Meta-archipelagos in the Caribbean

Abstract

The term meta-archipelago emerges from social-culture and geo-philosophical analysis of insular Caribbean´s people. During two decades, this concept, along with the concept of oceanic islands, have been subjects of debate, mainly from social and philosophical fields. Recently, several authors defined the term within the field of biogeography, while others applied it in the archipelagos of the Macaronesia. It is possible to consider that both kinds of archipelagos, geophilosophical and biogeographical, share essential characteristics. The reflections that follow explore the meta-conceptual, geophilosophical and biogeographical roots of the subject, on the basis of the paleogeographic history of Cuban archipelago, and the general spatial patterns of their endemic species and subspecies of butterflies. It is concluded that Cuban archipelago represents a paleogeographic meta-archipelago, from which the present archipelago has inherited its modern spatial characteristics, both as archipelago, and as metaarchipelago itself.