Which ocean does the Caribbean Sea drain into? Caribbean Sea: "A true paradise on earth." Bottom relief of the sea

Jamaica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Barbados, Puerto Rico - all these and many more famous countries are located in the Caribbean and are known under the common historical name West Indies.

Surely, some tourists who want to relax in one of these countries have a question - where are the caribbean islands? Washed by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, they are located between North and South America. Discovered by Christopher Columbus in the 15th century, they number about seven thousand island land plots. There are 13 states on their territory. The Caribbean Sea washes not only the islands located in it, but also the shores of the South, Central and North America, so countries that have a Caribbean coast are also considered Caribbean.

All the islands of the Caribbean are grouped into three large groups- Bahamas, Lesser and Greater Antilles. Each has its own geographical feature and, accordingly, relief. The Lesser Antilles, having an arched shape, stretch throughout the northern part of the archipelago. On their territory there are 8 Caribbean countries, among them - Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, Saint Lucia.

The Greater Antilles is the place most visited by tourists. The territory of the Greater Antilles includes Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, the Cayman Islands and Puerto Rico. Tourists love these countries because they are soft here. tropical climate, a little damp. evergreen forests, numerous rivers, endless beaches - all this is conducive to a good rest.

Bahamas - large archipelago, numbering in its territory about 700 small islands. Lots of coral reefs white sands and coconut palms rainforests and the warm current of the Gulf Stream - all this cannot leave lovers indifferent southern holiday. In addition, for those who know where the Caribbean Islands are located and, accordingly, their origin, it is the Bahamas that reveals its underwater deep secrets. In addition to the fashionable resorts on the islands of Abaco and Eleuthera, the Bahamas are rich in nature, historical sites and friendly people.

Caribbean Islands - a place that is a kind of oasis in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. For outdoor enthusiasts there are many geographical advantages– from good wind conditions for occupation sailing, to endless reef labyrinths with stunning underwater inhabitants. For a relaxing holiday- quiet sea lagoons framed by tropical forests make the rest on the islands worthy of subsequent repetitions.

Having overcome the long way across the Atlantic to the shores of Central America, we will find ourselves in one of the most beautiful and interesting tropical seas - the Caribbean.
This sea owes its name to the Indian tribe of the Caribs who lived on its coast when the ships of H. Columbus arrived here. If somewhere you meet an unfamiliar sea by name - the Antilles, then know that this is just the second name of the Caribbean Sea.
The beauty of coral reefs, the abundance of tropical cyclones accompanied by destructive hurricanes and pirates, who chose this area for their "fishing" in the distant past, brought the greatest glory to the sea.

Location of the Caribbean complete map Atlantic Ocean - .

First, about the geography and characteristics of the sea.
The water area of ​​the sea, with an area of ​​2753 thousand square kilometers, is located off the coast of Central and South America and is limited in the north and east by the Greater and Lesser Antilles. It is connected by waterways with the Gulf of Mexico (Yucatan Strait), through the interisland straits - with the Atlantic Ocean, and through an artificial structure - the Panama Canal with the Pacific Ocean. The region where the Caribbean Sea is located is called the Caribbean. Its waters wash the shores of numerous states on American continent, and island countries. The sea is very deep average depth- 2500 m, maximum - 7686 m (Cayman depression between Cuba and Jamaica).

The climate in the Caribbean is shaped by warm ocean currents (Northern Equatorial Current, of which the Caribbean Current is an offshoot) and the abundance of solar activity in these tropical locations. The average annual water temperature of the surface layers of the sea is +26 degrees C. The tides are low - an average of 1 m. Many rivers flow into the Caribbean Sea, among which Magdalena, Atrato, Dike, Belen, Krikamola and others can be noted.

One of the fly in the ointment that often spoil the idyll of these fabulously beautiful places are hurricanes and storms. It is believed that the Caribbean Sea is the source of the largest number of hurricanes in the Western Hemisphere. Hurricanes pose a serious problem to the inhabitants of the islands and the coast of the basin, destroying buildings and structures. Hurricanes also cause great harm to the numerous coral structures in these places - reefs, atolls, coastal coral fringes of islands. Powerful winds bring here mud, sand and debris that adversely affect the ecology of the reefs.

The coastline is heavily indented throughout. There are numerous bays, lagoons, bays, capes. Among the major bays are Honduran, Mosquitos, Venezuelan, Batabano, Ana Maria, Gonave. The shores are mostly low-lying, but there are also mountainous areas.

The Caribbean Sea is very rich in islands. The general island group here is united under the name of the Antilles archipelago or the West Indies, which, in turn, is subdivided into the Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles and Bahamas. The Greater Antilles are predominantly of continental origin. These include large islands in the north of the sea - Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Puerto Rico. The Lesser Antilles, in turn, are divided into groups: Windward and Leeward Islands.
The name of the Leeward Islands is due to the lee (compared to the Windward Islands) position of the islands in relation to the northeast trade wind. These islands are mostly of coral or volcanic origin.

The bottom relief of the sea is distinguished by numerous irregularities in the form of ups and downs. The entire bottom surface can be divided into five regions, separated by underwater ridges and mountain ranges. Deep places include the Cayman Trench, the Haiti Trench, and the Puerto Rico Trench. The area is considered seismically active. There are underwater earthquakes that can cause tsunamis.
The coastal soil is sandy, sandy-silty, rocky in places. The coast of many places is covered with amazingly white coral sand.
The deep-sea cover of the sea bottom is represented by silts and clays.

Animal and vegetable world The Caribbean Sea is very diverse and rich quantitatively. Most of the coral structures represent a typical tropical coral community of living organisms.

You can see many species of bottom animals and coral reef fish in THIS illustration.

The diversity and beauty of the aquatic life forms of the Caribbean Sea can amaze the most sophisticated diver and connoisseur of underwater landscapes. It is not for nothing that many places here have been chosen by diving enthusiasts from different countries.

The flora of the sea is not rich in quantitative terms, but it is represented by an extensive species composition. In some places there are even entire fields of underwater vegetation. In shallow areas, macroflora is concentrated mainly in areas of reef structures. Here you can find algae such as tortoiseshell thalassia, cymodocean algae, sea ruppia. Halophilic algae grow in deeper areas. In total, macroalgae of the sea are represented by a dozen species.
Phytoalgae are represented very poorly, as in all tropical seas. The zooxanthella species, which forms a biosymbiosis with coral polyps, is suffering greatly from the increase in water temperature that occurs in the Caribbean. last years. This leads to the death of zooxanthella, subsequent bleaching and death of coral colonies and the death of the entire reef community of organisms.

The fauna of the sea is more diverse than its flora. Marine mammals, fish, and various bottom animals live here.

Among the benthic representatives of the fauna are numerous sea worms, snakes, mollusks (cephalopods, gastropods, bivalves, etc.), echinoderms (starfish, hedgehogs), crustaceans (crabs, crustaceans, spiny lobsters, etc.). Intestinal animals are represented by a wide range of coral polyps, incl. reef-forming, numerous jellyfish.

There are many sea turtles in the Caribbean Sea, among which you can find soup (or green), loggerheads, hawksbill, ridley.
The famous Columbus, crossing the Caribbean Sea at the beginning of the 16th century, encountered huge herds of green turtles, which literally blocked the way for his ships in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe modern Cayman Islands. Struck by the abundance of these animals, Columbus named the islands he discovered Las Tortugas, which in Spanish means "turtles".
For many years, turtles served as a reliable source of food for sailors, filibusters and whalers off Las Tortugas. However, the name was not assigned to the islands, just as the once numerous herds of turtles have not been preserved. Where once sailboats struggled to make their way through a continuous barrier of turtle shells, now it is not easy to find at least one individual. Many years of uncontrolled fishing, the ruin of egg-laying, pollution of the sea are the results of inhuman human activity.

Settled in the gentle waters of the Caribbean and marine mammals. Here you can meet both large cetaceans (sperm whales, humpback whales) and smaller dolphins, of which there are several dozen species. There are also pinnipeds, which are represented by minnows. Previously, monk seals lived in abundance in the Caribbean Sea, now this species is considered extinct.

The Caribbean fish world is very rich and diverse. In not so distant times (by geological standards), the Isthmus of Panama did not exist. The water connection of the two great oceans - the Pacific and the Atlantic - was broken only a few tens of millennia ago. Therefore, the diversity of fauna here is also explained by the presence of many Pacific animal species.

Fish are represented by almost half a thousand different species, including small schooling and bottom fish, moray eels and barracudas, rays, flounders, gobies, flying fish, and ending with large representatives of the fish community - sharks, swordfish, marlin, tuna, etc.
They hunt here mainly sardines, tuna, lobsters.
Prestigious objects of sport fishing in the sea are marlin, sharks, swordfish, large barracudas.

- perhaps one of the most famous in the world, thanks to the writers who wrote novels about pirates and the directors who made films about them. But the Caribbean is interesting not only for legends about pirates, it is unique and unique in its own way. beautiful place on our planet.

• Cruises in the Caribbean (including)

This sea is comfortably nestled in a pool. It belongs to the so-called semi-enclosed seas. Central and South America are its borders from the south and west. Large and Small act as its borders in the north and east.

Through the artificially created Panama Canal in the southwest, it has a connection with the Pacific Ocean. It also has a connection to the Gulf of Mexico through the Yucatan Strait. Its volume is 6,860 thousand km³ with an area of ​​2,754,000 km². In depth, this sea reaches an average of 2500 m, greatest depth 7686 m

The bottom of the Caribbean Sea has a very interesting relief. It has many underwater ridges that share five basins:

• - The Grenada Basin has a depth of about 4120 m;
• - Venezuelan Basin - approximate depth 5630 m;
• - Columbia Basin in depth reaches 4532 m;
• - Cayman is the deepest of them, with a depth of 7686 m;
• - The Yucatan basin has a depth of 5055 m.

Speaking of coastline of this sea, its strong indentation can be noted. Part of the coast is mountainous, while in some places there are also lowlands. In shallow water, there are many reefs and coral deposits. Continental coast, located in the western and southern parts sea ​​has a number of bays. The largest of them include: Cariaco, Darien, Mosquitos, Venezuelan and Honduras.

On the island, located in the northern part of the sea, there are the bays of Guacanoyabo, Ana Maria and Batabano, and in the west of the island the Gulf of Gonave. Also a number of bays on east coast Yucatan, among them Chetumal, Espiritu Santo and Asension.

On average, the water temperature in the Caribbean Sea ranges from 25 ° C to 28 ° C, and the salinity of the water in it is about 36.0%, with a density of 1.0235-1.0240 kg / m³.

Fauna and flora of the Caribbean

This basin is quite rich in both its flora and fauna. In shallow water, they are mainly concentrated near coral reefs. In the lagoons, you can meet entire fields of sea grass if you enter from the lee side of the reef. There are seven types of algae in the Caribbean Sea.

The fauna is represented by more than 450 species of fish. Among which there are sharks (tiger, silk, Caribbean reef, bull shark). As well as a number of other interesting species of fish, such as sea devils, angel fish, flying fish, eyed butterfly fish, orange-fin surgeon, goliath grouper, parrot fish, moray eels, tarpon and many others.

In addition, there are as many as 90 species of mammals here, including: dolphins, humpback whales, sperm whales. American manatees and seals can be found near the island.

It is also necessary to highlight the huge habitat of reptiles with more than 500 species settled there - these are saltwater crocodiles, a number of species of turtles and many other species of reptiles. Enough here and amphibians 170 species.

History and cultural mix of the Caribbean

The Caribbean Sea has a rich history. If we consider it before the appearance of Europeans there, we can distinguish several powerful Indian cultures that existed here. With the beginning of colonization, an era well known to any schoolchild in history lessons and a lover of novels about pirates began. Initially, these territories were colonized by the Spaniards, starting with the expedition of Columbus, who actually discovered these islands.

Centuries later, others European countries also began to establish their colonies on islands in the local waters. Pirates Privateers, corsairs and buccaneers began to emerge here in the 17th century. The main centers of their collection were the city and the island of Tortuga. Many books are dedicated to the pirates who plied these waters. A large part of these characters were real historical figures. Many pirates did not work for themselves but served as privateers on the side of one or another power, such as the famous Francis Drake, who served in Great Britain and Henry Morgan. The most famous act of the first was the capture in 1572 of the Spanish Silver caravan in the port of Nombre de Dios. And the second campaign on in 1671. In time, he became Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. Also famous here: Steed Bonnet, Charles Wayne, Black Bart, Jack Rackhamso (his girlfriends Mary, Reedy, Ann, Bonnie).

Each of these personalities has its own illustrious history, which has come down to the present day in no small part thanks to the book "A General History of the Robberies and Murders Committed by the Most Notorious Pirates" written in 1724 by Charles Johnson. Later, the name of Roberto Cofresi, who piracy in these waters at the beginning of the 19th century, should also be noted. It should also be noted that the very history of discoveries, colonization and separation of the colonies is very fascinating and will be able to attract the attention of anyone who is interested in the history of the huge number of events and drunk that happened in this region.