🌴 Nobel prizes, grapefruit and camouflage: Things I learned on a Caribbean cruise
Hey folks! I’m back from my Caribbean cruise on board the MV Britannia with a list of facts I learned along the way. For a science writer, even a holiday turns into a source of weird knowledge.
While exploring Caribbean islands, I kept seeing unexpected reminders of Jewish migration. In Barbados, there is an old Jewish cemetery. And Curaçao has the oldest surviving synagogue in the Americas. Why? In 1651, the Dutch West India Company recruited several Jewish families to colonise the island. The current synagogue was completed in 1732 and still stands today.
Saint Lucia offers a different kind of surprise. It has produced more Nobel laureates per capita than any other sovereign country: economist Arthur Lewis won in 1979, and poet Derek Walcott in 1992. With an island population of about 185,000, that’s roughly one Nobel laureate for every 92,500 people. In other words, becoming a Nobel winner in Saint Lucia looks more likely than being struck by lightning in a given year.
Speaking of chances, you’re likely to be arrested if you decide to wear camouflage print clothing in Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and some other Caribbean countries. It is illegal for civilians to do so.
Several Caribbean countries have no standing army at all. Dominica disbanded its military in 1981 after two coup attempts against Eugenia Charles, the island’s prime minister and the first woman in the Americas elected in her own right as head of government. Saint Lucia and Grenada also rely on police forces, coast guards, and regional security arrangements rather than regular armed forces.
Not to end on a militaristic note, Barbados gave the world grapefruit, which originated on the island in the 17th century, probably as a natural hybrid of pomelo and sweet orange after both had been brought to the Caribbean. It was first described there in 1750 as the “forbidden fruit”, before spreading far beyond the island.
From the archives
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Elia Kabanov is a science writer covering the past, present and future of technology (@metkere).
Cover art: Elia Kabanov feat. DALL-E.