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The Windward Islands are the southern islands of the Lesser Antilles
Lesser Antilles

The Lesser Antilles, also known as the Caribbees, are part of the Antilles, which together with the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Greater Antilles form the West Indies....
.

Windward Islands are called such because they were more windward to sailing ship
Sailing ship

Sailing ship is now used to refer to any large wind-powered vessel. In technical terms, a ship was a sailing vessel with a full rigged ship of at least three masts, square rigged on all of them, making the sailing adjective redundant....
s arriving in the New World
New World

The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas and Australasia. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia, and Africa ....
 than the Leeward Islands
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....
, given that the prevailing trade wind
Trade wind

The trade winds are the Prevailing winds of easterlies surface winds found in the tropics near the Earth's equator. The trade winds blow predominantly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere....
s in the West Indies
British West Indies

The term British West Indies refers to territories in and around the Caribbean which have been or were at one time colony by the United Kingdom....
 blow east to west.






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The Windward Islands are the southern islands of the Lesser Antilles
Lesser Antilles

The Lesser Antilles, also known as the Caribbees, are part of the Antilles, which together with the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Greater Antilles form the West Indies....
.

Name and geography

Windward Islands
The Windward Islands are called such because they were more windward to sailing ship
Sailing ship

Sailing ship is now used to refer to any large wind-powered vessel. In technical terms, a ship was a sailing vessel with a full rigged ship of at least three masts, square rigged on all of them, making the sailing adjective redundant....
s arriving in the New World
New World

The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas and Australasia. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia, and Africa ....
 than the Leeward Islands
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....
, given that the prevailing trade wind
Trade wind

The trade winds are the Prevailing winds of easterlies surface winds found in the tropics near the Earth's equator. The trade winds blow predominantly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere....
s in the West Indies
British West Indies

The term British West Indies refers to territories in and around the Caribbean which have been or were at one time colony by the United Kingdom....
 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
Atlantic slave trade

The Atlantic slave trade, also known as the transatlantic slave trade, was the trade of primarily African people supplied to the colonies of the New World that occurred in and around the Atlantic Ocean....
 departing from the Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
n Gold Coast
Gold Coast (British colony)

Gold Coast was a United Kingdom colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.The first European ethnic groupss to arrive at the coast were the Portugal, in 1471....
 and Gulf of Guinea
Gulf of Guinea

The Gulf of Guinea is the part of the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Africa. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian is in the gulf. According to the International Hydrographic Organization, the Gulf's oceanic border is the rhumb line that runs from Cape Palmas in Liberia to Cape Lopez in Gabon ....
 would first encounter the southeasternmost islands of the Lesser Antilles in their west-northwesterly heading to final destinations in the Caribbean
Caribbean

The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America....
 and North
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
 and Central America
Central America

Central America is a central geography region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmus portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast....
.

The Antillean Windward Islands are :
  • Martinique
    Martinique

    Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, having a land area of 1,128 km?. It is an overseas department of France. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia....
     (an overseas department of France
    France

    France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
    )
  • Saint Lucia
    Saint Lucia

    Saint Lucia is an island nation in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique....
  • Saint Vincent
    Saint Vincent (island)

    Saint Vincent is a volcanic island in the Caribbean, the largest island of the chain called Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It is located in the Caribbean Sea, between Saint Lucia and Grenada....
  • Grenadines
    Grenadines

    The Grenadines are a Caribbean island chain of over 6 islands in the Windward Islands. They are divided between the island nations of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada....
  • Grenada
    Grenada

    Grenada is an island nation that includes the southern Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. Grenada is located northwest of Trinidad and Tobago, northeast of Venezuela, and southwest of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines....
  • Dominica
    Dominica

    The Commonwealth of Dominica, commonly known as Dominica, is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea. To the north/northwest lies Guadeloupe, to the southeast Martinique....


Terminology

In languages other than English (i.e., Dutch, French, German and Spanish), and also in the local English of some islands, "windward" and "leeward" refer to different groups of islands. In both cases, the east/southeasternmost group are called windward, while the westernmost are called leeward. The group of islands along the Venezuelan coast is called the Leeward Antilles
Leeward Antilles

The Leeward Antilles are a chain of islands in the Caribbean ? specifically, the southerly islands of the Lesser Antilles along the southeastern fringe of the Caribbean Sea, just north of the Venezuelan coast of the South American mainland....
 in English. ! Language || Windward Islands || Leeward Islands |- ! English |||- ! Others ||

See also

  • Leeward Islands
    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....
  • British Windward Islands
    British Windward Islands

    The British Windward Islands was a United Kingdom colony existing between 1833 and 1960 and consisting of the islands of Grenada, St Lucia, Saint Vincent , the Grenadines, Barbados , Tobago , and Dominica ....
  • Lesser Antilles
    Lesser Antilles

    The Lesser Antilles, also known as the Caribbees, are part of the Antilles, which together with the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Greater Antilles form the West Indies....