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That is not true, as it depends on the island. The Engish speaking Caribbean actually speaks more than English. Like Haiti, there are islands in the English-speaking Caribbean that speak Kreyol/French Patois - St. Lucia and Dominica - and, in those islands, Roman Catholicism is more prevalent than in Haiti.
The English-speaking Caribbean is far more than Jamaica, and Jamaica does not represent the rest of the islands culturally, religiously or in any other manner.
According to wikipedia, Dominica has 72,000 people. Barbados has 277,000. According to wikipedia, St. Lucia has 184,000 people. Jamaica has nearly 3 MILLION people. It's the biggest speaking Anglo Caribbean island. Trinidad and Tobago has 1,300,000. I know the majority of Anglo Caribbean people are not Catholic and Haiti and the Spanish islands have far more Catholic and Catholic influences than the Anglo Caribbean as a WHOLE.
According to wikipedia, Dominica has 72,000 people. Barbados has 277,000. According to wikipedia, St. Lucia has 184,000 people. Jamaica has nearly 3 MILLION people. It's the biggest speaking Anglo Caribbean island. Trinidad and Tobago has 1,300,000. I know the majority of Anglo Caribbean people are not Catholic and Haiti and the Spanish islands have far more Catholic and Catholic influences than the Anglo Caribbean as a WHOLE.
We are speaking about influences in each nation. Your post spoke about INDIVIDUAL NATIONS such as Jamaica and Haiti. Other English-speaking nations exist outside of Jamaica and other Kreyol-speaking nations exist outside of Haiti.
English-speaking Caribbean nations are NOT a monolith, linguistically, ethnically, religiously etc.
St. Lucia is 61.5% Catholic.
Dominica is 61.4% Catholic.
Haiti is 54.7% Catholic.
St. Lucia and Dominica are more Catholic than Haiti. That is because of the French influence. Both nations are bilingual.
Trinidad & Tobago has nothing to do with the discussion as it ethnically, culturally and religiously distinct from all other Caribbean nations. As far as Latin influence, it is significant due to its own heritage and proximity to Venezuela. Catholicism is still the largest individual denomination there. Only recently has the combination of Protestant groups surpassed Catholics. However, with Hindus and Muslims, it is uniquely Caribbean, not simply Latin.
Last edited by ReineDeCoeur; 12-22-2016 at 09:00 AM..
English-speaking Caribbean nations are NOT a monolith, linguistically, ethnically, religiously etc.
St. Lucia is 61.5% Catholic.
Dominica is 61.4% Catholic.
Haiti is 54.7% Catholic.
St. Lucia and Dominica are more Catholic than Haiti. That is because of the French influence. Both nations are bilingual.
Trinidad & Tobago has nothing to do with the discussion as it ethnically, culturally and religiously distinct from all other Caribbean nations. As far as Latin influence, it is significant due to its own heritage and proximity to Venezuela. However, it is uniquely Caribbean nation, not simply Latin.
Good point...I understand NYWriterDude's point but it always causes issues in the Caribbean when you try to pull stats from using the entire population of the region...always best to go nation by nation because each nation has such a different population size and colonial history from the other...I didn't know St Lucia and Dominica were that Catholic and this fact would be completely lost if lumping them in with Jamaica's population...Jamaica's reality would be completely lost if it were grouped as just another population in the Greater Antilles...good discussion
Good point...I understand NYWriterDude's point but it always causes issues in the Caribbean when you try to pull stats from using the entire population of the region...always best to go nation by nation because each nation has such a different population size and colonial history from the other...I didn't know St Lucia and Dominica were that Catholic and this fact would be completely lost if lumping them in with Jamaica's population...Jamaica's reality would be completely lost if it were grouped as just another population in the Greater Antilles...good discussion
Exactly. The Caribbean is far too diverse in terms of history and culture for such simplistic comparisons. Further, it makes no sense to talk about population numbers when we are discussing influences. The U.S. has more Catholics than the whole Spanish Caribbean combined, but not a soul would claim the U.S. has stronger Catholic influences than any Spanish Caribbean country.
Due to influences, St. Lucia and Dominica will not feel like Barbados or Jamaica religiously. The high percentages of Catholics will give it a different feel. Those percentages are also larger than Haiti.
Too often people like to give an example of the English-speaking Caribbean by using Jamaica, when there are numerous islands. We have plenty commonalities but also plenty differences. People also forget that Haiti is not the only Kreyol-speaking nation. In St. Lucia and Dominica, the official languages are Kreyol and English. Those nations are not simply Anglo and to call them such is ignorance.
Too often people like to give an example of the English-speaking Caribbean by using Jamaica, when there are numerous islands.
As a Jamaican I definitely agree...this tendency unfairly minimizes the other English speaking islands and conversely, Jamaica gets blamed whenever any English speaking islander does some foolishness
As a Jamaican I definitely agree...this tendency unfairly minimizes the other English speaking islands and conversely, Jamaica gets blamed whenever any English speaking islander does some foolishness
We are speaking about influences in each nation. Your post spoke about INDIVIDUAL NATIONS such as Jamaica and Haiti. Other English-speaking nations exist outside of Jamaica and other Kreyol-speaking nations exist outside of Haiti.
English-speaking Caribbean nations are NOT a monolith, linguistically, ethnically, religiously etc.
St. Lucia is 61.5% Catholic.
Dominica is 61.4% Catholic.
Haiti is 54.7% Catholic.
St. Lucia and Dominica are more Catholic than Haiti. That is because of the French influence. Both nations are bilingual.
Trinidad & Tobago has nothing to do with the discussion as it ethnically, culturally and religiously distinct from all other Caribbean nations. As far as Latin influence, it is significant due to its own heritage and proximity to Venezuela. Catholicism is still the largest individual denomination there. Only recently has the combination of Protestant groups surpassed Catholics. However, with Hindus and Muslims, it is uniquely Caribbean, not simply Latin.
However those stats do not provide context that you want to ignore. Most English speaking Caribbean people are not Catholic and Jamaica has far more people than St. Lucia or Dominica, and even Trinidad does as well.
This does not minimize the other islands, but 77,000 people versus nearly 3 million? There's no way to say an island of 77,000 has the same influence as an island of nearly 3 million.
Papiamiento is a Creole language with a number of Portugese words, and because of their closeness to Venezuela (their media comes from there, I have been told by people from Aruba) many of them also speak and read Spanish.
They also have quite a Latin influence in their indigenous cultures, given their proximity to, and strong ties with Venezuela and Colombia. In fact their fellow Dutch Caribbean people from St Maarten and Suriname consider them to be culturally alien. these places arguably being more culturally aligned with their neighbors (the Virgin and Leeward Islands in StM case and the Guyana's and Trinidad in the case of Suriname).
I can argue that people from the ABC islands are Latin, even though considered part of the Dutch speaking Caribbean. Haitians are NOT Latin, in terms of being culturally similar to people from Latin America.
In fact there are so many different Latin American cultures that trying to place all of them in one box seems to be an exercise in inaccuracy.
That is not true, as it depends on the island. The Engish speaking Caribbean actually speaks more than English. Like Haiti, there are islands in the English-speaking Caribbean that speak Kreyol/French Patois - St. Lucia and Dominica - and, in those islands, Roman Catholicism is more prevalent than in Haiti.
The English-speaking Caribbean is far more than Jamaica, and Jamaica does not represent the rest of the islands culturally, religiously or in any other manner.
You are correct. Haiti is linked to the French Creole world and NOT to the Spanish Caribbean.
I question those who insist on the latter as when Haitians migrate to the USA they seem to stay as far away from the Spanish Caribbean migrants when they chose places to live. In Miami Haitians are the LEAST likely to have residential contact with Hispanics of just about any group. This based on a study that I saw sometime ago, which dealt with black residential segregation in that city.
In fact given the strong African influences in Haiti, with its early separation from the plantation system, to define that island purely from its colonial past seems some how wrong. I suspect a French tourist wondering around rural Dom Rep might feel more at home than in a similar area in Haiti.
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