farming, are scattered throughout the island.

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Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island state in the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, an island arc of the Caribbean Sea in North America. The country consists of the main island of Saint Vincent and the northern two-thirds of the Grenadines, a chain of small islands stretching south from Saint Vincent to Grenada. Its total land area is 389 km² of which 344 km² is the island of Saint Vincent. The country's capital is at Kingstown on Saint Vincent.

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Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic republic consisting of 23 islands in the southern Caribbean between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Venezuela. They are southeasterly islands of the Lesser Antilles, located close to the South American mainland. Covering an area of 5,128 square kilometres (1,979 square miles), the country consists of the two main islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and 21 smaller islands – including Chacachacare, Monos, Huevos, Gaspar Grande (or Gasparee), Little Tobago, and St. Giles Island. Trinidad is 11 km (7 mi) off the northeast coast of Venezuela and 130 km south of the Grenadines.

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The Cayman Islands are a British dependency and island nation consisting of a three-island archipelago in the Caribbean Sea: Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman. The Cayman Islands are 240 km south of Cuba and 268 km northwest of Jamaica, and are between Cuba and Central America. Its geographic coordinates are 19°30 north, 80°30 west. The Cayman Islands have a land area of 259 km² (101 sq mi), about 1.5 times the size of Washington, D.C. and 3 km² larger than Saint Kitts and Nevis. The Caymans have a coastline of 160 km (99 km). The Cayman Islands make a maritime claim of a 200-nautical-mile (370 km) exclusive fishing zone and a territorial sea of 12 nmi (22 km).

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Guadeloupe comprises five islands: Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre (separated from Basse-Terre by a narrow sea channel called salt river) with the adjacent islands of La Désirade, Les Saintes and Marie-Galante. Basse-Terre has a rough volcanic relief whilst Grande-Terre features rolling hills and flat plains. Further to the north, Saint-Barthélemy and the French part of Saint Martin come under the jurisdiction of Guadeloupe. On December 7, 2003, both of these areas voted to become an overseas territorial collectivity.

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Puerto Rico is an archipelago located between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands. The main island of Puerto Rico is the smallest and most eastern of the Greater Antilles. Various smaller islands and cays, including Vieques, Culebra, Mona, Desecheo, and Caja de Muertos comprise the remainder of the archipelago with only Culebra and Vieques being inhabited year-round. Mona is uninhabited through large parts of the year except for employees of the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources.

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