Spanish West Indies

Change of sovereignty or independence

• Martinica was ceded to France in 1635.
• The Bay Islands were ceded to England in 1643 and then to Honduras in 1861.
• Colony of Santiago—Jamaica was captured by England in 1655, confirmed in the Treaty of Madrid (1670).
• The Cayman Islands were ceded to England in the Treaty of Madrid in 1670.
• Haiti (western Hispaniola) was ceded to France in the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 (Saint-Domingue).
• Trinidad was captured by Britain during the invasion of Trinidad, confirmed in the Treaty of Amiens in 1802.
• Captaincy General of Santo Domingo (eastern Hispaniola) was ceded to France after the War of the First Coalition per the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697. It was later returned to Spain, and gained its first independence from Spain as the Republic of Spanish Haiti in 1821, then from Haiti in 1844 as the First Dominican Republic, and finally from Spain at the end of the Dominican Restoration War in 1865, when the Second Dominican Republic was proclaimed.
• Captaincy General of Cuba was lost to the United States in 1898 after the Spanish–American War, concluded by the 1898 Treaty of Paris.
• Captaincy General of Puerto Rico was lost to the United States in 1898 after the Spanish–American War, concluded by the 1898 Treaty of Paris.

Spanish Caribbean

Today, the term Spanish Caribbean or Hispanophone Caribbean refers to the Spanish-speaking areas in the Caribbean Sea, specifically Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Panama and the northern coasts of Colombia and Venezuela. In a broader sense, the Spanish Caribbean may include Guatemala, Honduras and the eastern coast of Mexico; however, the latter share little culturally with the aforementioned countries. It includes regions where Spanish is the main language, and where the legacy of Spanish settlement and colonization influences culture, through religion, language, cuisine, and so on. The varieties of Spanish that predominate in this region are known collectively as Caribbean Spanish.

The Spanish Caribbean can be considered a separate subregion of Latin America, culturally distinct from both continental Spanish-speaking countries and the non-Spanish-speaking Caribbean. Apart from culture, the Spanish Caribbean is different racially as well. In contrast to the predominantly black-majority of the non-Hispanic Caribbean, the Hispanic Caribbean similar to other areas of Hispanic Latin America, is dominated by mixed-race people. However, in the Spanish Caribbean, similar to the non-Hispanic Caribbean, there is a significant African cultural component. The majority of the mixed-race population in the Hispanic Caribbean is made up of mulattos/tri-racials, being of mixed white Spanish, black West African, and to a lesser degree indigenous Taino ancestry, who also make up the majority of the total population overall, especially in the Dominican Republic, as opposed to mestizos in many continental Hispanic countries. The Hispanic Caribbean has less African admixture and influence than the non-Hispanic Caribbean and more than the most other Spanish speaking regions, while having more indigenous admixture than the rest of the Caribbean but less than Spanish speaking regions outside of the Caribbean. There are also smaller amounts of whites and blacks, who are predominantly of European or African ancestry.

The average Puerto Rican is about 65% European, 20% Sub-Saharan African, and 15% indigenous. The average Dominican is about 52% European, 40% Sub-Saharan African, and 8% indigenous. The average Cuban is about 72% European, 20% Sub-Saharan African, and 8% indigenous. Indigenous ancestry in the Spanish Caribbean comes from the Taino people, who were native to the Greater Antilles region. Sub-Saharan African ancestry in the Hispanic Caribbean, just like the rest of Latin America, comes from various parts of West and Central Africa. European ancestry, mainly comes from Spain, especially from the southern regions of Spain such as Andalusia and the Canary Islands. The Spanish Caribbean were treated as "forgotten backwater colonies" during the colonial era, the spanish settlers that settled the islands were mostly poorer peasants from the south, especially from the Canary Islands. The Spanish Caribbean has higher Canarian influence compared to continental Latin America, making them the primary European ancestral group, many cultural aspects come from Canarian settlers including the Caribbean Spanish accents. Non-Spanish Europeans immigrated to the Spanish Caribbean as well. In fact, due to white French fleeing Haiti after independence to the surrounding Hispanic Caribbean, around 18% of surnames in the Spanish Caribbean are of French origin, second highest after Spanish. This mixture of European (especially Canarian), West African, and Taino is heavily reflected in the culture. Cultural characteristics of the Spanish Caribbean include musical genres like Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, and Reggaeton, as well as love for the sport of Baseball and Boxing.

The term is used in contrast to Anglophone Caribbean, French Caribbean, and Dutch Caribbean, which are other modern linguistic divisions of the Caribbean region. The Hispanophone Caribbean is a part of the wider Hispanic America, which includes all the Spanish-speaking countries in the Americas. Historically, coastal areas of Spanish Florida and the Caribbean South America (cf. the Spanish Main) were closely tied to the Spanish Caribbean. During the period of Spanish settlement and colonization of the New World, the Spanish West Indies referred to those settlements in islands of the Caribbean Sea under political administration of Spain, as in the phrase "a 1765 cedula authorized seven sea ports, in addition to the port of San Juan, to trade with the Spanish Caribbean." Until the early 19th century these territories were part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain.

In a modern sense, the Caribbean islands of Colombia could be included in the Hispanophone Caribbean as well, due to the fact they are located in the Caribbean, but not in the Antilles.

Islands

Below is a list of islands belonging geographically to the Greater and Lesser Antilles and that were under Spanish rule in various stages of history, until it became independent from Spain. Several islands which were previously largely under Spanish rule, but since they were passed into the domain of France, England or the Netherlands, are no longer considered part of the Spanish Caribbean.

In addition, the Colombian islands of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina are located in the Caribbean, but are not part of the Antilles. Under intermittent periods of Spanish rule, these islands were administered as part of the Spanish Main (initially Guatemala, later New Granada).

References

References

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