Lesser Antilles

Lesser Antilles Kleine Antillen (Dutch) Petites Antilles (French) Antia Minores (Papiamento) Antillas Menores (Spanish)
Region of the Caribbean
Location within the Caribbean.
Region	Caribbean
Island States	20 Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Aruba Barbados British Virgin Islands Caribbean Netherlands Curaçao Dominica Grenada Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Saint Barthélemy Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Sint Maarten Trinidad and Tobago United States Virgin Islands
Area
• Total	13,012 km2 (5,024 sq mi)
Population  (2009)
• Total	3,735,636
• Density	287.09/km2 (743.6/sq mi)
Demonym	Lesser Antillean
Time zone	UTC−4 (AST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−3 (ADT)

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, which are in turn part of the West Indies along with the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Regional terminology

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 called such 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.

Geology

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

Massive 2008 Hurricane Ike off the Lesser Antilles.

Name	Subdivisions	Area (km²)	Population (1 July 2005 est.)	Population density (per km²)	Capital
Antigua and Barbuda	Parishes	440	85,632	195	St. John's
	Barbuda	161	1,370	9.65	Codrington
	Redonda	2	0	0	n/a
Barbados	Parishes	431	284,589	660	Bridgetown
Dominica	Parishes	754	72,660	96.3	Roseau
Grenada	Parishes	344	110,000	319.8	St. George’s
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Parishes	261	42,696	163.5	Basseterre
	Nevis	93	12,106	130.1	Charlestown
Saint Lucia	Quarters	616	173,765	282	Castries
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Parishes	389	120,000	308.4	Kingstown
Trinidad and Tobago	Regional corporations	5,131	1,299,953	253.3	Port of Spain
	Tobago	300	54,000	180	Scarborough

Non-sovereign territories

Name	Subdivisions	Area (km²)	Population (1 July 2005 est.)	Population density (per km²)	Capital
Aruba (Netherlands)	none	193	103,065	534	Oranjestad
Anguilla (UK)		91	13,600	132	The Valley
Bonaire (Netherlands)	none	288	14,006	246.3	Kralendijk
British Virgin Islands (UK)	Districts	153	27,000	260	Road Town
Curaçao (Netherlands)	none	444	180,592	406.7	Willemstad
Guadeloupe (France)	Arrondissements	1,780	440,000	249.1	Basse-Terre
Martinique (France)	Arrondissements	1,128	400,000	132	Fort-de-France
Montserrat (UK)		120	4,655	38.8	Brades
Saba (Netherlands)	none	13	1,424	109.5	The Bottom
Saint Barthélemy (France)	none	21	7,448	354.6	Gustavia
Saint Martin (France)	none	53	35,000	675	Marigot
Sint Eustatius (Netherlands)	none	34	3,100	147.6	Oranjestad
Sint Maarten (Netherlands)	none	34	40,917	1,704	Philipsburg
United States Virgin Islands (US)	Districts	346	108,448	313.1	Charlotte Amalie

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 immediately below.

Islands

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

Map of the Leeward Islands

Leeward Islands:

• Virgin Islands
  • St. Thomas (USA)
  • St. John (USA)
  • St. Croix (USA)
  • Water Island (USA)
  • Tortola (UK)
  • Virgin Gorda (UK)
  • Anegada (UK)
  • [[Jost Sex yah
• Anguilla (UK)
• Saint Martin/Sint Maarten (France/Neth.)
• 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.)
• Dominica (Dominica)

Windward Islands:

• Martinique (Fr.)
• Saint Lucia (St. Lucia)
• Saint Vincent (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)
• Grenadines (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)
• Barbados (Barbados is a Continental island found 100 miles (160 km) east of the Windward chain)
• 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

Map of the Leeward Antilles

Leeward Antilles – 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
• List of islands

References

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