Lesser Antilles Kleine Antillen (Dutch) Petites Antilles (French) Antia Minores (Papiamento) Antillas Menores (Spanish)
—  Region of the Caribbean  —
Location within the Caribbean.
Region	Caribbean
Island States	20  Anguilla  Antigua and Barbuda  Aruba  Barbados  British Virgin Islands Caribbean Netherlands  Curaçao  Dominica  Grenada  Guadeloupe  Martinique  Montserrat  Saint Barthélemy  Saint Kitts and Nevis  Saint Lucia  Saint Martin  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  Sint Maarten  Trinidad and Tobago  United States Virgin Islands
Area
• Total	13,012 km2 (5,024 sq mi)
Population (2009)
• Total	3,735,636
• Density	287.09/km2 (743.6/sq mi)
Demonym	Lesser Antillean
Time zone	AST (UTC−5)
• Summer (DST)	ADT (UTC−4)

The Lesser Antilles (also known as the Caribbees) are a long, partly volcanic island arc in the Western Hemisphere.^[1] Most of its islands form the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, with the remainder located in the southern Caribbean just north of South America. The Lesser Antilles and the Greater Antilles compose the Antilles, which are in turn part of the West Indies along with the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

  Regional terminology

  Subgroups of the Lesser Antilles

The islands of the Lesser Antilles are divided into three groups. The two main groups are the Windward Islands in the south and the Leeward Islands in the north. The Windward Islands are called such because they were more windward to sailing ships arriving in the New World than the Leeward Islands, given that the prevailing trade winds 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.

The third group is the Leeward Antilles in the west. These consist of the Dutch ABC islands just off the coast of Venezuela, plus a group of Venezuelan islands.

  Geology

The Lesser Antilles more or less coincide with the outer edge of the Caribbean Plate. Many of the islands were formed as a result of the subduction of oceanic crust of the North American Plate under the Caribbean Plate in the Lesser Antilles subduction zone. This process is ongoing and is responsible not only for many of the islands, but also for volcanic and earthquake activity in the region. The islands along the South American coast are largely the result of the interaction of the South American Plate and the Caribbean Plate which is mainly strike-slip, but includes a component of compression.

  Political divisions

The Lesser Antilles are divided into eight independent nations and numerous dependent and non-sovereign states (which are politically associated with the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, and the United States). Over one third of the total area and population of the Lesser Antilles lies within Trinidad and Tobago, a sovereign nation comprising the two southernmost islands of the Windward Island chain.

  Sovereign states

Name	Subdivisions	Area (km²)	Population (1 July 2005 est.)	Population density (per km²)	Capital
Antigua and Barbuda	Parishes	&10000000000000440000000440	&1000000000008563200000085,632	195	St. John's
	Barbuda	&10000000000000161000000161	&100000000000013700000001,370	9.65	Codrington
	Redonda	&100000000000000020000002	&100000000000000000000000	0	n/a
Barbados	Parishes	&10000000000000431000000431	&10000000000284589000000284,589	660	Bridgetown
Dominica	Parishes	&10000000000000754000000754	&1000000000007266000000072,660	96.3	Roseau
Grenada	Parishes	&10000000000000344000000344	&10000000000110000000000110,000	319.8	St. George’s
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Parishes	&10000000000000261000000261	&1000000000004269600000042,696	163.5	Basseterre
	Nevis	&1000000000000009300000093	&1000000000001210600000012,106	130.1	Charlestown
Saint Lucia	Quarters	&10000000000000616000000616	&10000000000173765000000173,765	282	Castries
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Parishes	&10000000000000389000000389	&10000000000120000000000120,000	308.4	Kingstown
Trinidad and Tobago	Regional corporations	&100000000000051310000005,131	&100000000012999530000001,299,953	253.3	Port of Spain
	Tobago	&10000000000000300000000300	&1000000000005400000000054,000	180	Scarborough

  Non-sovereign territories

Name	Subdivisions	Area (km²)	Population (1 July 2005 est.)	Population density (per km²)	Capital
Aruba (Netherlands)	null	&10000000000000193000000193	&10000000000103065000000103,065	534	Oranjestad
Anguilla (UK)		&1000000000000009100000091	&1000000000001360000000013,600	132	The Valley
Bonaire (Netherlands)	null	&10000000000000288000000288	&1000000000001400600000014,006	246.3	Kralendijk
British Virgin Islands (UK)	Districts	&10000000000000153000000153	&1000000000002700000000027,000	260	Road Town
Curaçao (Netherlands)	null	&10000000000000444000000444	&10000000000180592000000180,592	406.7	Willemstad
Guadeloupe (France)	Arrondissements	&100000000000017800000001,780	&10000000000440000000000440,000	249.1	Basse-Terre
Martinique (France)	Arrondissements	&100000000000011280000001,128	&10000000000400000000000400,000	&10000000000000132000000132	Fort-de-France
Montserrat (UK)		&10000000000000120000000120	&100000000000046550000004,655		Brades
Saba (Netherlands)	null	&1000000000000001300000013	&100000000000014240000001,424	109.5	The Bottom
Saint Barthélemy (France)	null	&1000000000000002100000021	&100000000000074480000007,448	354.6	Gustavia
Saint Martin (France)	null	&1000000000000005300000053	&1000000000003500000000035,000	675	Marigot
Sint Eustatius (Netherlands)	null	&1000000000000003400000034	&100000000000031000000003,100	147.6	Oranjestad
Sint Maarten (Netherlands)	null	&1000000000000003400000034	&1000000000004091700000040,917	1,704	Philipsburg
United States Virgin Islands (US)	Districts	&10000000000000346000000346	&10000000000108448000000108,448	313.1	Charlotte Amalie

Several islands along the north coast of Venezuela and politically part of that country are also occasionally considered part of the Lesser Antilles. These are listed in the section immediately below.

  Islands

  Massive Hurricane Ike of 2008 off of Lesser Antilles.

The main Lesser Antilles are (from north to south to west):

Leeward Islands:

• Virgin Islands
  • St. Thomas (USA)
  • St. John (USA)
  • St. Croix (USA)
  • Water Island (USA)
  • Tortola (UK)
  • Virgin Gorda (UK)
  • Anegada (UK)
  • Jost Van Dyke (UK)
• Anguilla (UK)
• Saint Martin/Sint Maarten (France/Neth.)
• Saint-Barthélemy (Fr.)
• Saba (Neth.)
• Sint Eustatius (Neth.)
• Saint Kitts (St. Kitts and Nevis)
• Nevis (St. Kitts and Nevis)
• Barbuda (Antigua and Barbuda)
• Antigua (Antigua and Barbuda)
• Redonda (Antigua and Barbuda)
• Montserrat (UK)
• Guadeloupe (Fr.)
• La Désirade (Fr.)
• Marie-Galante (Fr.)
• les Saintes archipelago (Fr.)
• Dominica (Dominica)

Windward Islands:

• Martinique (Fr.)
• Saint Lucia (St. Lucia)
• Saint Vincent (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)
• Grenadines (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)
• Barbados (Barbados is a Continental island found 100 miles (160 km) east of the Windward chain)^[2][3][4]
• Grenada (Grenada)
• Tobago
• Trinidad (Sometimes considered part of the Windward Islands. They are the most southern islands of the Caribbean region. Islands of Trinidad and Tobago^[1][5][6]

Leeward Antilles – islands north of the Venezuelan coast (from west to east):

• Aruba (Neth.)
• Curaçao (Neth.)
• Bonaire (Neth.)
• Los Roques Archipelago (Ven)
• La Orchila (Ven)
• La Tortuga (Ven)
• La Blanquilla (Ven)
• Margarita Island (Ven)
• Coche (Ven)
• Cubagua (Ven)
• Other islands (Ven)

  See also

• Greater Antilles

Geography portal

  References

• Rogonzinski, Jan. A Brief History of the Caribbean. New York: Facts on File, 1992.

Coordinates: 14°14′N 61°21′W / 14.233°N 61.35°W / 14.233; -61.35