Where are the West Indies located?

Where are the West Indies located?

Caribbean Sea
The West Indies are a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater Antilles, the Lesser Antilles, and the Lucayan Archipelago.

Is West Indies and Caribbean the same?

Caribbean is the term most politically correct social scientists and historians would use to denote the 7,000-odd islands that lie in the Caribbean Sea area — West Indies was a term coined by colonising European powers.

Is West Indies is a country or not?

The West Indies is not one country. The West Indies comprises 15 English speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean that play under a common banner.

Is Florida part of West Indies?

The West Indies, including part of Virginia, North Carolina, East Florida, South Carolina, West Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and the Gulf of Mexico, with part of the coast of South America: From the Bay of Honduras, to the mouth of the River Oronoko.

Is Jamaica and West Indies same?

Jamaica and the West Indies are not the same. Jamaica is actually an island in the West Indies. The West Indies is a group of crescent-shaped islands over 3,200 km (2,000 miles) long which separates Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north.

Is Florida in the Caribbean?

As the maps are drawn, Florida is considered the northern border of the Caribbean, not geographically a part of the region itself. The islands of the Caribbean were colonized by the British, the Dutch, the Spanish, and the French, whereas the United States as we know it was founded by runaway Brits.

Is West Indies and Jamaica same country?

What language do West Indies speak?

Of the 38 million West Indians (as of 2001), about 62% speak Spanish (a west Caribbean lingua franca). About 25% speak French, about 15% speak English, and 5% speak Dutch. Spanish and English are important second languages: 24 million and 9 million speak them as second languages.