The Caribbean, long referred to as the West Indies, includes more than 7,000 islands; of those, 13 are independent island countries and some are dependencies or overseas territories of other nations.
In addition, that large number includes islets, cay's and a few inhabited reefs.
In geographical terms the Caribbean area includes the Caribbean Sea and all of the islands located to the southeast of the Gulf of Mexico, east of Central America and Mexico, and to the north of South America. Some of its counted cay's, islands, islets and inhabited reefs front the handful of countries that border the region.