The dLOC Caribbean Map Collection's maps represent only a small part of the wealth of historical and archival treasures held by the contributing archives, libraries, and museums. Maps collected here date from 1564 through the present. The majority of maps in this collection document a colonial past. While many of these maps were originally published as maps independent of any other publication, some were published with atlases, books, government documents, shipping and railroad schedules, land promotions, etc. Maps in this collection include island, municipal, county and parish maps as well as maps depicting the region more broadly.

The dLOC Caribbean Map Collection outlines a vast inter-continental region. The Caribbean Basin is defined to include the area stretching from Florida westward along the Gulf Coast waters of the United States of America, along the backbone of Central America and across the sholder of northern South America. The Basin is best defined by the sweeping archipelago that is the West Indies, an arm embracing the Caribbean Sea and the sieve of Atlantic hurricanes. Bound by colonial history, Bermuda is encluded within region, though it is situated in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Countries included in the region are: Anguilla; Antigua & Barbuda; Aruba; Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Bermuda; British Virgin Islands; Cayman Islands; Colombia; Costa Rica; Cuba; Dominica; Dominican Republic; French Guiana; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Guatemala; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; Jamaica; Martinique; Mexico; Montserrat; Netherlands Antilles; Nicaragua; Panama; Puerto Rico; Saint Kitts & Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Vincent; El Salvador; Suriname; Trinidad & Tobago; Turks & Caicos; U.S. Virgin Islands; United States' coastal states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas; and Venezuela.