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American Heritage Dictionary:
Lee·ward Islands |
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 |
For more information on Leeward Islands, visit Britannica.com.
Oxford Dictionary of 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, St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, and Guadeloupe.
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 on Answers.com:
Leeward Islands |
The Leeward Islands /ˈliːwərd/ are a group of islands in the West Indies. They are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. As a group they start east of Puerto Rico and reach southward to Dominica. They are situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean. The more southerly part of the Lesser Antilles chain is called the Windward Islands.
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The Leeward Islands are called such because they were more leeward (away from the wind) to sailing ships arriving in the New World than the Windward Islands, given that the prevailing trade winds in the West Indies 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. Vessels in the Atlantic slave trade departing from the African Gold Coast and Gulf of Guinea would first encounter the southeasternmost islands of the Lesser Antilles in their west-northwesterly heading to final destinations in the Caribbean and North and Central America.
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This section requires expansion. |
The Leeward Islands fall under a number of national administrations.
There is some active volcanism within the islands, with a notable eruption in Montserrat in the recent past.
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This section requires expansion. |
Anciently, the islands were inhabited by the Carib people, who gave their name to the Caribbean, and the Taíno people. Some descendants of these groups still survive in the islands.
The islands were amongst the first parts of the Americas to fall under the control of Spanish Empire. European contact commenced with Christopher Columbus' second voyage, and many of the islands' names originate from this period, e.g. Montserrat was named for Santa Maria de Montserrate, after the Blessed Virgin of the Monastery of Montserrat, which is located on the Mountain of Montserrat, the national shrine of Catalonia.
From the northwest to the southeast, the islands are:
The small and remote Isla Aves may perhaps be included with this group for convenience.
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Copyrights:
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 | American Heritage 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. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Oxford Dictionary of 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 © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| Wikipedia on Answers.com. 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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