Do you consider the Caribbean, Bahamas and Bermuda part of Latin America? (home, theater)

[Tom Lennox 70]

I'm surprised by the answers. I usually define Latin America as anything in the Western Hemisphere south of the U.S. which would include the Bahamas and Jamaica.

[curiousrb]

How can Bermuda be considered Carribean? It has a Governor appointed by the British Monarch, follows Canadian Financial accounting and has a local US customs office.

[009]

Originally Posted by Geography Freak

Caribbean and Latin American are not mutually exclusive categories in the least. Caribbean is a geographic category - Latin American is cultural.

In case anybody missed it.

[Randomstudent]

Depends on the Carribean Island. Cuba and the Dominican Republic are definitly Latin America, other places such as Jamaica and the Bahamas etc. I refer to as the English speaking Carribean also I would place Guyana in this catagory as well. Haiti and Guadalupe are the French speaking Carribean etc. Latin America generally means Spainish or Portugese speaking areas.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by Geography Freak

Caribbean and Latin American are not mutually exclusive categories in the least. Caribbean is a geographic category - Latin American is cultural.

There is definitely a Caribbean culture--one that extends past the Caribbean and influences some of the Central American countries (especially Belize), and the countries of the Guiana Shield. I agree that they don't have to be mutually exclusive and can overlap though, as I feel is the case with the Dominican Republic. However, I think Caribbean culture is most closely associated with mostly the English-speaking nations in and around the Caribbean.

[Unknown Memory]

Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70

Just out of curiosty, I'm wondering if people consider the Caribbean islands like the Virgin Islands, Aruba, St. Thomas, Jamaica, part of Latin America? What about nearby islands technically not in the Caribbean like the Bahamas and Bermuda?

As with everyone has said here. Definitely not. If you ever been to these places, then you'd definitely know.

Bermuda is a British colony, which has its own system. It uses American and Bermudian money. (Their prices are a little expensive though.) Aaaand Bermuda is definitely too far from the Caribbean to be a part of that group. Not even a "technical". I can only partially blame the Beach Boys' "Kokomo" song for this. >D

Virgin Islands? O.o There are only the U.S. and British Virgin Islands so their names should be an easy give-away.

[west_end_don]

Cuba and the Dominican Republic yes.
The english/french/dutch speaking Carribean - NO!

[frostyb007]

Yes they are not the same. And it is true that some Caribbean islands could be considered Latin America and some central/south american countries be considered Caribbean. Most people will take into account cultural similarities over geographic ones.

[Neutre]

Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70

Just out of curiosty, I'm wondering if people consider the Caribbean islands like the Virgin Islands, Aruba, St. Thomas, Jamaica, part of Latin America? What about nearby islands technically not in the Caribbean like the Bahamas and Bermuda?

I don't consider them part of Latin America.

[Greg1977]

Bermuda is in no way a part of Latin America, nor is it a part of the Caribbean as commonly thought. It is a British dependent territory, and it's people are full British citizens(as of May 2002). While we come under Britain, we are largely self-governed and Britain has minimal involvement in our day to day affairs. Despite our status as a british colony, we do not use pounds sterling currency. We have our own currency(with a picture of the Queen on it) which is equal in value to the American dollar(which we also use in Bermuda).