West Indies
West Indies [1]
An archipelago of islands extending in a curve between North and South America from Florida on the one side to the delta of the Orinoco on the other, in sight of each other almost all the way, and constituting the summits of a sunken range of mountains which run in a line parallel to the ranges of North America; they are divided into the Great Antilles (including Cuba, Hayti, Jamaica, and Porto Rico), the Lesser Antilles (including the Leeward and the Windward Isles), and the Bahamas; lie all, except the last, within the Torrid Zone, and embrace unitedly an area larger than that of Great Britain; they yield all manner of tropical produce, and export sugar, coffee, tobacco, cotton, spices, &c.; except Cuba, Hayti ( q. v .), and Porto Rico, they belong to the Powers of Europe—Great Britain, France, Holland, and Denmark, and till lately Spain. The name Indies was applied to them because when Columbus first discovered them he believed he was close upon India, as he calculated he would find he was by sailing west.
