The Caribbean Beat archive
Caribbean Beat was launched in January 1992 as the inflight magazine of BWIA (British West Indian Airways), the Trinidad & Tobago-based airline founded in November 1940. The magazine partnered with BWIA for 15 years and 82 issues, publishing quarterly until August 1995, and then publishing bi-monthly from September 1995.
On 31 December 2006, BWIA was wound up and replaced by Caribbean Airlines. Caribbean Beat continued as the inflight magazine with the new airline. On 27 May 2011, Caribbean Airlines acquired a majority stake in Air Jamaica, making it the national airline both of Trinidad & Tobago and of Jamaica. The Air Jamaica brand was phased out in 2015. Caribbean Beat is the inflight magazine of Caribbean Airlines’ full network, and continues to publish every two months as before.
What you’ll find online
A wealth of Caribbean people & history
We get requests all the time from people looking for archive material from Caribbean Beat, which sometimes is the only trusted source for a range of West Indian and Caribbean subjects and material — personalities, culture, music, sports, history, business, arts, and more. We recognise how important these archives are, particularly as Caribbean pioneers and personalities pass on, often before their life and work has been properly documented.
The digitisation process
We’ve been painstakingly digitising and uploading back issues over several years — scanning photos, transcribing or scanning text, proofing, treating photos, laying out, and finally bringing it all online. As far as possible, we reproduce articles and issues as they originally appeared, not altering or updating them in any way.
Where we’ve reached
Most issues from issue #60 (March/April 2003) through the present are online in full, with small gaps in older issues. Most issues from #1 (March 1992) through #40 (1997) are also online, and we are making progress on issues between #41 and #60.
Reporting errors
Ordering a back issue
If you require material from a back issue urgently and it is not online or in its complete form, you can order a copy online. Please make sure to indicate which issue you would like in your order.
Wanderer back issues
In late 2020, the magazine launched an immersive digital brand extension called Wanderer, powered by Caribbean Beat. You can check our back issues here.
