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October 7, 113

HISTORY OF THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY

The establishment of the Caribbean Community and Common
Market (CARICOM) was the result of a 15-year effort to fulfil
the hope of regional integration which was born with the
establishment of the British West Indies Federation in 1958. It
was a Federal Government drawn from 10 member islands.
Although a plan for a Customs Union was drawn up, emphasis
was not placed on economic aspects of Federation during the
four years of its existence. Economically the Region remained
as it had been for centuries and not even Free Trade was
introduced between the Member Countries during this period.
The West Indies Federation came to an end in 1962 but its
end, in many ways must be regarded as the real beginning of
what is now the Caribbean Community.
The end of the Federation meant the beginning of more
serious efforts on the part of the political leaders in the
Caribbean to strengthen the ties between the islands and
mainland by providing for the continuance and strengthening
of the areas of cooperation that existed during the Federation.
To this end in mid-1962 a Common Services Conference was
called to take decisions on these services, the major ones
among them being the University of the West Indies (UWI),
founded in 1948 and the Regional Shipping Services set up
during the Federation to control the operation of the two ships
donated in 1962 by the government of Canada - the Federal
Palm and the Federal Maple.
The Caribbean Meteorological Service was established one
year after, in 1963 and along with the UWI and the Regional
Shipping Service, represented the heart of Caribbean
cooperation directly after the end of the Federation.
In addition to the decision to continue the process of interstate cooperation, notwithstanding the dissolution of the
Federation, the year 1962 also marked two important
developments of a Caribbean Community: the attainment of
independence by both Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago in
August that year and with it the power to control their own
domestic and external affairs.
In announcing its intention to withdraw from the Federation,
the Government of Trinidad and Tobago proposed the creation
of a Caribbean Community, consisting not only of the 10
members of the Federation, but also of the three Guianas and
all the islands of the Caribbean Sea - both independent and
non-independent.
To discuss this concept, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and

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