The name America goes back to the Italian navigator and conqueror Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512). The name came about through a misunderstanding of the Freiburg scientist and cartographer Martin Waldseemüller (1470-1521). Waldseemüller wrongly thought that Vespucci had “discovered” the new continent, so he named it America on his map of the world drawn in 1507. Probably the coast of America was already used by the Viking “Erik the Red” (950-1003) with Viking boats. Before the Europeans arrived, America was home to highly developed cultures. These included the Aztecs and the Mayans.
Before the year 1000
The American continent was probably settled between 30,000 and 8,000 BC. From Northeast Asia over a land bridge (Beringland) at the place of today’s Bering Strait. From Alaska the entire double continent was settled in several waves as far as Tierra del Fuego. The oldest secured archaeological find comes from Chile and is dated 13,800 BC. Dated.
The Native Americans developed high urban cultures in Central and South America. In North America, the area of today’s USA and Canada, they founded complex communities, so-called Templemound cultures, in the eastern catchment area of the Mississippi. However, these disintegrated before the arrival of the Europeans. They were replaced by smaller village communities that lived mainly from agriculture. In the southwest of today’s USA, sometimes multi-storey clay building settlements with up to 500 rooms, the pueblos, were built.
Most of the history of the Native Americans was transmitted orally. Fact reports and myths often flow into one another. However, archaeological and geological finds have finally shown that the so-called Indian “oral history” has preserved events that go back many centuries.
| Country | Area in km² | population | Capital |
| US Virgin Islands, Virgin Islands of the USA (Caribbean) | 349 | 104,500 | Charlotte Amelie |
| Anguilla (Caribbean) | 96 | 15,000 | The Valley |
| Antigua and Barbuda (Caribbean) | 442 | 95,000 | Saint John’s |
| Aruba (Caribbean) | 180 | 108,000 | Oranjestad |
| Bahamas (Caribbean) |
13,940 | 390,000 | Nassau |
| Barbados (Caribbean) | 430 | 286,000 | Bridgetown |
| British Virgin Islands, Virgin Islands (Caribbean) | 151 | 28,000 | Road Town |
| Dominican Republic (Caribbean) | 48,730 | 10.8 million | Santo Domingo |
| Grenada (Caribbean) | 344 | 108,000 | Saint George’s |
| Guadeloupe (Caribbean) | 1,682 | 390,000 | Basse-Terre |
| Haiti (Caribbean) | 27,750 | 11 million | Port-au-Prince |
| Jamaica (Caribbean) | 10,991 | 3 million | Kingston |
| Cayman Islands (Caribbean) | 264 | 61,500 | George Town |
| Cuba (Caribbean) | 110,860 | 11.3 million | Havana |
| Martinique (Caribbean) | 1,128 | 375,000 | Fort-de-France |
| Montserrat (Caribbean) | 102 | 5,000 | Plymouth, leave |
| Puerto Rico (Caribbean) | 8,959 | 3.2 million | San Juan |
| St. Kitts and Nevis (Caribbean) | 269 | 56,000 | Basseterre |
| St. Vincent and Grenadines (Caribbean) | 389 | 111,000 | Kingstown |
| Trinidad and Tobago (Caribbean) | 5,128 | 1.3 million | Port of Spain |
| Turks and Caicos Islands (Caribbean) | 497 | 43,000 | Cockburn Town |
Source: Countries in Central America – Countryaah.com
Notes on some selected countries
Panama
Panama covers an area of 75,517 km² – with around 4.1 million residents. The Central American country between Costa Rica and Colombia and is probably best known worldwide for the local channel between the Atlantic and the Pacific. The 82 km long canal was opened in 1914.
From December 20, 1989 to January 3, 1990, the country was invaded by US troops. The invasion was the largest airborne operation since World War II. In the course of the invasion, President Manuel Noriega (1938-2017) was arrested and sentenced to 40 years in prison in the US, which was later reduced to 17 years. On April 26, 2010 he was extradited to France and sentenced there on July 7, 2010 to seven years in prison for money laundering. Panama applied for extradition from France, which was followed by a French court on September 23, 2011. On December 11, 2011, he was transferred to Panama and was imprisoned here in the prison directly on the Panama Canal.
At the end of January 2017 he was released from house arrest for his tumor treatment. He died a few months later of the consequences of his illness on the night of May 29th to 30th, 2017. On November 3rd, Panama became independent from Colombia.
Venezuela
Venezuela covers an area of 916,445 km² – with around 32 million residents.
The country borders and has significant oil reserves. Under the “socialist” President Maduro, the country has fallen into complete disrepair and is ruled by a clique that mainly operates in their own pockets and is probably also involved in the drug trade. The country receives military, economic and medical aid from Cuba.
Newspapers in Dominica
Dominica has no daily newspaper; the largest newspaper, New Chronicle (2,500 copies), is published once a week.
State Dominica Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts radio in English and in the island’s Creole language. There are also two church radio stations. Since 1983 there is a private TV station (Video One) that reaches 1/3 of the island. The two-channel broadcasts consist primarily of programs from the United States. There are 630 radio and 220 TV receivers per 1,000 residents (2000).
