Leeward Islands
Sign in to savesubgroup of islands in the Lesser Antilles, Caribbean Sea
Key facts
- Location
- Caribbean Sea , North Atlantic Ocean
- Total islands
- 30+
- Major islands
- Antigua , Barbuda , Guadeloupe , Montserrat , Nevis , Saint Kitts , Saint Martin , Virgin Islands
- Area
- 3,167.6 km (1,223.0 sq mi)
- Highest elevation
- 1,467 m (4813 ft)
- Highest point
- La Grande Soufrière , Guadeloupe
- Largest settlement
- St. John's
- Archipelago
- Spanish Virgin Islands
- Population
- c. +700,000
- Ethnic groups
- Caribbean people ( Afro-Caribbean , White , Indo-Caribbean , Chinese )
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
The Leeward Islands (/ˈliːwərd/) are a group of islands in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies in the Caribbean region of the Americas, situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western North Atlantic Ocean. Starting with the Virgin Islands east of the Greater Antilles main island of Puerto Rico, they extend southeast to Guadeloupe and its dependencies. They lie north of the Windward Islands, southern islands from Dominica to Trinidad and Tobago, and northeast of the Leeward Antilles, southwestern islands from the Federal Dependencies of Venezuela to Aruba.
In English, the term Leeward Islands refers to the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. The more southerly part of this chain, from Dominica to Trinidad and Tobago, is known as the Windward Islands. Dominica was initially considered a part of the Leeward Islands, but was transferred from the British Leeward Islands to the British Windward Islands in 1940.