Dictionary:
Lee·ward Islands (lē'wərd)  |
The northern group of the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies, extending from the Virgin Islands southeast to Dominica. Inhabited by Caribs when Columbus discovered them in 1493, the islands were hotly contested by the Spanish, French, and British in the 17th and 18th centuries.
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Leeward Islands |
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| British History: Leeward Islands |
The Leeward Islands in the Caribbean form part of the Lesser Antilles, lying to the east of the Dominican republic. They include the Virgin Islands,
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Leeward Islands |
Columbus first sighted the Leeward Islands in 1493, but settlement began only after the British arrived in the 17th cent. Sir Thomas Warner, sent to St. Kitts in 1623, was made governor-general of the yet uncolonized neighboring islands (Nevis, Antigua, Montserrat, and Barbuda), and in the same year the Frenchman Pierre Bélain d'Esnambuc also established a colony on St. Kitts. By 1632, when the English had settled the neighboring islands, the sharp, three-way colonial conflict of England, France, and Spain had begun. The Spanish were forced from the struggle, but for nearly two centuries the islands were pawns in the Anglo-French worldwide wars. They changed hands with each fresh attack by British or French forces and were reshuffled in ownership whenever a new treaty was signed. Their final disposition did not come until the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.
| Wikipedia: Leeward Islands |
The Leeward Islands are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain of islands, part of the West Indies. They are situated where the Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean. The southern part of the Lesser Antilles chain is called the Windward Islands.
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These islands are referred to as "leeward" because the prevailing winds in the area blow from the east (see trade wind). Thus these islands are downwind from, or leeward of, the southeasternmost Windward Islands, the group of islands that first meet the trade winds.
The small and remote Isla Aves may perhaps be included with this group for convenience.
The Netherlands Antilles, however, are divided into two groups, one group in the northeast, and one in the southwest, with different naming conventions.
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Copyrights:
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| British History. A Dictionary of British History. Copyright © 2001, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Leeward Islands". Read more |
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