The Eastern Caribbean has produced notable figures in literature, including V S Naipaul of Trinidad, George Lamming of Barbados, Jamaica Kincaid of Antigua, Maryse Condé and Nobel prizewinner Saint-John Perse of Guadeloupe, Jean Rhys of Dominica and St Lucia's Nobel prizewinner, Derek Walcott. The contemporary poets Aimé Césaire and Édouard Glissant hail from Martinique; they both write about the Blacks' struggles for cultural identity under the burden of colonial influences. The Caribbean's prime cultural contribution is its music - calypso, soca, steel pan, ska, reggae and zouk. Domestic architecture is characterised by brightly painted, corrugated-iron roofed, wooden-shuttered structures.

Population densities vary widely, with Barbados' population density of 591 people per sq km making it one of the world's most densely populated countries, while some of the smaller islands such as Saba and St Barts have fewer than 5000 people. The vast majority of islanders are of African ancestry, and the ethnic mix also includes those of European, East Indian, Middle Eastern, Asian and American descent. About 3000 Caribs still live on the eastern side of Dominica, and there are smaller native populations on St Vincent and Trinidad.

English is the main language spoken in the region, except for the French islands of Guadeloupe, St Barts, Martinique and the French side of St Martin (governed as a sub-prefecture of Guadeloupe). Dutch is the official language of Saba, St Eustatius and Dutch St Martin (Sint Maarten), but English is more commonly spoken. Many locals relax into a French Creole or patois when at home, and their enviably relaxed way of life is best expressed in the colloquial expression 'limin'' - taking things at an easy-going pace, chilling out. Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion in the French islands, and Protestantism is followed on the English and Dutch islands. Rastafarianism also has its followers, and is directly linked to the popularity of ska, reggae and the sacramental smoking of ganja (marijuana) - and limin'. East Indians on islands such as Trinidad have introduced Hinduism and Islam, and a small number of islanders believe in obeah, a type of black magic.

Eastern Caribbean food reflects the region's rich blend of African and European influences. Root crops, seafood and goat feature in quintessential West Indian dishes such as goat water (spicy goat stew flavoured with cloves and rum), jug-jug (cornflour, green peas and salted meat), mountain chicken (not chook at all, but frogs' legs), souse (pickled pig's head and belly, served with a pigs'-blood sausage), dolphin (no, not Flipper, but a white-meat fish called mahimahi) and the most common snack, roti (potatoes and meat stuffed inside a tortilla-like wrapping). Of course, on the strongly French, English or Dutch islands, you can run the gamut of pâtisseries and crêpes, fish and chips or smorgasbords. The region's many exotic tropical fruits include breadfruit, guava, mango, papaya, starfruit and soursop. If you're talking liquor in the Eastern Caribbean, you're talking rum, with Barbados' Mount Gay the most renowned. Carib beer is also popular, unless you're on a Dutch island, when of course you'll reach for a Heineken.