ABSTRACT
Caribbean is a region of the Western Hemisphere with political, economic, and social characteristics that set it apart from North, Central, and South America. A plantation is an economic unit producing agricultural commodities for sale and employing a relatively large number of unskilled laborers whose activities are closely supervised. The emergence of a Caribbean peasantry in the wake of abolition has led to some diversification of agricultural production. The plantation system in the Caribbean was, of course, set up as part and parcel of the region's penetration by European empires. For the past three decades the basic thrust of Caribbean foreign policies has been obtaining special, privileged access to overseas markets, particularly in Europe and in North America, and increasing the region's share of international cooperation, one of the highest in the world. The Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) established a one-way free-trade zone between the CBI-designated countries and the United States, though with some very significant exceptions.
