Such colonies spread throughout the caribbean, from the bahamas in the northwest to tobago in the southeast. The four main colonial powers in the caribbean were the spanish, english, dutch, and french Other countries that held possession of various islands at different times were portugal, sweden, and denmark. The main european powers involved in the colonization of the caribbean were spain, britain, france, the netherlands, and denmark Spain was the first to establish colonies, followed by britain and france, which competed for control over various islands. Spain was the first european power to establish colonies in the caribbean
The spanish empire claimed most of the region, including cuba, hispaniola (now haiti and the dominican republic), puerto rico, and jamaica. Explore the caribbean countries and territories Discover a list of each caribbean country’s capital, population, and history See maps of the caribbean nations. When columbus reaches the bahamas and the greater antilles, in 1492, these northern islands are occupied by the arawak with only a few pockets of ciponey surviving The smaller islands of the lesser antilles, in the south, are by now largely carib.
