Antilles

—Antillean /an til"ee euhn, an'tl ee"-/, adj.

/an til"eez/, n. (used with a pl. v.)

a chain of islands in the West Indies, divided into two parts, the one including Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico (Greater Antilles), the other including a large arch of smaller islands to the SE and S (Lesser Antilles or Caribees).

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▪ islands, Atlantic Ocean

      group of islands located in the Caribbean Sea and comprising all of the West Indies except the Bahamas. They are divided into two major groups: the Greater Antilles, including Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic), Jamaica, and Puerto Rico; and the Lesser Antilles, comprising all the rest of the islands.

      The term Antilles dates traditionally from before Europeans reached the New World, when Antilia referred to semimythical lands located somewhere west of Europe across the Atlantic. On medieval charts it was sometimes indicated as a continent or large island and sometimes as an archipelago. After “discovery” of the West Indies by Christopher Columbus (Columbus, Christopher), the Spanish term Antillas was commonly assigned to the new lands, and “Sea of the Antilles” in various European languages is used as an alternate designation for the Caribbean Sea. Pop. (2000 est.) 36,443,000.

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