Five hundred years after Columbus's navigational error we currently witness a growing interest in the Caribbean. For travel agents and in action movies, there is only one Caribbean, one that usually conjures a multitude of pre-conceived ideas and contradictory myths thrust together by a fascination for the exotic.

 But for those of us who breath and live in, and because of it, the Spanish speaking Caribbean, the three Antilles: Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, evoke and convoke images of  mulattos, blacks and caucasians; orthodox Christianity and religious animist syncretism; capitalism and socialism at different stages of development and dissolution; opulence and misery; laser beam physicians and village healers; some evidence of rational patterns of thought, a bit of happiness and a constellation of people's dreams, illusions and hopes.  Our common denominator is a legacy of resistance to the process of conquest and colonization and its consequences that explains why  cultural manifestations in the Antilles spring from a common center,  a historical and cultural cannon of reaffirmation.   We want to share a sense of belonging - geographically and culturally - from our own reality and history.

 Antillanía deals with issues that reveal the complexity of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. We review cultural expressions of these Antilles, countries set on a determined course by the needs of colonial powers, and ponder our destiny.   As it brings forth different accents of Antillian culture and experience, Antillanía promotes dialog between Siboney (Cuba), Borikén (Puerto Rico) and Quisqueya (Dominican Republic) and provides students and educators with resources that enhance their knowledge of this region and it’s people.   This site presents us through what we ourselves have said and say today about being "Antillanos".  To be "Antillanos" was an aspiration at the end of the 19th century, that came into being from a common heritage of slavery and traditional and not so traditional colonization.  To be "Antillanos" is still an aspiration in this new century as we create and recreate our lives and identity.