Which countries have the Caribbean Sea. Caribbean sea, map

Located in the west of the Atlantic Ocean. From the west and south it borders on the coast of Central and South America, from the north and east by the Greater and Lesser Antilles. To the west and southwest are reefs. The largest bays: Honduran, Venezuelan, Darien. Largest: Jamaica.

Map caribbean satellite from Bing
(the map can be moved with the mouse, zoomed in and out)

The climate here is warm maritime. In February it is +24, and in August +30. Most precipitation falls off the coast of Panama, and the least off the coast of Cuba. Hurricanes hit the sea three times a year.
Water exchange with the Atlantic Ocean occurs through the straits of Windward, Sombrero and Dominica.
The water temperature during the year ranges from 26 to 29 degrees.
There are 800 species of fish here (mullet, croaker, sardinella, horse mackerel, mackerel).
The Caribbean coast is known for its beaches. Main ports: Santiago de Cuba in Cuba, Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, Maracaibo in Venezuela, Barranquilla and Cartagena in Colombia. Cote d'Azur, beautiful beaches, girls in bikinis. The Caribbean is a unique, magical place to unwind and unwind.
And so that your feet do not freeze upon returning to our cool lands, you just need to purchase warm and very beautiful ugg boots. You can buy wonderful ugg boots in the UGG online store, where you will find a wide selection of shoes for every, the most demanding taste.

The Caribbean Sea is a tropical sea that is part of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Caribbean Sea, located between the two Americas, has a long history. Here, luxurious nature and excellent conditions for the development of tourism.

Origin

The ancient age of the sea has not been precisely established by science. It is believed that it began with a small reservoir, which in the Cretaceous period acquired the features of the modern sea.

The rising waters connected it to the Atlantic Ocean. It received its modern name from the Caribs, who displaced after the first millennium AD. Indians of the Antilles. Therefore, the Europeans, who discovered the sea in the middle of the last millennium, named it after this people.

Historical events

In the Middle Ages, the first Spanish settlement was founded in what is now Haiti. Then Cuba and Hispaniola were conquered. The local Indians became slaves. Later, Mexico was conquered and colonized. British, French, Dutch and Danish colonies appeared. The mining of gold and silver, the production of dyes, tobacco and sugar were organized. For this, slaves were brought from Africa.

Caribbean sea. about haiti photo

Active trade with the mother countries caused the appearance of piracy in the 17th century, which flourished in the years 1700-1730. Pirates hunted in this sea until the beginning of the 19th century. Since that time, the process of decolonization began, which ended in the twentieth century. In place of the colonies, independent states were formed.

The United States began to play a dominant role in the region. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Association of Caribbean States recognized the sea as a common heritage and priceless asset that sets the stage for cooperation in tourism, trade, transport and the fight against natural disasters.

currents

The sea has several currents. So, from the southeast, the currents are driven to the northwest cold water at depths from 500 to 3000 m. Warmer subtropical currents come from above and continue to move, created by winds in a westerly direction.

Bypassing the coast of Central America, these waters enter the bay off the Mexican coast, raising its level above the Atlantic Ocean. It is characteristic that if it usually flows at a speed of up to 2.8 km/h, then at the entrance to the strait near the Yucatan Peninsula it reaches 6 km/h.

As a result, there is a pressure, called hydrostatic. It is believed that it is he who makes the Gulf Stream move. From the south side of the sea, for almost a whole year, there is a circular rotation of water.

What rivers flow

The largest river in the region is the Colombian Magdalena, 1,500 kilometers long. In the same country, Atrato, Leon and Turbo flow into the sea. The Dike, Sinu, Catatumbo and Chama rivers flow into Lake Maracaibo connected to the sea.

Several rivers (Belen, Krikamola, Teribe, etc.) flow into the sea from the North American continent. Through Nicaragua, the Bambana, Indio, Coco, Kurinuas, Kukalaya, Prinsapolka, Rio Escondido and others flow into the sea.

From the territories of Honduras, Guatemala and Belize, the sea receives the waters of ten rivers of these countries. Rivers flow on the largest islands of the sea: in Haiti - Yaque del Sur and Artibonite; in Cuba, Cauto and Sasa; in Jamaica, Milk River and Black River.

Relief

There are several significant depths in the sea, called basins, with a depth of 4120 to 7680 m. Among them:

• Venezuelan (5420m)
• Grenadian (4120m)
• Kaimanova(7090m)
• Colombian (4532m)
• Yucatan (5055m)

They are separated by underwater ridges and straits. The highest of these ranges is off the coast of Venezuela. From its top to the surface of the sea over 2100 m. Straits have a depth of more than one and a half kilometers. In the eastern part of the sea within there is a deep-water passage Anegada, reaching a depth of 2350 m.

corals in the caribbean

The deep-water bottom of the Caribbean Sea is calcareous or weakly manganese silt. In shallow water, sand or coral thickets.

Cities

Dozens of cities are located on the North American and South American coasts and on the islands. Most of them have a long history associated with colonization. Thus, the Colombian port of Cartagena, conveniently located at the exit from the Gulf of Darien, was one of the key ports of the sea. It retained this meaning to this day.

Havana photo

The Venezuelan Cumana was a stronghold of the Spanish colonizers who explored the mainland. Founded in 1511, Havana turned from a once small settlement into a powerful fortress. Today it is the capital of the Republic of Cuba.

Santo Domingo photo

Today's capital of the Dominican Republic, the city of Santo Domingo had the status of the most beautiful city in the New World. Today it is one of the centers of Caribbean tourism. Modern port cities have become Costa Rican Lemon, Colombian Barranquilla, Maracaibo in Venezuela, Port-au-Prince in Haiti, Cienfuegos in Cuba. Many coastal cities are centers of tourism.

Flora and fauna

The rich and diverse fauna is represented here by hundreds of species of fish and birds, and many mammals. There are only four species of local sharks, which include: bull sharks, tiger silk sharks, and sharks that live in the Caribbean reefs.

shark in the caribbean

There are such fish as: flying fish and angel fish, sea devil, parrot fish and butterfly fish, tarpon, moray eels. Commercial marine animals are sardines, lobsters and tuna. Divers and fishermen are attracted by marlins and barracudas.

Of the mammals, dolphins, sperm whales, humpback whales, as well as manatees, called American, and groups of seals live here. On the islands you can meet different crocodiles and turtles, rare species of amphibians.

underwater world of the Caribbean Sea photo

Of the 600 species of birds, many are not found elsewhere. Toucans, parrots and other land birds live in the forests. Above the water you can see phaetons and frigates.

The vegetation of the Caribbean Sea, mostly tropical, here you can see fields of underwater macroalgae, there are several dozen species of them. near the corals vegetable world more diverse: sea rupee, tortoiseshell alassia, cymodocean algae. Coastal mangroves attract many marine life.

beauty of the caribbean photo

Characteristic

The sea has an area of ​​more than 2.7 million square meters. km, average depth 1225m, maximum depth 7686m. It washes the shores of such continental countries: Venezuela and Honduras, Colombia and Costa Rica, Mexico and Nicaragua, Panama and Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica.

There are also small island countries on fifty islands. The islands, called the Lesser Antilles, are located in the eastern part of the sea.

turtle in the caribbean

The South Antilles are scattered along the South American coast. Several archipelagos and many small islands are located on the western side of the sea.

The salinity of the water is about 35 ppm.

Climate

The climate here is tropical with a significant amount of rainfall depending on the region and season. It is affected by air circulation, average speed which can reach 30 km per hour. And there are also winds with a speed of 120 km / h, which causes hurricanes and storms. Such cataclysms occur in the northern part of the sea. They can destroy houses, ruin crops, take people's lives. The average monthly temperature varies between 21-29 degrees Celsius. About 500mm falls in the east, about 2000mm in the west.

• The largest coral barrier reef in the Northern Hemisphere is located off the coast of Belize
• a third of the sea's reefs have been destroyed or are in serious danger as a result of human activities
• Diving and fishing, important for tourism, annually bring up to 4 billion dollars to the Caribbean countries
• coffee, bananas, sugar, rum, bauxite, oil, nickel produced in the countries of the region are exported mainly to the USA and Canada
• on the islands of the sea, the number of people employed in tourism, the volume of investment in it is two times higher than the world average; Port Royal was the largest English colony and pirate capital in the region. In 1692, it was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami.

Having overcome the long way across the Atlantic to the shores of Central America, we will find ourselves in one of the most beautiful and interesting tropical seas - the Caribbean.
This sea owes its name to the Indian tribe of the Caribs who lived on its coast when the ships of H. Columbus arrived here. If somewhere you meet an unfamiliar sea by name - the Antilles, then know that this is just the second name of the Caribbean Sea.
The beauty of coral reefs, the abundance of tropical cyclones accompanied by destructive hurricanes and pirates, who chose this area for their "fishing" in the distant past, brought the greatest glory to the sea.

Location of the Caribbean Sea on a complete map of the Atlantic Ocean -.

First, about the geography and characteristics of the sea.
The water area of ​​the sea, with an area of ​​2753 thousand square kilometers, is located off the coast of Central and South America and is limited in the north and east by the Greater and Lesser Antilles. By waterways it is connected with the Gulf of Mexico (Yucatan Strait), through the interisland straits - with the Atlantic Ocean, and through an artificial structure - the Panama Canal with Pacific Ocean. The region where the Caribbean Sea is located is called the Caribbean. Its waters wash the shores of numerous states on the American continent, as well as island countries. The sea is very deep - its average depth is 2500 m, the maximum is 7686 m (the Cayman depression between Cuba and Jamaica).

The climate in the Caribbean is shaped by warm ocean currents (Northern Equatorial Current, of which the Caribbean Current is an offshoot) and the abundance of solar activity in these tropical locations. The average annual water temperature of the surface layers of the sea is +26 degrees C. The tides are low - an average of 1 m. Many rivers flow into the Caribbean Sea, among which Magdalena, Atrato, Dike, Belen, Krikamola and others can be noted.

One of the fly in the ointment that often spoil the idyll of these fabulously beautiful places are hurricanes and storms. It is believed that the Caribbean Sea is the source of the largest number of hurricanes in the Western Hemisphere. Hurricanes pose a serious problem to the inhabitants of the islands and the coast of the basin, destroying buildings and structures. Hurricanes also cause great harm to the numerous coral structures in these places - reefs, atolls, coastal coral edgings of islands. Powerful winds bring here mud, sand and debris that adversely affect the ecology of the reefs.

The coastline is heavily indented throughout. There are numerous bays, lagoons, bays, capes. Among the major bays are Honduran, Mosquitos, Venezuelan, Batabano, Ana Maria, Gonave. The shores are mostly low-lying, but there are also mountainous areas.

The Caribbean Sea is very rich in islands. The general island group here is united under the name of the Antilles archipelago or the West Indies, which, in turn, is subdivided into the Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles and Bahamas. The Greater Antilles are predominantly of continental origin. These include large islands in the north of the sea - Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Puerto Rico. The Lesser Antilles, in turn, are divided into groups: Windward and Leeward Islands.
The name of the Leeward Islands is due to the lee (compared to the Windward Islands) position of the islands in relation to the northeast trade wind. These islands are mostly of coral or volcanic origin.

The bottom relief of the sea is distinguished by numerous irregularities in the form of ups and downs. The entire bottom surface can be divided into five regions, separated by underwater ridges and mountain ranges. Deep places include the Cayman Trench, the Haiti Trench, and the Puerto Rico Trench. The area is considered seismically active. There are underwater earthquakes that can cause tsunamis.
The coastal soil is sandy, sandy-silty, rocky in places. The coast of many places is covered with amazingly white coral sand.
The deep-sea cover of the sea bottom is represented by silts and clays.

The flora and fauna of the Caribbean Sea is very diverse and quantitatively rich. Most of the coral structures represent a typical tropical coral community.

You can see many species of bottom animals and coral reef fish in THIS illustration.

The diversity and beauty of the aquatic life forms of the Caribbean Sea can amaze the most sophisticated diver and connoisseur of underwater landscapes. It is not for nothing that many places here have been chosen by diving enthusiasts from different countries.

The flora of the sea is not rich in quantitative terms, but it is represented by an extensive species composition. In some places there are even entire fields of underwater vegetation. In shallow areas, macroflora is concentrated mainly in areas of reef structures. Here you can find algae such as tortoiseshell thalassia, cymodocean algae, sea ruppia. Halophilic algae grow in deeper areas. In total, macroalgae of the sea are represented by a dozen species.
Phytoalgae are represented very poorly, as in all tropical seas. The zooxanthella species, which forms a biosymbiosis with coral polyps, is suffering greatly from the increase in water temperature that occurs in the Caribbean. last years. This leads to the death of zooxanthella, subsequent bleaching and death of coral colonies and the death of the entire reef community of organisms.

The fauna of the sea is more diverse than its flora. Marine mammals, fish, and various bottom animals live here.

Among the benthic representatives of the fauna are numerous sea worms, snakes, molluscs (cephalopods, gastropods, bivalves, etc.), echinoderms (starfish, hedgehogs), crustaceans (crabs, crustaceans, spiny lobsters, etc.). Intestinal animals are represented by a wide range of coral polyps, incl. reef-forming, numerous jellyfish.

There are many sea turtles in the Caribbean Sea, among which you can find soup (or green), loggerheads, hawksbill, ridley.
The famous Columbus, crossing the Caribbean Sea at the beginning of the 16th century, encountered huge herds of green turtles, which literally blocked the way for his ships in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe modern Cayman Islands. Struck by the abundance of these animals, Columbus named the islands he discovered Las Tortugas, which in Spanish means "turtles".
For many years, turtles served as a reliable source of food for sailors, filibusters and whalers off Las Tortugas. However, the name was not assigned to the islands, just as the once numerous herds of turtles have not been preserved. Where sailboats used to struggle through a solid barrier of turtle shells, now it is not easy to find at least one individual. Many years of uncontrolled fishing, the ruin of egg-laying, pollution of the sea are the results of inhuman human activity.

Settled in the gentle waters of the Caribbean and marine mammals. Here you can meet both large cetaceans (sperm whales, humpback whales) and smaller dolphins, of which there are several dozen species. There are also pinnipeds, which are represented by minnows. Previously, monk seals lived in abundance in the Caribbean Sea, now this species is considered extinct.

The Caribbean fish world is very rich and diverse. In not so distant times (by geological standards), the Isthmus of Panama did not exist. The water connection between the two great oceans - the Pacific and the Atlantic - was broken only a few tens of millennia ago. Therefore, the diversity of fauna here is also explained by the presence of many Pacific animal species.

Fish are represented by almost half a thousand different species, including small schooling and bottom fish, moray eels and barracudas, rays, flounders, gobies, flying fish, and ending with large representatives of the fish community - sharks, swordfish, marlin, tuna, etc.
They hunt here mainly sardines, tuna, lobsters.
Prestigious objects of sport fishing in the sea are marlin, sharks, swordfish, large barracudas.