Leeward Islands, northern group of the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies, extending SE from Puerto Rico to the Windward Islands. The principal islands are the American Virgin Islands; the French island and overseas dept. of Guadeloupe and its dependencies; the Dutch islands of St. Eustatius and Saba; the Dutch and French St. Martin; the islands of the independent states of St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda; and the islands of the British dependent territories of Anguilla, Montserrat, and the British Virgin Islands. Largely volcanic in origin, the Leewards have lush, subtropical vegetation, rich soil, and abundant rainfall. The warm, delightful climate is tempered by the surrounding water so that there is little variation in temperature. Most of the islands are popular tourist destinations. Products are mostly agricultural—fruits, vegetables, sugar, cotton, coffee, and tobacco.

Columbus first sighted the Leeward Islands in 1493, but settlement began only after the British arrived in the 17th cent. Sir Thomas Warner, sent to St. Kitts in 1623, was made governor-general of the yet uncolonized neighboring islands (Nevis, Antigua, Montserrat, and Barbuda), and in the same year the Frenchman Pierre Bélain d'Esnambuc also established a colony on St. Kitts. By 1632, when the English had settled the neighboring islands, the sharp, three-way colonial conflict of England, France, and Spain had begun. The Spanish were forced from the struggle, but for nearly two centuries the islands were pawns in the Anglo-French worldwide wars. They changed hands with each fresh attack by British or French forces and were reshuffled in ownership whenever a new treaty was signed. Their final disposition did not come until the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.

Arc of West Indian islands that constitute the most westerly and northerly of the Lesser Antilles, northeastern Caribbean Sea. The major islands are, from north to south, the Virgin Islands of the U.S. and the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, St. Martin, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, and Guadeloupe. Just south of this chain is Dominica, sometimes classified as part of the Leeward Islands but usually designated as part of the Windward Islands.

Learn more about Leeward Islands with a free trial on Britannica.com.

The Leeward Islands are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain of islands, part of the West Indies. They are situated where the Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean. The southern part of the Lesser Antilles chain is called the Windward Islands.

Explanation of Name

These islands are called "leeward" because the prevailing winds in the area blow from the east, see trade wind. Thus these islands are downwind from, or leeward of, the southeasternmost Windward Islands, the group of islands that first meet the trade winds. (See also explanation at Windward Islands.)

List of the Leeward Islands

• U.S. Virgin Islands: St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix (US)
• British Virgin Islands: Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, Jost Van Dyke (UK)
• Anguilla (UK)
• Saint Martin/Sint Maarten (France/Neth. Antilles)
• Saint-Barthélemy (Fr.)
• Saba (Neth.)
• Sint Eustatius (Neth.)
• Saint Kitts
• Nevis
• Barbuda
• Antigua
• Redonda
• Montserrat (UK)
• Guadeloupe
• La Désirade (Fr.)
• Les Saintes (Fr.)
• Marie-Galante (Fr.)
• Dominica

The small and remote Isla Aves may perhaps be included with this group for convenience.

The Netherlands Antilles, however, are divided into two groups, one group in the northeast, and one in the southwest, with different naming conventions, see Netherlands Antilles.

See also

• Antilles
• Leeward Antilles
• Windward Islands
• Lesser Antilles

Museum and Library Resources

• The Leeward Islands Gazette, a local newspaper fully and openly available in the Digital Library of the Caribbean