View source for Lucayan Archipelago

{{Short description|Archipelago in the Northwestern West Indies}}

{{Infobox settlement
| name                            = 
| official_name                   = Lucayan Archipelago
| image_map                       = Map of the Caribbean-Lucayan Archipelago.png
| mapsize                         = 250px
| map_caption                     = Location within the Caribbean
| coordinates                     = {{Coord|23.74|-75.37|dim:500000|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type                = [[Continent]]
| subdivision_name                = [[North America]]
| subdivision_type1               = [[United Nations geoscheme|Subregion]]
| subdivision_name1               = [[Caribbean]]
| subdivision_type2               = Countries and territories
| subdivision_name2               = {{Collapsible list
  | title = [[List of sovereign states and dependent territories in the Caribbean|2]]
  | {{Flag|Bahamas}}
  | {{Flag|Turks and Caicos Islands}} ([[United Kingdom]])
 }}
| admin_center_type               = 
| settlement_type                 = [[Archipelago]]
| area_magnitude                  = 
| area_footnotes                  = 
| area_total_km2                  = 14,308
| population_as_of                = 2016
| population_footnotes            = 
| population_note                 = 
| population_total                = 443,000
| population_density_km2          = 24.6
| population_demonym              = Bahamian, Turks Islander, Caicos Islander
| timezone                        = [[Eastern Time Zone|EST]]
| utc_offset                      = −05:00
| timezone_DST                    = EDT
| utc_offset_DST                  = −04:00
| postal_code_type                = 
| postal_code                     = 
| area_code                       = 
}}

The '''Lucayan Archipelago''', also known as the '''Bahamian Archipelago''', is an [[archipelago|island group]] comprising the [[The Bahamas|Commonwealth of The Bahamas]] and the [[British Overseas Territories|British Overseas Territory]] of the [[Turks and Caicos Islands]]. The [[archipelago]] is in the western [[Atlantic Ocean|North Atlantic Ocean]], north of [[Cuba]] and the other [[Antilles|Antillean Islands]], and east and south-east of [[Florida]].

William Keegan writes: "Modern political considerations aside, the islands form a single archipelago with common geological, ecological, and cultural roots."<ref>Keegan:20, 183</ref> Though part of the [[West Indies]], the Lucayan Archipelago is not located on the [[Caribbean Sea]].

== Countries and territories ==
* [[The Bahamas]]
* [[Turks and Caicos Islands]] ([[United Kingdom]])

The [[Mouchoir Bank]], the [[Silver Bank]], and the [[Navidad Bank]] are a submerged continuation of the archipelago, to the southeast of the Turks and Caicos Islands.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Carew|first1=James|last2=Mylroie|first2=John|editor1-last=Vacher|editor1-first=H.L.|editor2-last=Quinn|editor2-first=T.|title=Geology of Bahamas, in Geology and Hydrology of Carbonate Islands, Developments in Sedimentology 54|url=https://archive.org/details/geologyhydrogeol00vach_559|url-access=limited|date=1997|publisher=Elsevier Science B.V.|location=Amsterdam|isbn=9780444516442|pages=[https://archive.org/details/geologyhydrogeol00vach_559/page/n109 91]-139}}</ref>  Mouchoir Bank is disputed between the Turks and Caicos Islands and Dominican Republic; Silver Bank and Navidad Bank are part of the [[Dominican Republic]].

== Etymologies of island names ==
The Lucayan Archipelago was named for the original native [[Lucayan people]]. Julian Granberry and Gary Vescelius suggest the following [[Lucayan people|Lucayan]] ([[Taíno language|Taíno]]) etymologies for various Lucayan islands.<ref name="Granberry">{{cite book | title=Languages of the Pre-Columbian Antilles | publisher=University of Alabama Press | author=Granberry, Julian, & Gary Vescelius | year=2004 | location=Tuscaloosa, AL | isbn=0-8173-5123-X}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Indigenous name !! Modern name !! Taíno form !! Meaning
|-
| Inagua || Inagua || i+na+wa || Small Eastern Land
|-
| Baneque || Inagua || ba+ne+ke || Big Water Island
|-
| Guanahaní || Little Inagua || wa+na+ha+ni || Small Upper Waters Land
|-
| Utiaquia || Ragged Island || huti+ya+kaya || Western Hutia Island
|-
| Jume(n)to || Crooked/Jumento || ha+wo+ma+te || Upper Land of the Middle Distance
|-
| Curateo || Exuma || ko+ra+te+wo || Outer Far Distant Land
|-
| Guaratía || Exuma || wa+ra+te+ya || Far Distant Land
|-
| Babueca || Turks Bank || ba+we+ka || Large Northern Basin
|-
| Cacina || Big Sand Cay || ka+si+na || Little Northern Sand
|-
| Canamani || Salt Cay || ka+na+ma+ni || Small Northern Mid-Waters
|-
| Cacumani || Salt Cay || ka+ko+ma+ni || Mid-Waters Northern Outlier
|-
| Macareque || Cotton Cay || Ma+ka+ri+ke || Middle Northern Land
|-
| Amuana || Grand Turk || aba+wa+na || First Small Land
|-
| Caciba || South Caicos || ka+siba || Northern Rocky
|-
| Guana || East Caicos || wa+na || Small Country
|-
| Aniana || Middle Caicos || a+ni+ya+na || Small Far Waters
|-
| Caicos || North Caicos || ka+i+ko || Nearby Northern Outlier
|-
| Buiana || Pine Cay || bu+ya+na || Small Western Home
|-
| Boniana || Pine Cays || bo+ni+ya+na || Small Western Waters Home
|-
| Yucanacan || Providenciales || yuka+na+ka || The Peoples Small Northern [Land]
|-
| Ianicana || Providenciales || ya+ni+ka+na || Far Waters Smaller [Land]
|-
| Macubiza || West Caicos || ma+ko+bi+sa || Mid Unsettled Outlier
|-
| Mayaguana || Mayaguana || ma+ya+wa+na || Lesser Midwestern Land
|-
| Amaguayo || Plana Cays || a+ma+wa+yo || Toward the Middle Lands
|-
| Yabaque || Acklins Island || ya+ba+ke || Large Western Land
|-
| Samana || Samana || sa+ma+na || Small Middle Forest
|-
| Yuma || Long Island || yu+ma || Higher Middle
|-
| Manigua || Rum Cay || ma+ni+wa || Mid Waters Land
|-
| Guanahaní || San Salvador || wa+na+ha+hi || Small Upper Waters Land
|-
| Guateo || Little San Salvador || wa+te+yo || Toward the Distant Land
|-
| Guanima || Cat Island || wa+ni+ma || Middle Waters Land
|-
| Ayrabo || Great Guana Cay || ay+ra+bo || Far Distant Home
|-
| Nema || New Providence || ne+ma || Middle Waters
|-
| Ciguateo || Eleuthera || siba+te+wo || Distant Rocky Place
|-
| Lucayoneque || Great Abaco || luka+ya+ne+ke || The People's Distant Waters Land
|-
| Bahama || Grand Bahama || ba+ha+ma || Large Upper Middle [Land]
|-
| Habacoa || Andros || ha+ba+ko+wa || Large Upper Outlier Land
|-
| Canimisi || Williams Island || ka+ni+misi || Northern Waters Swamp
|-
| Bimini || Bimini || bimini || The Twins
|}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Geography|Islands|West Indies}}
* [[List of Caribbean islands]]
* [[West Indies]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Citations ==
* {{Cite journal |last=Granberry |first=Julian |date=October 1991 |title=Lucayan Toponyms |url=http://www.bahamashistoricalsociety.com/journal/i13a01.shtml |journal=Journal of the Bahamas Historical Society |volume=13 |access-date=8 December 2013}}

== Further reading ==
* Keegan, William F. (1992) ''The People Who Discovered Columbus: The Prehistory of the Bahamas.'' University Press of Florida {{ISBN|0-8130-1137-X}}

{{Caribbean topic}}
{{Caribbean topics}}
{{North America topic}}

[[Category:Islands of the North Atlantic Ocean]]
[[Category:Archipelagoes of the Atlantic Ocean]]
[[Category:International archipelagoes]]
[[Category:Archipelagoes of the Bahamas]]
[[Category:Islands of the Turks and Caicos Islands]]