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Place Name
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Leeward Islands
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Place Status (Type)
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islands
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Location
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Puerto Rico, United States, Caribbean
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Latitude
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unknown
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Longitude
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unknown
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Leeward Islands
, N group of the Lesser Antilles in the West
Indies, extending SE from P.R. to the Windward Isls. The principal
isls. are the Virgin Isls. of the U.S.; the Fr. isl. and overseas dept.
of Guadeloupe and its dependencies; the Du. isls. of St. Eustatius and
Saba; the jointly owned (Du. and Fr.) St. Martin; the isls. of the
independent states of St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua; and the isls. of
the Br. dependent territories of Anguilla, Montserrat, and the Br. V.I.
Largely volcanic in origin, the Leeward Isls. 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 temp. Most of the isls. have become popular tourist
destinations. Prods. for the most part are agr.—fruits,
vegetables, sugar, cotton, coffee, and tobacco. Columbus 1st
sighted the Leeward Isls. 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
isls. (Nevis, Antigua, Montserrat, and Barbuda), and in the same year
the Frenchman Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc also established a colony
on St. Kitts. By 1632, when the English had settled the neighboring
isls., the sharp, 3-way colonial conflict of England, France, and Spain
had begun. The Spanish were forced from the struggle, but for nearly 2
cents. the isls. were pawns in the Anglo-Fr. worldwide wars. They
changed hands with each fresh attack by Br. or Fr. 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.
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