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{{Short description|Archipelago bordering the north and east of the Caribbean Sea}}
{{Other uses}}

[[File:LocationAntilles.svg|400px|thumb|The [[West Indies]] (red), which includes the Antilles and the [[Lucayan Archipelago]].]]

The '''Antilles'''<ref>({{IPAc-en|æ|n|ˈ|t|ɪ|l|iː|z}}; {{langx|gcf|label=[[Antillean Creole]]|Antiy}}; {{langx|es|Antillas}}; {{langx|fr|Antilles}}; {{langx|nl|Antillen}}; {{langx|ht|Antiy}}; {{langx|pap|Antiyas}}; [[Jamaican Patois]]: ''Antiliiz'')</ref> is an [[archipelago]] within the [[West Indies]] in the [[Caribbean]] region of the [[Americas]]. It is bordered by the [[Caribbean Sea]] to the south and west, the [[Gulf of Mexico]] to the northwest, and the [[Atlantic Ocean|North Atlantic Ocean]] to the north and east.

The Antillean islands are divided into two smaller archipelagos: the [[Greater Antilles]] and the [[Lesser Antilles]]. The Greater Antilles include the [[Cayman Islands]] and larger islands of [[Cuba]], [[Hispaniola]] (subdivided into the nations of the [[Dominican Republic]] and [[Haiti]]), [[Navassa Island]], [[Jamaica]], and [[Puerto Rico]]. The Lesser Antilles contains the northerly [[Leeward Islands]] and the southeasterly [[Windward Islands]], as well as the [[Leeward Antilles]] immediately north of [[Venezuela]]. The [[Lucayan Archipelago]], consisting of [[The Bahamas]] and the [[Turks and Caicos Islands]], though a part of the [[West Indies]], is generally not included among the Antillean islands.<ref>Some sources, such as Encarta in Spanish, include the Bahamas in the Antilles. [http://es.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555176/Antillas.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091004040241/http://es.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555176/antillas.html|date=2009-10-04}} {{in lang|es}}. [https://web.archive.org/web/20091004040241/http://es.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555176/antillas.html Archived] 2009-10-31.</ref>

[[Geography|Geographically]], the Antillean islands are generally considered a subregion of [[North America]]. Culturally speaking, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico – and sometimes the whole of the Antilles – are included in [[Latin America]], although some sources use the phrase "[[Latin America and the Caribbean]]" instead.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/units/1985/4/85.04.04.x.html#e|title=85.04.04: The Geophysics and Cultural Aspects of the Greater Antilles|website=teachersinstitute.yale.edu|access-date=2017-11-21|archive-date=2018-03-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323134652/http://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/units/1985/4/85.04.04.x.html#e|url-status=live}}</ref>

In terms of [[geology]], the Greater Antilles are mostly made up of [[Continental crust|continental rock]] accreted on the [[North American Plate]] from relative movement of the [[Caribbean Plate]]. The Lesser Antilles are mostly young [[volcano|volcanic]] islands created by the [[Lesser Antilles subduction zone]].

== Background ==<!-- This section is linked from [[Caribbean]] -->
[[File:Carte antilles 1843.jpg|thumb|Map of Antilles / Caribbean in 1843]]

The word ''Antilles'' originated in the period before the [[European colonization of the Americas]], ''[[Antilia]]'' being one of those mysterious lands which figured on the [[medieval]] [[chart]]s, sometimes as an [[archipelago]], sometimes as continuous land of greater or lesser extent, its location fluctuating in mid-ocean between the [[Canary Islands]] and [[India]].<ref>{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Antilles|volume=2|page=126}}</ref>

After the 1492 arrival of [[Christopher Columbus]]'s expedition in what was later called the West Indies, the European powers realized that the dispersed lands constituted an extensive archipelago in the Caribbean Sea and the [[Gulf of Mexico]]. The Antilles were called multiple names before their current name became the norm. Early Spanish visitors called them the ''Windward Islands'' (today having a [[Windward Islands|narrower definition]]). They were also called the ''Forward Islands'' by 18th-century British.<ref name=Kitchin1>{{cite book|last=Kitchin|first=Thomas|title=The Present State of the West-Indies: Containing an Accurate Description of What Parts Are Possessed by the Several Powers in Europe|year=1778|publisher=R. Baldwin|location=London|page=5|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4397/view/1/14/|access-date=2013-08-30|archive-date=2015-02-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221132948/http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4397/view/1/14/|url-status=live}}</ref> Thereafter, the term ''Antilles'' was commonly assigned to the formation, and "Sea of the Antilles" became a common alternative name for the Caribbean Sea in various European languages.{{cn|date=April 2018}}

== Countries and territories by subregion and archipelago ==
{{Main|List of Caribbean islands}}
[[File:Meerenge NASA World Wind Globe 4.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|NASA image of the Antilles]]

=== Lucayan Archipelago ===
{{Main|Lucayan Archipelago}}
* {{flag|The Bahamas}}
* {{flag|Turks and Caicos Islands}} ([[United Kingdom]])

=== Greater Antilles ===
{{Main|Greater Antilles}}
* {{flag|Cayman Islands}} ([[United Kingdom]])
* {{flag|Cuba}}
** [[Isla de la Juventud|Isle of Youth]]
* [[Hispaniola]]
** {{flag|Haiti}}
** {{flag|Dominican Republic}}
* {{flag|Jamaica}}
* {{flag|Puerto Rico}} ([[United States]])

=== Lesser Antilles ===
{{Main|Lesser Antilles}}
[[File:Guanaguanare.JPG|thumb|[[Los Roques archipelago|Los Roques]], [[Venezuela]], [[Lesser Antilles]]]]

==== Leeward Antilles ====
{{Main|Leeward Antilles}}
* {{flag|Aruba}} ([[Kingdom of the Netherlands]])
* {{flag|Bonaire}} ([[Netherlands]])
* {{flag|Curaçao}} ([[Kingdom of the Netherlands]])
* {{flag|Federal Dependencies of Venezuela}}
** [[Isla de Aves|Aves Island]]
** [[Los Monjes Archipelago]]
** [[La Tortuga Island]]
** [[La Sola Island]]
** [[Los Testigos Islands]]
** [[Islas Los Frailes|Los Frailes Islands]]
** [[Patos Island (Venezuela)|Patos Island]]
** [[Los Roques Archipelago]]
** [[Blanquilla Island]]
** [[Los Hermanos Archipelago]]
** [[La Orchila|Orchila Island]]
** [[Las Aves Archipelago]]
* {{flag|Nueva Esparta}} ([[Venezuela]])
** [[Margarita Island]]
** [[Coche, Venezuela|Coche]]
** [[Cubagua]]

==== Leeward Islands ====
{{Main|Leeward Islands}}
* {{flag|Anguilla}} ([[United Kingdom]])
* {{flag|Antigua and Barbuda}}
** [[Antigua]]
** [[Barbuda]]
** [[Redonda]]
* {{flag|British Virgin Islands}} ([[United Kingdom]])
* {{flag|Guadeloupe|local}} ([[France]])
** [[File:Fort Napoléon dans l'archipel des Saintes.jpg|thumb|Fort Napoléon, [[Îles des Saintes|Les Saintes]], [[Guadeloupe]]]][[La Désirade]]
** [[Îles des Saintes|Les Saintes]]
** [[Marie-Galante]]
* {{flag|Montserrat}} ([[United Kingdom]])
* {{flag|Saba}} ([[Netherlands]])
* {{flag|Saint Barthélemy|local}} ([[France]])
* [[Saint Martin (island)|Saint Martin]]
** {{flag|Saint Martin}} ([[France]])
** {{flag|Sint Maarten}} ([[Kingdom of the Netherlands]])
* {{flag|Saint Kitts and Nevis}}
** [[Saint Kitts]]
** [[Nevis]]
* {{flag|Sint Eustatius}} ([[Netherlands]])
* {{Flagicon|Puerto Rico}} [[Spanish Virgin Islands]] ([[Puerto Rico]])
* {{flag|United States Virgin Islands}} ([[United States]])
** [[Saint Croix]]
** [[Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands|Saint Thomas]]
** [[Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands|Saint John]]

==== Windward Islands ====
{{Main|Windward Islands}}
* {{flag|Dominica}}
* {{flag|Grenada}}
* {{flag|Martinique}} ([[France]])
* {{flag|Saint Lucia}}
* {{flag|Saint Vincent and the Grenadines}}

=== Other islands ===
* {{flag|Barbados}}
* {{flag|Trinidad and Tobago}}
** [[Tobago]]
** [[Trinidad]]

==See also==
* [[Antillia]]

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Caribbean topic}}
{{Caribbean topics}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Antilles| ]]
[[Category:International archipelagoes]]