The British Caribbean comprised islands and mainland areas grouped in and around the Caribbean Sea. They included:

Anguilla Antigua Bahamas Barbados Barbuda Belize (British Honduras) Cayman Brac Dominica Grand Cayman Grenada Guyana (British Guiana) Jamaica

Little Cayman Montserrat Nevis Saint Christopher Saint Kitts Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Tobago Trinidad Turks and Caicos Islands Virgin Islands

These are also referred to as the West Indies. Bermuda, which lies further north in the Atlantic Ocean, is often included within the Caribbean group. Many of the islands had been visited by Christopher Columbus during his exploration of the region in the late fifteenth/ early sixteenth centuries and some had been held by the Spanish, French, Dutch or Portuguese before passing to British control. Most are now independent countries within the British Commonwealth, though a few, including the Cayman islands and Monserrat, are British dependent territories.

Jamaica, where Small Island's Hortense and Gilbert were born, was captured by the British in 1655. It had been occupied by the Spanish since 1509. It gained independence in 1962. There is a timeline of key events in Jamaican history on the BBC News website.