Where are the West Indies?

West Indies (English? West Indies, France? Indes occidentales) refers to a series of islands between North and South America. From the southern tip of Florida Peninsula to the north; It starts from the eastern tip of Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico in the west. The total number of islands is about 7000. The name of the West Indies comes from 1492, 10, 12 10. In October, Columbus landed in the Bahamas and mistakenly thought it was an island near India. Later, it was called the West Indies because it was located in the western hemisphere.

The West Indies include Bahamas and Antilles (which can also be divided into Greater Antilles and Lesser Antilles). The climate is dominated by tropical monsoon, with hot noon and thunderstorms in the afternoon, producing coffee, bananas and other crops.

The West Indies are diverse in language. In addition to the languages of colonial countries-English, Spanish, French and Dutch-there are many languages used by non-European immigrants: Hindi, Urdu and Chinese. These European languages also have variations of Piqin, called mixed language (Creole).

The following map (colored part in figure 1 and pink part in figure 2) shows the West Indies: