Title: Caribbean Sea | Definition, Location, Map, Islands, & Facts | Britannica
Headings: Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
sea, Atlantic Ocean
Physical features
Geology
Physiography
Hydrology
Climate

Content: to the west by Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico; to the north by the Greater Antilles islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico; and to the east by the north-south chain of the Lesser Antilles, consisting of the island arc that extends from the Virgin Islands in the northeast to Trinidad, off the Venezuelan coast, in the southeast. Within the boundaries of the Caribbean itself, Jamaica, to the south of Cuba, is the largest of a number of islands. The Caribbean Sea Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Typical landscape in the Caribbean region. © Getty Images
Britannica Quiz
All About Oceans and Seas Quiz
What is the world’s largest inland sea? Where is the Puerto Rico Trench? Find out how deep your knowledge of oceans and seas goes with this quiz. Together with the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea has been erroneously termed the American Mediterranean, owing to the fact that, like the Mediterranean Sea, it is located between two continental landmasses. In neither hydrology nor climate, however, does the Caribbean resemble the Mediterranean.