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How much do you know about the region of the Caribbean?
Test your knowledge with these tidbits from CultureGrams:
- What group of islands did the United States purchase in 1917 in order to block any enemy approach to the Panama Canal during World War I?
- What national dish of Dominica was plagued with disease in 2002, wiping out half of the species?
- The Dominican Republic is home to the highest mountain peak in the Caribbean, named what?
- Which Caribbean nation was previously called San Cristobal (St. Christopher) and Santa Maria de las Nieves (Our Lady of the Snows), a name that is shortened in its present-day version?
- What are the names of the two largest islands in the nation of Cuba?
- Which Caribbean Creole, spoken on the island of Hispaniola, is composed of a mixture of French and African languages?
- Which popular vacation destination is the wealthiest country in the Caribbean, boasting a per capita GDP typically exceeded in the Western Hemisphere only by the United States and Canada?
- The musical instrument known as the steel drum was invented in which country?
- Which island nation is the easternmost in the Caribbean archipelago?
- Grenada is the world's second largest producer of what spice?
Answers:
1) The Virgin Islands. 2) Mountain chicken, or craupod (frog). 3) Pico Duarte. 4) Saint Kitts and Nevis. 5) Cuba and Isla de la Juventud ("Isle of Youth"). 6) Haitian Creole. 7) Bahamas. 8) Trinidad and Tobago (specifically Trinidad). 9) Barbados. 10) Nutmeg.
Did you know...
- Dominica was originally inhabited by people of the Arawak tribe. In roughly AD 1000, they were displaced by Carib migrants from South America. The Caribs, or Kalinago, called the island Wai'tukubuli ("tall is her body") after the high mountains they encountered there. Christopher Columbus spotted the island on a Sunday in 1493 and named it Dominica (meaning "Sunday" in Latin). Dominica's rugged terrain initially inhibited colonization, as did the fierce defenses of the Caribs. In fact, as surrounding islands underwent colonization, some of their indigenous peoples sought refuge in Dominica's mountainous interior.
- In Haiti, celebrations of births are joyful, but Haitians are careful not to be seen as boastful in a country where so many children die before the age of five. Once children survive their first years, they are given a nickname that everyone outside of official institutions will call them by. Motherhood is so valued that some single women will pretend to have a child in order to fit into their peer group. Because of Haiti's low life expectancy, elders -- especially those who reach the age of 50 or above -- are revered.
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