The Caribbean also called the West Indies, since Christopher Columbus landed there in 1492 believing he was in the Indies (in Asia(. The region takes its name from that of the Carib, an ethnic group present in the Lesser Antilles and parts of adjacent South America at the time of European contact. In the English-speaking Caribbean, someone from the Caribbean is usually referred to as a "West Indian," although the phrase "Caribbean person" is sometimes used.

The majority of the Caribbean has populations of mainly African ancestry. In the French Caribbean, Anglophone Caribbean and Dutch Caribbean, there are minorities of mixed-race and European people of French, English, Dutch and Portuguese ancestry. Asian, especially those of Chinese and Indian descent, form a significant minority in the region and also contribute to multiracial communities. Many of their ancestors arrived in the 19th century as indentured laborers. The Spanish-speaking Caribbean have primarily mixed majorities, primarily descended from Africans and Spaniards.

The population of the Caribbean is estimated to have been around 750,000 immediately before European contact, although lower and higher figures are given. After contact, genocide and disease led to a decline in the Amerindian population. From 1500 to 1800 the population rose as slaves arrived from West Africa such as the Kongo, Igbo, Akan, Fon and Yoruba as well as military prisoners and captured slaves from Ireland, who were deported during the Cromwellian reign in England. Immigrants from Britain, Italy. France, Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal and Denmark also arrived, although the mortality rate was high for both groups.

The population is estimated to have reached 2.2 million by 1800. Immigrants from India, China, and other countries arrived in the 19th century. After the ending of the Atlantic slave trade, the population increased naturally. The total regional population was estimated at 37.5 million by 2000. Puerto Cruz beach in Margarita Island, Venezuela.

The Spanish-speaking Caribbean have primarily mixed race, African, or European majorities. Puerto Rico and Cuba (largest Caribbean island( have a European majority with a mixture of Spaniards–European, Amerindians, and some West African. One third of Cuba's population is of African descent, with a sizable Mulatto (mixed African–European( population. The Dominican Republic has a largely mixed majority who are primarily descended from West Africans and Spaniards, with some Amerindians.

Larger islands such as Jamaica, have a large African population in addition to a very large mixed race, Chinese, Europeans, Indian, Lebanese, Latin American, and Syrian populations. This is a result of years of importation of slaves and indentured labourers, and migration. Most multi-racial Jamaicans refer to themselves as either mixed race or simply Black. The situation is similar for the Caricom states of Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad and Tobago has a multi-racial cosmopolitan society due to the arrival of the Africans, Indians, Chinese, Syrians, Lebanese, Native Amerindians and Europeans. This multi-racial mix has created sub-ethnicities that often straddle the boundaries of major ethnicities and include Chindian and Dougla.

All islands at some point were, and a few still are, colonies of European nations, a few are overseas or dependent territories:

• British West Indies/Anglophone Caribbean Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bay Islands, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Croix (briefly( ,Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago (from 1797( and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
• Danish West Indies present-day United States Virgin Islands
• Dutch West Indies present-day Netherlands Antilles and Aruba,, Virgin Islands, Saint Croix (briefly(, Tobago and Bay Islands (briefly(
• French West Indies Anguilla (briefly(, Antigua and Barbuda (briefly(, Dominica, Dominican Republic (briefly(, Grenada, Haiti, Montserrat (briefly(, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Eustatius (briefly(, St Kitts (briefly(, Tobago (briefly(, Saint Croix, the current French overseas departements of Martinique and Guadeloupe (including Marie-Galante, La Desirade and Les Saintes(, and the current French overseas collectivities of Saint Barthelemy and Saint Martin.
• Portuguese West Indies present-day Barbados, known as Los Barbados in the 1500s when the Portuguese claimed the island en route to Brazil. The Portuguese left Barbados abandoned in 1533, nearly a century prior to the British arrival to the island.
• Spanish West Indies Cuba, Hispaniola (present-day Dominican Republic, and until 1609, Haiti(, Puerto Rico, Jamaica (until 1655(, the Cayman Islands, Trinidad (until 1797( and Bay Islands (until 1643(
• Swedish West Indies present-day French Saint-Barthelemy and Guadeloupe (briefly(
• Courlander West Indies – Tobago (until 1691(

The British West Indies were united by the United Kingdom into a West Indies Federation between 1958 and 1962.