The whole of the West Indies except the Bahamas; Greater Antilles include Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico; Lesser Antilles include the Windward Is (S), Leeward Is (N), and the Netherlands Antilles off the coast of Venezuela.
The Antilles are divided into two major groups: the "Greater Antilles" to the north including the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico; and the smaller "Lesser Antilles" on the southeast — comprising the northerly Leeward Islands, the southeasterly Windward Islands, and the Leeward Antilles just north of Venezuela.The Greater Antilles are made up of continental rock, as distinct from the Lesser Antilles, which are mostly young volcanic or coral islands.
Geographically, the Antilles are typically reckoned as part of North America.
Background
Like the name Brazil, the word Antilles dates from a period before the discovery of the New World, "Antilia" being one of those mysterious lands which figured on the medieval charts sometimes as an archipelago, sometimes as continuous land of greater or lesser extent, constantly fluctuating in mid-ocean between the Canaries and East India.
After discovery of the West Indies by Christopher Columbus in 1492 and the realisation that they comprised an extensive archipelago enclosing the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, the Spanish term Antillas was commonly assigned to the new lands.
Greater Antilles
Main article: Greater Antilles.
Cuba Hispaniola Dominican Republic Haiti Jamaica Puerto Rico (U.S. commonwealth) Cayman Islands (geographical zone under Cuba)Lesser Antilles
Main article: Lesser Antilles; Ant.) Dominica Grenada Guadeloupe (Fr.) Martinique (Fr.) Montserrat (Br.) Netherlands Antilles (Neth.) Redonda (part of Antigua and Barbuda) Saba (Neth. Ant.) Saint Barthélemy (Fr.) Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin (Fr.)/ Sint Maarten (Neth.
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