The Caribbean's history is one of encounters, conquests and remarkable resilience. Before 1492, the islands were home to Indigenous peoples — Taíno in the Greater Antilles, Kalinago (Island Caribs) in the Lesser Antilles, and the Lucayans in the Bahamas. Their canoe networks connected islands across thousands of kilometers of sea.\n\nChristopher Columbus made landfall in The Bahamas on October 12, 1492, opening the Caribbean to European colonization. Spain, France, England, the Netherlands and Denmark all claimed islands, often fighting bitter wars. The 17th and 18th centuries saw the rise of the sugar plantation economy — and with it, the transatlantic slave trade that brought millions of enslaved Africans to the islands.\n\nThe Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) was the only successful slave revolt in history, creating the world's first Black republic. Britain abolished slavery in its colonies in 1834, France in 1848, the Netherlands in 1863, and finally Cuba in 1886.\n\nThe 20th century brought independence movements — Cuba (1902, then 1959), Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica (1962), Trinidad and Tobago (1962), Barbados (1966), Bahamas (1973), Grenada (1974), Dominica (1978), Saint Lucia (1979), Saint Vincent (1979), Antigua and Barbuda (1981), Belize (1981), Saint Kitts and Nevis (1983). Some islands chose continued ties — Puerto Rico is a US Commonwealth, US Virgin Islands a US territory, British Virgin Islands a British Overseas Territory, French overseas departments include Guadeloupe and Martinique, and Aruba/Curaçao/Sint Maarten/Bonaire are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.\n\nToday the Caribbean is a mosaic — over 30 territories speaking English, Spanish, French, Dutch, French Creole, Papiamento and Indigenous languages — bound together by shared history, music, food and the turquoise sea.