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Contemporary political map of the Caribbean. The history of the Caribbean reveals the region's significant role in the colonial struggles of the European powers since the 15th century. In the modern era, it remains strategically and economically important. In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean and claimed the region for Spain ...
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."
The Caribbean islands became less central to Spain's overseas colonization, but remained important strategically and economically, especially the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola. Smaller islands claimed by Spain were lost to the English and the Dutch, with France taking half of Hispaniola and establishing the sugar-producing colony of St ...
After staying for a time on the western end, present-day Haiti, he finally returned to Spain. [8] Columbus returned to Jamaica during his fourth voyage to the Americas. He had been sailing around the Caribbean nearly a year when a storm beached his ships in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica, on June 25, 1503. [9]
In the 20th century the Caribbean was again important during World War II, in the decolonization wave in the post-war period, and in the tension between Communist Cuba and the United States (U.S.). Genocide, slavery, immigration and rivalry between world powers have given Caribbean history an impact disproportionate to the size of this small ...
Indeed, the New World colonies only began to yield a substantial part of the Crown's revenues with the establishment of mines such as that of Potosí (Bolivia) and Zacatecas (Mexico) both started in 1546. By the late 16th century, silver from the Americas accounted for one-fifth of Spain's total budget. [5] Spanish empire in North America.
The Caribbean lowlands form a thin strip along the coast. [3] The central portion of the Caribbean lowlands is only a few kilometers in width, but in the east and west they form wide coastal plains. [5] A smaller lowland region exists in the south around the Gulf of Fonseca, [3] extending along a 25-kilometre (16 mi) wide strip on its north ...
In 1494 the Pope ushered in the Treaty of Tordesillas, granting Spain and Portugal two separate parts of the world. [7] Due to this treaty, Portugal had the monopoly on acquiring the slaves from Africa. However, Spain, like Portugal, needed the labor force to pursue their personal economic gains.