Editing Caribbean Sea (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of the Caribbean}}
[[File:Columbus landing on Hispaniola adj.jpg|left|thumb|[[Christopher Columbus]] landing on [[Hispaniola]] in 1492]]

The name ''Caribbean'' derives from the [[Island Caribs|Caribs]], one of the region's dominant native people at the time of [[Europe]]an contact during the late-[[15th century]]. After [[Christopher Columbus]] landed in [[The Bahamas]] in 1492 and later discovered some of the islands in the Caribbean, the Spanish term ''[[Antillas]]'' applied to the lands; stemming from this, the ''Sea of the Antilles'' became a common alternative name for the "Caribbean Sea" in various European languages. Spanish dominance in the region remained undisputed during the first century of European colonization.

From the 16th century, [[European colonization of the Americas|Europeans]] visiting the Caribbean region distinguished the [[Great South Sea|"South Sea"]] (the Pacific Ocean south of the [[isthmus]] of Panama) from the "North Sea" (the Caribbean Sea north of the same isthmus).<ref>
{{cite journal
| last1                 = Gorgas
| first1                = William C.
| author-link1          = William C. Gorgas
| title                 = Sanitation at Panama
| url                   = https://books.google.com/books?id=z80-AQAAMAAJ
| journal               = Journal of the American Medical Association
| publisher             = American Medical Association
| date      = 1912
| volume                = 58
| issue                 = 13
| page                  = 907
| issn                  = 0002-9955
| quote                 = The Pacific Ocean, south of this isthmus [Panama], was known to the early explorers as the South Sea, and the Caribbean, lying to the north, as the North Sea.
| doi=10.1001/jama.1912.04260030305001
}}
</ref>

[[File:Tulum-Seaside-2010.jpg|thumb|[[Tulum]], a [[Maya civilization|Mayan]] city on the coast of the Caribbean in the state of [[Quintana Roo|Quintana Roo, Mexico]]]]

The Caribbean Sea had been unknown to the populations of [[Eurasia]] until after 1492, when Christopher Columbus sailed into Caribbean waters to find a sea route to Asia. At that time, the [[Americas]] were generally unknown to most Europeans, although [[Norse colonization of North America|they had been visited in the 10th century]] by the [[Vikings]]. After Columbus's discovery of the islands, the area was quickly colonized by several Western cultures (initially [[Spain#Imperial Spain|Spain]], then later [[England#Early Modern|England]], the [[History of the Netherlands#The Dutch in the Americas|Dutch Republic]], [[French colonial empire#The Americas|France]], [[Curonian colonization of the Americas|Courland]] and [[Danish colonization of the Americas#West Indies (1754–1917)|Denmark]]). After colonization of the Caribbean islands, the Caribbean Sea became a busy area for European-based marine trading and transports. The commerce eventually attracted [[Piracy in the Caribbean|pirates]] such as [[Samuel Bellamy]] and [[Blackbeard]].

{{As of|2015}} the area is home to 22 island [[territories]] and borders 12 continental [[countries]].{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}