BobRingReflections

This article is the history of West Indies (sometimes called the Caribbean Islands), including a discussion of the natural landscape, the pre-Columbian period, European exploration and colonization, the West Indies since the 1790s, and the West Indies today.   My primary source for this article was “West Indies” - Britannica Online Encyclopedia, supplemented by numerous other online sources. Map of West Indies, 1810. Natural Landscape The West Indies are a crescent-shaped group of over 7,000 islands and islets, stretching over 2,000 miles from the Florida peninsula south-southeast to the northern coast of Venezuela.  These islands include active volcanoes, low-lying atolls, raised limestone islands, and large fragments of continental crust containing tall mountains and rivers.  The total land area of the West Indies is 106,300 square miles.  The highest point in the West Indies is Rico Duarte peak in the Dominican Republic at 9,843 feet.  Three major physical geography division