Lesser Antilles

The Lesser Antilles (also known as the Caribbees) are a long, partly volcanic island arc in the Caribbean Sea. Most of its islands form the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, with the remainder located in the southern Caribbean just north of South America. The Lesser Antilles and the Greater Antilles compose the Antilles (or the Caribbean in its narrowest definition), which together with the Lucayan Archipelago comprise the West Indies.

Geography

The islands of the Lesser Antilles are divided into three groups. The two main groups are the Windward Islands in the south and the Leeward Islands in the north. The Windward Islands are so called because they were more windward to sailing ships arriving in the New World than the Leeward Islands, given that the prevailing trade winds blow east to west. The trans-Atlantic currents and winds that provided the fastest route across the ocean brought these ships to the rough dividing line between the Windward and Leeward Islands.

The third group is the Leeward Antilles in the west. These consist of the Dutch ABC islands just off the coast of Venezuela, plus a group of Venezuelan islands.

Geological formation

The Lesser Antilles more or less coincide with the outer edge of the Caribbean Plate. Many of the islands were formed as a result of the subduction of oceanic crust of the South American Plate under the Caribbean Plate in the Lesser Antilles subduction zone. This process is ongoing and is responsible not only for many of the islands, but also for volcanic and earthquake activity in the region. The islands along the South American coast are largely the result of the interaction of the South American Plate and the Caribbean Plate which is mainly strike-slip, but includes a component of compression.

Political divisions

The Lesser Antilles are divided into eight independent nations and numerous dependent and non-sovereign states (which are politically associated with the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, and the United States). Over one third of the total area and population of the Lesser Antilles lies within Trinidad and Tobago, a sovereign nation comprising the two southernmost islands of the Windward Island chain.

Sovereign states

Non-sovereign states/countries and territories

Several islands along the north coast of Venezuela and politically part of that country are also occasionally considered part of the Lesser Antilles. These are listed in the section below.

Islands

The main Lesser Antilles are (from north to south to west):

Leeward Islands:

• Virgin Islands
  • St. Thomas (US)
  • St. John (US)
  • St. Croix (US)
  • Water Island (US)
  • Tortola (UK)
  • Virgin Gorda (UK)
  • Anegada (UK)
  • Jost Van Dyke (UK)
• Anguilla (UK)
• Sint Maarten (Neth.)
• Saint Martin (Fr.)
• Saint-Barthélemy (Fr.)
• Saba (Neth.)
• Sint Eustatius (Neth.)
• Saint Kitts (St. Kitts and Nevis)
• Nevis (St. Kitts and Nevis)
• Barbuda (Antigua and Barbuda)
• Antigua (Antigua and Barbuda)
• Redonda (Antigua and Barbuda)
• Montserrat (UK)
• Guadeloupe (Fr.)
• La Désirade (Fr.)
• Marie-Galante (Fr.)
• les Saintes archipelago (Fr.)

Windward Islands:

• Dominica (Dominica)
• Martinique (Fr.)
• Saint Lucia (St. Lucia)
• Barbados (Barbados is a Continental island found 100 miles (160 km) east of the Windward chain)
• Saint Vincent (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)
• Grenadines (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)
• Carriacou and Petite Martinique (Grenada)
• Grenada (Grenada)
• Tobago
• Trinidad (Sometimes considered part of the Windward Islands. They are the most southern islands of the Caribbean region. Islands of Trinidad and Tobago

Leeward Antilles â€" islands north of the Venezuelan coast (from west to east):

• Aruba (Neth.)
• Curaçao (Neth.)
• Bonaire (Neth.)
• Los Roques Archipelago (Ven)
• La Orchila (Ven)
• La Tortuga (Ven)
• La Blanquilla (Ven)
• Margarita Island (Ven)
• Coche (Ven)
• Cubagua (Ven)
• Other islands (Ven)

See also

• Greater Antilles
• Lucayan Archipelago

Notes

References

• Rogonzinski, Jan. A Brief History of the Caribbean. New York: Facts on File, 1992.

External links

The dictionary definition of Lesser Antilles at Wiktionary