The Caribbean Sea is a partially enclosed body of water in the Western Hemisphere, a western extension of the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by South America (Venezuela, Colombia) on the south, Central America (Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico) on the west, and the islands of the West Indies on the north and east. The Yucatan Channel between Cuba and Yucatan connects the Caribbean Sea with the Gulf of Mexico, numerous passages between the islands join it to the Atlantic, and the Panama Canal furnishes access to the Pacific Ocean.
The West Indies, which form the nucleus of the Caribbean region, consist of two main groups: the Greater Antilles (Cuba), Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico) to the north and the Lesser Antilles, which again are subdivided into the Windward and Leeward islands, to the east. The major channels separating the islands are Windward Passage, between Cuba and Hispaniola; Mona Passage, between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico; and Anegada Passage, between the British and U.S. Virgin Islands.
The total area of the Caribbean Sea is about 2,500,000 sq km (965,000 sq mi). Several Ocean Deeps extend to depths greater than 7,000 m (23,000 ft). The greatest measured depth is the Bartlett Deep (7,239 m/23,744 ft) in the Cayman Trench between Cuba and Jamaica.
Discovered and first explored by Christopher Columbus, the Caribbean was named after the CARIB, a warlike tribe of cannibalistic Indians that inhabited some of the Lesser Antilles at the time of the European conquest.
The sea is of major importance for international shipping to and from the Panama Canal and for its natural resources, including oil. It is also a major tourist and recreation area of the Western Hemisphere.
