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West Indies(English West-Indies, Dutch West-Indië - "Western India" or "Western Indies") - the traditional historical name of the islands caribbean, including the Caribbean Islands (see list), the Bahamas and the islands in the adjacent waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean (including some continental islands - off the coast of the continent). It is contrasted with the East Indies ("East India") - the countries of South and Southeast Asia.

Name

The name of the West Indies region was given by the first European navigators, who mistakenly believed that they got to India, moving westward from Europe. Hence the name of the native inhabitants of America - the Indians. The West Indies should be distinguished from the West Indies - they are completely different regions, although "West Indies" literally translates as "Western Indies".

There is an opinion that it is correct to say "West Indies" (eng. West indies, "Western Indies"), since the West Indies include the Spanish West Indies, Portuguese, British, French and other West Indies - the lands of each states of Europe in this region since the end of the 15th century. Some of these West Indies are referred to as the Antilles: for example, the English use the term "English West Indies", while the French say both "French West Indies" and "French Antilles". When the majority European countries occupied the lands of the New Continent, the term West Indies appeared. Thus, the West Indies and the West Indies are to some extent different concepts. The first concept means the entire region, and the second - political and economic (trade) formations in this region.

V West Indies-AND. are included Bahamas, Greater Antilles and Lesser Antilles. The islands belong to North America. The total area is about 240 thousand sq. km 2. The population is over 24 million people. (1968). The relief of the islands is strongly dissected, mostly mountainous; height up to 3175 m(on the island of Haiti). Many active and extinct volcanoes; frequent earthquakes. Deposits of manganese ore, chromites, iron ore, asphalt, oil, bauxites, phosphorites. The climate is tropical trade wind. In the lowlands, the vegetation is mainly cultivated, in the mountains - laurel and coniferous forests.

On islands West Indies-AND. the states of Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, as well as a number of possessions of Great Britain, the Netherlands, France and the USA are located.

Ethnic composition. The bulk of the modern population are Negroes - the descendants of slaves imported from Africa in the 16th - early 19th centuries. (Haiti - over 90%, Barbados - about 89%, Jamaica - about 80%), as well as mulattoes (Dominican Republic - about 70%, Puerto Rico - at least 50%). The descendants of Europeans (mainly Spaniards) are in significant numbers only in Cuba (about 50%), Puerto Rico, in Dominican Republic. In other countries, the white population (mainly English) does not exceed a few percent. Peculiar ethnic composition Trinidad, where about 50% are descendants of immigrants from India. In all countries there are small groups of Chinese and Syrians. A few descendants of the indigenous Indian population, almost completely exterminated during colonization, survived only on the islands of Dominica, Cuba, Trinidad. Languages: Spanish - in former colonies Spain (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico), English - in the former English colonies (Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados), French - in the former and current French colonies (Haiti, Guadeloupe, Martinique); local dialects prevail everywhere. In the Dutch colonies, in addition to Dutch and in English, the Papiamento dialect is widespread. By religious affiliation, the inhabitants of the former Spanish and French colonies are Catholics, the rest are Protestants of various persuasions. Most Indians are Hindus. In some countries, remnants of African beliefs are also preserved.

A. D. DRIZO.

Historical essay. Most of the islands West Indies-I., inhabited by Indian tribes of the Arawaks and Caribs, was discovered during the voyages of Columbus (1492-1502), who mistakenly mistook them for part of India. Unlike India, West Indies(East Indies), these islands later became known as West Indies-AND. Colonization West Indies-AND. the Spaniards was accompanied by the total extermination of the Indians, and already from the middle of the 16th century. began a massive import of slaves from Africa to work on sugar and tobacco plantations, in mines. With the decline of the power of Spain West Indies-AND. became the main object of rivalry between European powers in America. During the 17-18 centuries. as a result of seizures, wars and under international treaties, Great Britain acquired the islands of St. Christopher (St. Kitts), Barbados, Antigua, Montserrat, Jamaica, Grenada, Dominica, Trinidad and others; France - the islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti; Holland - the islands of Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire; Denmark - the islands of St. John, St. Thomas and Santa Cruz from the group of the Virgin Islands. By the beginning of the 19th century. Spain retained only Puerto Rico and Cuba.

The brutal exploitation of the plantations caused frequent uprisings of the slaves against the oppressors. The largest of them is in Haiti at the end of the 18th century. - escalated into a war of independence, as a result of which the Republic of Haiti was proclaimed in 1804. In 1844, the Dominican Republic was established in the eastern part of the island of Haiti. The rest West Indies-AND. still remained in colonial dependence. Slavery was legally abolished in the English colonies in 1833, the French in 1848, the Dutch in 1863, and the Spanish in 1880.

From the 2nd half of the 19th century. US infiltration began West Indies-AND. As a result of the Spanish-American War of 1898, Puerto Rico became a colony of the United States, Cuba was declared an independent republic (1902), although in fact it became a protectorate of the United States as early as 1901. "Platta Amendment" ). The United States has repeatedly carried out the occupation of Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic. In 1917, the United States bought part of the Virgin Islands that belonged to Denmark.

The victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia had a great influence on the deployment in West Indies-AND. anti-imperialist national liberation movement. In the 20s - 40s. in many countries West Indies-AND. communist parties emerged. In the 30s. major anti-imperialist and anti-colonial demonstrations took place in Cuba (revolution of 1933), in the British West Indies-AND. In the English colonies, the first political parties who put forward the slogan of independence.

During the 2nd World War (1939-45), the United States increased its influence in West Indies-AND. Under the Anglo-American agreement of 1940, the United States received the right to build military bases in British possessions in America for 99 years. With the creation of the Caribbean Commission (1942), the resources of the colonies of the European powers were actually transferred into the hands of the United States. Severely cracking down on the liberation movement in the colonies, which had especially intensified after the end of the war (arrests of the leaders of the movement in Jamaica in 1943, military reprisals against strikers on the island of Grenada in 1951, suppression of the 1950 uprising in Puerto Rico), the ruling circles of the imperialist powers at the same time were forced maneuver by proclaiming a series of political reforms that were supposed to cover up colonial domination in countries West Indies-AND. To this end, Martinique and Guadeloupe were declared "overseas departments" of France (1946), Puerto Rico - "freely acceded (to the United States) state" (1952), Dutch colonies in West Indies-AND. - "an integral part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands" (1954). British colonies in 1958 were united into West Indian Federation.

The victory of the Cuban Revolution of 1959 led to the emergence of the first socialist state in America, contributed to a new upsurge in the liberation movement in West Indies-AND. In 1962 the West Indies Federation broke up; independent states were formed - Jamaica (1962), Trinidad and Tobago (1962), Barbados (1966). The English colonies of Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts - Nevis - Anguilla (1967) and St. Vincent (1969) received internal self-government and were declared "states associated with the United Kingdom."

Political division of the West Indies

States and territories	Modern status	Square, km 2	Population, thousand people (1968)	Capital or administrative center
Antigua		442	62	St. John's
Bahamas	British possession	11405	148	Nassau (Nassau)
Barbados (November 30, 1966)*	Independent state	430	253	bridgetown
Bermuda	British possession	53	51	Hamilton
Virgin Islands	British possession	153	9	road town
Virgin Islands: Santa Cruz St. Thomas Saint John	US possession	207	ý58	Charlotte Amalie
Haiti (January 1, 1804)	Independent state	27750	4674	Port-au-Prince
Guadeloupe	Overseas Department of France	1779	318	Bas-Ter
Grenada	"British Associated State"	344	103	St. George's
Dominica	"British Associated State"	751	72	Roseau
Dominican Republic (February 27, 1844)	Independent state	48734	4029	Santo Domingo
Cayman islands	British possession	259	9	Georgetown
Cuba (May 20, 1902)	Independent state	114524	8074	Havana
Martinique	Overseas Department of France	1102	324	fort de france
Montserrat	British possession	98	15	Plymouth
Dutch West Indies-AND.: Saint-Martin (southern part) Sint Eustatius	Autonomous overseas part			ýWillemstad (Curaçao Island)
Puerto Rico	"Freely affiliated (to the United States) state"	8897	2723	San Juan
Saint Vincent	"British Associated State"	388	93	Kingstown
Saint Kitts - Nevis - Anguilla	"British Associated State"	357	58	Buster
Saint Lucia	"British Associated State"	616	108	Castries
Turke and Caicos Islands	British possession	430	6,7	Grand Turk
Trinidad and Tobago (31 August 1962)	Independent state	5128	1021	Port of Spain
Jamaica (6 August 1962)	Independent state	10962	1913	kingston

* In brackets is the date of declaration of independence.

Lit.: Peoples of America, vol. 2, M., 1959; Countries of Latin America in modern international relations, M., 1967, ch. 9.

E. L. Rovinskaya.

Article about the word West Indies" in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia was read 9608 times

The West Indies is a group of islands in Atlantic Ocean, stretching in an arc from the coast North America to the shores of the South. These islands are separated from the ocean by the Caribbean (formerly incorrectly called the Caribbean) Sea. The northernmost groups of the islands of the West Indies are the Bahamas and Bermuda, followed by the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Puerto Rico) and the Lesser Antilles. These latter consist of the Virgin, Windward, and Leeward Islands.

Politically, Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic are considered independent states; in fact the latter two are dependent on the United States of America. In 1958, a national liberation revolution took place in Cuba, and Cubans are fighting for independent development. Directly in the colonial possession of the United States is island of Puerto Rico(the last few years - under the name of the "Freely Associated State") and part of the Virgin Islands (St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix). The colonial possessions of Great Britain, except for Bermuda, the Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands, are united in the so-called West Indies Federation. This includes Jamaica, Trinidad, British Windward Islands (Antigua, Barbuda, St. Christopher (St. Kitts), Nevis, Anguilla, Montserrat), ^ British Windward Islands (Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, etc.) » Barbados, Tobago. Their total area is 32.7 thousand km 2, the population is a little over 3 million people. French possessions include the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, with adjacent islands (area - 2.9 thousand km 2, population - about 600 thousand people). Since 1946, Martinique and Guadeloupe have been considered "overseas departments" of France. The Dutch West Indies (the islands of Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire, and others) are small in area (1,000 km 2) and in population (more than 180,000).

The surface of the islands of the West Indies is mountainous, and these mountains are a direct continuation of the mountains of the American continent. Their northern arc runs from the coast of Guatemala through the Cayman Islands, southeast Cuba, northwest Haiti, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. In its composition (on the island of Haiti) is highest peak West Indies - Mount Tina (3140 m). The southern arc stretches from the coast of Honduras to the Blue Mountains in Jamaica, from there to the southwest of Haiti and Puerto Rico, where it joins the northern group of mountains. Some of the Windward Islands are of volcanic origin, and volcanic eruptions (most famously on Martinique in 1902) still occur. The climate is tropical, hot and humid: the average temperature in January is from +24 to +25°, the average temperature in August is from +26 to +28°. Only in mountainous areas at an altitude of more than 1.5 thousand meters, the temperature drops to +18 (-12 °. The islands are generally well irrigated, especially in summer; however, in winter, the lee slopes of mountains and deep valleys are worse supplied with moisture, and agriculture here sometimes even requires artificial irrigation From November to January, Haiti, Cuba, the Bahamas and parts of the Lesser Antilles are often hit by devastating hurricanes, causing great economic damage and loss of life.

Most of the West Indian Islands were discovered by Columbus during his first travels (Cuba and Haiti - in 1492, Puerto Rico - in 1493, Jamaica - in 1494). The indigenous population - the Arawaks in the Bahamas, Jamaica and parts of Haiti and the Caribs in Haiti, Puerto Rico * and the Lesser Antilles - numbered, according to various sources, from 60 to 600 thousand people. Despite fierce resistance, some of them were killed by the colonialists, some died from diseases brought from Europe, and some finally died from overwork in the mines and plantations.

By the end of the XVI century. small groups of Indians remained only in the depths of the mountainous regions on individual islands.

To work on sugar, tobacco, cotton plantations as early as the 16th century. the importation of Negro slaves from Africa began, which especially intensified in the 17th century. The total number of Negroes imported into the West Indies is not precisely calculated, but, in any case, it is not less than 1-1.5 million. The huge death rate of Negroes, who were forced to hard labor, was covered by the importation of more and more hundreds of thousands of slaves. On the other hand, the history of the West Indies is characterized by almost unceasing Negro uprisings. Only in Jamaica for the period from the end of the 17th to the beginning of the 19th century. there were at least thirty of them. In the interior regions of the islands (Jamaica, Haiti, etc.) inaccessible to the colonialists, settlements of Maroons, or Maroons - fugitive slaves, arose; they attacked plantations, killed slave owners, freed blacks. The Jamaican Maroons retained their independence until the end of the 18th century.

In connection with the nomination at the end of the XVI-beginning of the XVII century. new maritime powers (primarily England), a struggle for the West Indies begins between the strongest states of Europe. In 1605-1682. the British manage to capture St. Kitts, Barbados, Tobago, St. Croix, in the middle of the century Jamaica passes to them, and at the end - the Bahamas. The French take over Martinique and Guadeloupe; the Dutch, who joined this struggle a little later, are the islands of the present-day Netherlands West Indies. Some islands at one time were under the rule of Sweden, others were part of the Danish possessions, and the island of Tobago in the 17th century. was (albeit not for long) a colony of the Duke of Courland. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. The Caribbean Sea was the scene of activity for English, French and other pirates. Pirate raids on Spanish possessions did not stop for several centuries.

By the end of the XVIII century. the situation has stabilized. The last to pass from the Spaniards to the British the island of Trinidad(1797). In the 19th century of the entire vast colonial empire of Spain, only Cuba, Puerto Rico and. East End Haiti.

The Spanish navigator Christopher Columbus took the islands he discovered in 1492 in the western part of the Atlantic Ocean for the Asian country of India. It soon became clear that these were the islands of America, but the name remained. And now there are two Indias on the world map: one in Asia - the east, the other in America - the west, or the West Indies.

The West Indies is located between the North and South America, where the Atlantic Ocean merges with the waters of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

It consists of several archipelagos: Greater Antilles - Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Jamaica; Lesser Antilles - Virgin, Windward, Leeward; Bahamas. There are three states of Latin America here: on the island of Cuba - the Republic of Cuba, in the western part of the island of Haiti - the Republic of Haiti, in the east - the Dominican Republic. The islands of Jamaica, Trinidad and a number of Lesser Antilles are English possessions. Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are US possessions. Among the many islands there are possessions of France, the Netherlands, Venezuela.

The area of ​​the West Indies is 240 thousand km 2, the population is about 20 million people. Negroes and Creoles live here - the descendants of the first Spanish conquerors and later colonizers. From the sour cream marriages of Europeans and Negroes, a large group of mulattoes was formed. Creoles dominate in Cuba and Puerto Rico; in the Dominican Republic, mulattoes; in Haiti and Jamaica - Negroes; in Trinidad - blacks and Indians. Cubans and Dominicans speak Spanish, Haitians speak a dialect French, which contains a lot of African words. Two in Puerto Rico state languages- Spanish and English, in Jamaica - English.

The islands of the West Indies for the beauty of nature and lush vegetation are called the pearls of the American Mediterranean. Annually from different countries around the world, many tourists come here. Singly and in whole garlands, the islands rise above the sea; they are created by secular fluctuations of the earth's crust, the action of volcanic forces and sea corals. The mountain ranges of the Sierra Maestra in Cuba, the Central Cordillera in Haiti, the Blue Mountains in Jamaica rose high from the water. All of them are constantly shrouded in a light haze. There are sharp contrasts between mountain heights and sea depths: the Puerto Rico depression is the deepest in the Atlantic Ocean (9218 m). The peaks of the island of Haiti reach 3175 m. Hot radioactive springs are found in the mountains, and earthquakes often occur.

The Windward Islands necklace consists almost entirely of extinct and active volcanoes. The terrible eruption of the volcano Mont Pele on the island of Martinique in 1902 destroyed the city of Saint-Pierre in a few minutes and covered it with a thick layer of ash. Only one person remained alive, imprisoned in an underground casemate.

TO mountain ranges major islands low plateaus and slightly hilly fertile plains adjoin. These plains produce good crops of sugar cane, tobacco, coffee, oranges and bananas.

The West Indies lies near the equator and the climate is hot and humid. In winter it is a dry period of the year. average temperature January +23°. Summer period is rainy. Afternoon heat moderates sea ​​breeze. The breeze is awaited with great impatience, its approach is known by the lambs on the waves.

In late autumn, hurricanes - “tornadoes” sweep over the islands. They cause great disasters: they destroy villages, destroy plantations, and sometimes entire sections of the forest.

The rivers of the West Indies are short and turbulent. During heavy rains, they overflow their banks and flood vast areas. The most long river West Indies - Cauto - flows in the eastern part of Cuba. In Cuba, Jamaica and the Bahamas, there are underground karst rivers. They wander underground and only occasionally come to the surface.

Of the plants, the most common are ferns, legumes, and orchids. Many of them are found nowhere else in the world. Once the islands were covered with dense tropical forests of palm trees, laurel trees, bamboo, ferns. Valuable species of trees grew here: red, cedrela with fragrant wood, bakout with very hard wood. Now the forests have been heavily cut down, they have been replaced by impenetrable thickets of shrubs (juniper, podocarpus), grassy savannas, mangroves in swamps. In locally preserved forests, mosses and lichens grow on tree trunks, thick lianas are thrown from one tree to another. In the upper tiers of the forest, among the intertwining branches, small hummingbirds flutter, black and green murmurs scream, tropical ants drag earth and food to nests located on trees. At night, the forest thicket sparkles with millions of fireflies.

The most attractive among the trees are royal palms and ceibas. The height of the royal palm reaches 30 m. Peasants cover the roofs of huts with its one and a half meter leaves, and the fruits are used to feed livestock and make technical oils. The height of the ceiba is 50 m. The resulting tree has a huge trunk and bright foliage. Ceiba fruit boxes are filled with short silky fiber; locals stuff them with pillows. Ceibs adorn parks and squares in cities.

There are many other valuable species of trees in the West Indies. Local artists have long carved various figurines from mahogany. From ebony (ebony) wood and rosewood produce expensive furniture and parquet. For the production of wooden boxes and pencils, cedar is used. Dyes are obtained from logwood and saffron trees.

Many cultivated plants were brought to the West Indies by Europeans. Sugar cane and coffee tree, coconut palm and bananas are widespread here, as are local crops: tobacco, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, cassava.

The fauna of the islands, with the exception of birds, is poor. There are no large predatory mammals; they were not there even when the islands were discovered. Europeans brought here horses, mules, sheep, goats, cows, pigs. Domestic animals quickly adapted to the conditions of the tropical climate.

A variety of fish are found in rivers and coastal waters of the seas; sharks often swim up to the shores, and to protect them from them, the bathing places are surrounded by a steel mesh. At the bottom of the sea there are many sea sponges, in some places pearl shells are found.

The life of the population of the West Indies before its discovery by Columbus has been little studied. It is believed that man lived on the islands in ancient times. This is confirmed by archaeological finds and excavations of cemeteries. The remains of monumental buildings have not been found. Apparently, the natives never reached the comparatively high level of development that the peoples of Mexico and Central America had.

During the discovery of the West Indies, the Arawaks lived in the Greater Antilles (the word "Arawaks" means "millers"); they knew how to make flour from the roots of the tropical cassava plant. The ancestors of the Arawaks came here from South America. Caribs lived in the Lesser Antilles. On their fast boats, they often appeared off the coast of Cuba and Haiti, burned and plundered the Arawak settlements, killed the men, and took the women away with them; this may explain what greatly surprised the first Europeans: many women of the Lesser Antilles spoke one language, and men spoke another.

The Indians hunted birds and fished, collected wild fruits, and did a little farming. They had no pets, with the exception of guanikinache rats, which they fattened for meat. When catching turtles and large fish, the Indians were helped by a small fish that stuck, with a flat head dotted with suction cups. This fish was lowered on a long rope into the sea and then pulled out along with the prey. The Indians lived in small huts (bohio). They slept on the ground or in woven cotton hammocks. The dishes for storing food and water were made from gourds. The Indians did not wear clothes, only sometimes they tied up small aprons made of grass. Almost everyone smoked, calling tobacco bundles of leaves of a plant unknown to Europeans at that time. There was great mutual trust in everyday life: the huts were not locked, theft was rare and was considered the most terrible crime, for which the culprit was flayed.

The Indians met the first Europeans kindly and trustingly. But the greedy Spanish colonialists soon betrayed their trust. Mercilessly exploiting the Indians, the Spaniards forced them to do the hardest work on plantations and mines.

By the middle of the XVI century. there were almost no indigenous people left on the islands of the West Indies.

To work on sugar, tobacco, coffee plantations, the Spanish colonialists began to import blacks from Africa. The entire history of the West Indies is filled with numerous uprisings of Negro slaves. One of the uprisings on the island of Haiti turned into a revolution and ended at the end of the 18th century. proclaiming a republic and abolishing slavery. At the head of this uprising was the national hero of the Haitian people, the former Negro slave Toussaint Louverture.

At the end of the XVI century. England destroyed the huge Spanish fleet - the "Invincible Armada", the power of Spain was undermined. England, France, the Netherlands in the fight against Spain and among themselves tore the West Indies apart. By the end of the XIX century. all the islands were divided among the European colonialists. The United States began to seize foreign lands later than other capitalist countries. They put forward the slogan: "America for the Americans", which meant "America for the USA."

In 1898, as a result of the US war against Spain Puerto Rico became a US colony (as did the Philippines in Asia). Cuba gained independence, which was formal, like the independence of the earlier Republics of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In fact, they became colonies of the United States of America.

The American, British, French and Dutch imperialists are running the show in the West Indies. The American imperialists have long been attracted to these countries not only because of their economic, but also strategic benefits. Air and sea routes pass through the West Indies; they link the US to South America, Africa, the Middle East, and all of Asia. The Americans built many naval and air bases on the West Indies. The bases are located not only in the possessions of the United States, but also in the territories of other countries. For many decades, large monopolies of foreign capital and local Creole feudal lords have been plundering natural resources and brutally exploit the peoples of the West Indies.

The backbone of the West Indies economy is sugar. Vast areas are occupied by sugar cane in Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica, in the Dominican Republic. Ocean steamers carry West Indies sugar around the world. Sugar cane is cultivated on plantations; its dense stems with long green leaves rise to 5 m and above. Thick stems are located so close to each other that only with great difficulty can one make his way through this dense green thicket. Sugarcane is bred by cuttings, the rhizome of one planting gives a crop of 4 to 15 years. On the globe, cane sugar is produced no less than beet sugar, and in some years much more. From 1 hectare of sugar cane, from 4 to 15 tons of sugar are obtained. In terms of the production and export of sugar, the West Indies (mainly Cuba) occupy one of the first places in the world. The modern sugar mills of the West Indies are giants. Their total capacity is designed to produce 7-8 million tons of sugar per year. Most of these mills, with surrounding cane plantations, were owned or controlled by large US sugar companies. Now sugar factories in Cuba belong to the state.

The foreign monopolies forced sugar specialization on the West Indies and thus retarded the development of other branches of its economy. Coffee is grown in Haiti and Puerto Rico, cocoa is grown in Trinidad and the Dominican Republic, bauxite is mined in Jamaica and logwood is cut down, cattle are raised in the savannahs of Puerto Rico, and on the islands of the Lesser Antilles - Trinidad, Aruba and Curaçao - refine oil. Trinidad is also famous for its natural asphalt lake from which asphalt is mined. Phosphorites are mined on the islands of Aruba and Curacao. The Dominican Republic is home to the world's largest natural rock salt deposit. Manganese, chromites, nickel, cobalt are mined in Cuba.

But the life of the many millions of people on the islands depends on sugar prices, which are set by foreign monopolies. In times of crisis, when sugar prices fall sharply, over sunny islands dark clouds are gathering: vast fields of sugarcane remain unharvested, factories stop, traffic in port cities freezes, and the workers are doomed to unemployment and hunger. There are also many unemployed people in “good” years, since sugar cane harvesting and sugar production take a short winter (dry) period, the summer months are a “dead season”. Every year, tens of thousands of people move in search of work from one island to another or leave for the continent. It was their hands that built the Panama Canal, it is they who work on the banana plantations of Central America and create fabulous profits for the American fruit company.

The peoples of the West Indies are protesting against enslaving dependence on the imperialist countries. They want to freely and comprehensively develop their economy, raise their culture and standard of living. Revolutionary Cuba, which achieved genuine independence in 1959, set a heroic example for the peoples of the West Indies and all of Latin America. The Cuban Republic is described separately in this volume (see, article "Cuba").

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