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Everyone knows the rivers on the big islands in places like Dominican, Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico, but what about the smaller islands? Trinidad probably has some rivers but what about the other islands in the Lesser Antilles?
For the islands without rivers, how did the sugarcane industry become so viable in these areas without any real waterways for irrigation? How was rice grown?
Everyone knows the rivers on the big islands in places like Dominican, Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico, but what about the smaller islands? Trinidad probably has some rivers but what about the other islands in the Lesser Antilles?
For the islands without rivers, how did the sugarcane industry become so viable in these areas without any real waterways for irrigation? How was rice grown?
Pretty sure they all have rivers...small rivers yes but rivers nonetheless
Hard to find if you look for rivers of the Lesser Antilles as a whole...much easier to find if you look for rivers of each individual island...because of all the different colonial loyalties that helped to shape the modern Caribbean islands, the region is not the easiest to research when trying to find out stuff on the entire region as a whole
Hard to find if you look for rivers of the Lesser Antilles as a whole...much easier to find if you look for rivers of each individual island...because of all the different colonial loyalties that helped to shape the modern Caribbean islands, the region is not the easiest to research when trying to find out stuff on the entire region as a whole
Yeah it's funny. I'd assume it would be on a larger island. Probably the Ortoire River on Trinidad at 50 km.
I've looked at Wikipedia a bit and the longest I could find outside of Trinidad was the Goyave River in Guadeloupe. Only 39 km long. I wonder to myself how some of these little islands could have been so productive for agriculture without a lot of major sources of water for irrigation.
In fact rivers aren't used for sugar cultivation. The water needed is from underground wells and from rainfall. Also in clay/sandy (loam) soils where water retention underground is best, so that the roots have constant contact with some level of water. Also the volcanic islands tend to be mineral rich and fertile.
Sugar cane grows best where the rainy season is when the canes are grown, but when it gets drier during the cane cutting season. That is why the cane cutting season is usually from Jan to May, getting the canes cut before the June rains arrive. The best canes are in the late part of the dry season when the sucrose content is highest.
This is why Grenada, which is quite wet, never became a strong sugar island, with cocoa, and then nutmegs being the main crop. It can rain any time in Grenada, which doesn't have as distinct a dry season as islands further north.
Sugar cane grows best where there is moderate rain fall, not heavy. Too much water destroys the sucrose content. This is why sugar thrived in islands like Barbados and St Kitts, which average 60" of rain, and not on an island like Dominica, (which has many rivers by the way) where rainfall is easily over 100".
In fact sugar can grow even in places where it is only 30". The sugar growing areas in Jamaica are in the southern part of the island, in the rain shadow, and not in the north east where the rainfall is heaviest.
Given that most of these small islands are less than 20 miles across (even the "larger" ones like Martinique) it is not going to be possible to find long rivers. But in the rainier islands on the southern island year round rivers do exist. At the northern end where the climate is more of a savannah type the rivers are more seasonal.
Note that a river in this context will be seen by most as a stream.
Rice, which is a thirsty crop, isn't grown on these islands. To some degree in Trinidad and Jamaica in the swampy areas, but its the wet Guyana and Suriname where you will find the most rice.
In fact rivers aren't used for sugar cultivation. The water needed is from underground wells and from rainfall. Also in clay/sandy (loam) soils where water retention underground is best, so that the roots have constant contact with some level of water. Also the volcanic islands tend to be mineral rich and fertile.
Sugar cane grows best where the rainy season is when the canes are grown, but when it gets drier during the cane cutting season. That is why the cane cutting season is usually from Jan to May, getting the canes cut before the June rains arrive. The best canes are in the late part of the dry season when the sucrose content is highest.
This is why Grenada, which is quite wet, never became a strong sugar island, with cocoa, and then nutmegs being the main crop. It can rain any time in Grenada, which doesn't have as distinct a dry season as islands further north.
Sugar cane grows best where there is moderate rain fall, not heavy. Too much water destroys the sucrose content. This is why sugar thrived in islands like Barbados and St Kitts, which average 60" of rain, and not on an island like Dominica, (which has many rivers by the way) where rainfall is easily over 100".
In fact sugar can grow even in places where it is only 30". The sugar growing areas in Jamaica are in the southern part of the island, in the rain shadow, and not in the north east where the rainfall is heaviest.
Given that most of these small islands are less than 20 miles across (even the "larger" ones like Martinique) it is not going to be possible to find long rivers. But in the rainier islands on the southern island year round rivers do exist. At the northern end where the climate is more of a savannah type the rivers are more seasonal.
Note that a river in this context will be seen by most as a stream.
Rice, which is a thirsty crop, isn't grown on these islands. To some degree in Trinidad and Jamaica in the swampy areas, but its the wet Guyana and Suriname where you will find the most rice.
Thanks for sharing. You seem to have a lot of expertise in this area. Are you from the Caribbean yourself?
In fact rivers aren't used for sugar cultivation. The water needed is from underground wells and from rainfall. Also in clay/sandy (loam) soils where water retention underground is best, so that the roots have constant contact with some level of water. Also the volcanic islands tend to be mineral rich and fertile.
Sugar cane grows best where the rainy season is when the canes are grown, but when it gets drier during the cane cutting season. That is why the cane cutting season is usually from Jan to May, getting the canes cut before the June rains arrive. The best canes are in the late part of the dry season when the sucrose content is highest.
This is why Grenada, which is quite wet, never became a strong sugar island, with cocoa, and then nutmegs being the main crop. It can rain any time in Grenada, which doesn't have as distinct a dry season as islands further north.
Sugar cane grows best where there is moderate rain fall, not heavy. Too much water destroys the sucrose content. This is why sugar thrived in islands like Barbados and St Kitts, which average 60" of rain, and not on an island like Dominica, (which has many rivers by the way) where rainfall is easily over 100".
In fact sugar can grow even in places where it is only 30". The sugar growing areas in Jamaica are in the southern part of the island, in the rain shadow, and not in the north east where the rainfall is heaviest.
Given that most of these small islands are less than 20 miles across (even the "larger" ones like Martinique) it is not going to be possible to find long rivers. But in the rainier islands on the southern island year round rivers do exist. At the northern end where the climate is more of a savannah type the rivers are more seasonal.
Note that a river in this context will be seen by most as a stream.
Rice, which is a thirsty crop, isn't grown on these islands. To some degree in Trinidad and Jamaica in the swampy areas, but its the wet Guyana and Suriname where you will find the most rice.
But Guyana, a VERY wet country, was a large cane producer for the British. Then again, they do have massive rivers, relatively speaking. How are they explained with the heavy rains they get?
But Guyana, a VERY wet country, was a large cane producer for the British. Then again, they do have massive rivers, relatively speaking. How are they explained with the heavy rains they get?
Guyana makes up for its low sucrose yields with the fact that its high rainfall allows faster cane growth. So its 12 months instead of 18 months, allowing for 2 harvests in one year. A complex drainage and irrigation system using man made canals is used for any number of purposes but rainfall is the main source of water.
But Guyana, a VERY wet country, was a large cane producer for the British. Then again, they do have massive rivers, relatively speaking. How are they explained with the heavy rains they get?
Guyana has flat lands, but its high rainfall, muddy soils and need for extensive drainage/irrigation systems drives up the cost. Now it no longer gets preferential treatment into the EU the industry is under stress. Were it not for political considerations the industry would have been closed. Rice is a much better crop for Guyana.
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