For four years, the Caribbean came closer to becoming a single nation than at any point before or since. In 1958, ten British West Indian territories united as the West Indian Federation: one flag, one project, one chance to meet the world as a single people. By 1962, it had fallen apart. Our first-ever video essay, "Why Isn't The Caribbean One Country?", traces how that experiment was born, why it collapsed, and what its failure still costs us.
In it, we explore why the Caribbean remains a region of separate countries instead of one, the failures and hard lessons of the West Indian Federation, and how those decades-old decisions still shape the borders, currencies, and passports that divide neighbor from neighbor today. This is the history most of us were never taught, and it explains the divided Caribbean we live in now. But the essay makes one thing clear: history is not destiny. Click the link below to watch it, and see the region and your place in it a little differently. If it resonates, like the video, subscribe so you never miss what we release next, and leave a comment telling us what you think the Caribbean lost when the Federation fell, and what you believe it can still become.
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