I.

Introduction

West Indies, an archipelago, or group of islands, that extends in an arc from near southern Florida to the coast of Venezuela. The West Indies archipelago, which includes thousands of tiny islands, forms a breakwater 3,200-km (2,000-mi) long against the Atlantic Ocean, separating it from the Caribbean Sea.

The West Indies archipelago is known by a variety of names. The earliest name, and the one most frequently used, is West Indies. European explorer Christopher Columbus gave the region that name in error when he arrived in 1492. He assumed that the islands were near the coast of India.

With the passage of time, other names came into use. Spain and France called the islands the Antilles, named after the mythological Atlantic island of Antilia, or Antilla. The larger islands (Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico) came to be known as the Greater Antilles, while the remaining smaller islands were called the Lesser Antilles.

The Lesser Antilles were also further divided into the Windward Islands and Leeward Islands, names referring to the position of the islands relative to the trade winds that blow steadily from the northeast. The Spanish originally called most of the small eastern islands the Windward Islands and reserved the name leeward, meaning 'away from the wind,' for the islands close to the northern coast of South America. The British reversed these names and called the eastern group the Leeward Islands and the southern group the Windward Islands. This British terminology is generally accepted today. The principal islands of the Windward group are Dominica, Grenada, Martinique, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent; the main islands of the Leeward group are Antigua, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and the Virgin Islands.

Geographically a part of the Americas, the islands of the West Indies have close cultural and historical ties with Europe, Africa, and Asia. No other region in the Americas exhibits such a diverse range of cultural patterns and social and political institutions. Beginning in the 15th century, European nations began to colonize the West Indies, bringing their culture, language, and social influences to the islands. The majority of the islands remained colonies for a longer period than any other part of the Americas. Most West Indian nations attained independence from the late 19th to the late 20th century.

During the 19th century, the United States began to extend its influence into the West Indies, at first through business ventures on a number of the islands, but later through direct military intervention. As a result of the Spanish-American War (1898), the United States occupied Spain’s two remaining colonies in the region, Cuba and Puerto Rico. While Cuba became independent shortly afterward, Puerto Rico eventually became a U.S. commonwealth. The United States intervened militarily in Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and other Caribbean nations throughout the 20th century.