The Windward Antilles are a group of islands part of the Lesser Antilles, forming a volcanic arc to the East of the Caribbean Sea, preferably subdivided in English into:
The "Leeward Islands" (the northeastern subgroup), between the Virgin Islands and Dominica. The "Windward Islands" (the southeastern subgroup), between Martinique and Grenada, generally extended to Trinidad and Tobago.
Terminological use This term is almost completely absent in the English language. Although it is common in Spanish, French and Dutch, in English, it is sometimes used in reference to the Windward Antillean SSS Islands in contraposition to the Leeward Antillean ABC Islands in Dutch contexts. The table below provides a comparison across different local languages. LanguageWindward AntillesLeeward AntillesSpanish, French, Dutch and PapiamentuIslas de Barlovento (Spanish) Îles du Vent (French), Bovenwindse eilanden (Dutch) and Islanan riba di bientu (Papiamentu).Islas de Sotavento (Spanish) Îles Sous-le-Vent (French), Benedenwindse eilanden (Dutch) and Islanan bou di bientu (Papiamentu).EnglishWindward IslandsLeeward IslandsLeeward Antilles
Geographic distribution Windward Antilles are the following (from north to south): Country or dependencyConstituent IslandsLocationBritish Virgin IslandsTortola Virgen Gorda Anegada Jost Van DykeSpanish Virgin Islands (Puerto Rican municipalities)Vieques CulebraUS Virgin IslandsSaint Thomas Saint John Saint Croix Water IslandKingdom of the Netherlands and Caribbean NederlandsSint Eustatius (Statia)SabaDutch Sint MaartenFrench Overseas collectivitiesFrench Saint-MartinSaint-BarthelemyAnguilla (UK)Antigua and BarbudaAntiguaBarbudaRedondaSaint Kitts and NevisSaint KittsNevisMontserrat (UK)Guadaloupe (French department)Basse-Terre and Grande-TerreMarie-GalanteLa DésiradeLes SaintesPetite-TerreDominicaMartinique (French department)Saint LuciaBarbadosSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesSaint VincentGrenadinesGrenadaCarriacouPetite MartiniqueTrinidad and TobagoTrinidadTobagoChacachacareGaspar GrandeGasparillo IslandHuevos IslandMonosLittle TobagoVenezuelaAves IslandPatos IslandLos Testigos Islands
Political status Thirteen countries claim sovereignty of the Windward Antilles. Eight of these are totally part of the islands (Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Barbados). The other five countries have most of their territory outside of the region (France, the USA, the Netherlands, the UK and Venezuela).
The Windward Antilles, part of the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean Sea, have a surface of almost and more than two thirds belong to only two countries: Trinidad and Tobago (with totally part of the region) and France ( of French territory in the Antilles). Country or dependencyAdministrationPopulationLanguageSpanish Virgin IslandsPuerto Rican municipalities11 499SpanishUS Virgin IslandsUnincorporated territory of the U.S.A.106 792EnglishBritish Virgin IslandsOverseas territory of the UK.28 054EnglishAnguillaOverseas territory of the UK.14 764EnglishSaint-MartinTerritorial collectivity of France.35 742FrenchSint MaartenConstituent country of the Netherlands35 035DutchSaint-BarthélemyTerritorial collectivity of France.9 131FrenchSabaMunicipality of the Netherlands.1 991DutchSaint Eustatius (Statia)Municipality of the Netherlands.3 193DutchSaint Kitts and NevisSovereign State54 961EnglishAntigua and BarbudaSovereign State100 963EnglishMontserratOverseas territory of the UK.4 900EnglishGuadeloupeOverseas department of France.402 119FrenchDominicaSovereign State73 543EnglishMartiniqueOverseas department of France.385 551FrenchSaint LuciaSovereign State178 015EnglishSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesSovereign State102 918EnglishGrenadaSovereign State109 590EnglishBarbadosSovereign State279 912EnglishTrinidad and TobagoSovereign State1 349 667EnglishVenezuelaFederal Dependencies of Venezuela.200 (aprox.)Spanish
Demography Trinidad and Tobago (with almost 1.4 million people), plus the French territories (Guadaloupe, Martinique, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy, with almost 0.9 million people), represent almost two thirds of the Windward Antillean population from a total of 3.5 million people.
The local population mostly consists of Afrodescendants, racially mixed people from Indigenous peoples and descendants of centuries-old migrations, recent immigrants from other Antillean islands and a very small minority of European descendants.
Languages English and French are the official and most spoken languages in the Windward Antilles.
Saint Martin island is the only one where both languages are the most prevalent ones but French is the only local official language due two the island being a territory of France (Slightly more than the northern half, part of the European Union) and the Kingdom of the Netherlands (southern half of the island), leaving Dutch as the official language of the Dutch side of the island.
Oostindie claims that on the Dutch Windward Antilles, the SSS Islands, English is the vernacular languages unlike on the Dutch Leeward Antilles, the ABC Islands, where Papiamentu is the vernacular, although all of these territories share Dutch as the official language. Sint Maarten stands out because Dutch is not even the second most spoken language due to Spanish-speaking and Haitian Creole-speaking immigrants.
Caribbean English and French-based creoles are the most spoken linguistic varieties in the region. Some Islands use English as the co-official language with Dutch, but the latter is scarcely used. Other common regional languages are Papiamentu and Spanish.
The indigenous languages of the islands became extinct. The languages spoken by Subsaharan Africans brought to the islands could not survive either. Although both groups left a substrate on both English and French-based creoles.
See also
Leeward Islands Windward Islands Leeward Antilles Antilles West Indies
References