Leeward Islands

Group of islands in the northern part of the Lesser Antilles. The name was specifically used between 1871 and 1956 by the British to refer to their possessions of Antigua, St Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla, Montserrat, Dominica (now considered part of the Windward Islands), and the British Virgin Islands. These became federated into a single colony called the Leeward Islands. Geographically the group also includes islands belonging to other European countries of which Guadeloupe, St Barthélémy, St Martin, Saba, and St Eustatius are the most important.

The Spanish originally applied the name ‘Islas de Sotavento’ to the Greater Antilles, because of their more sheltered position from the prevailing northeast wind than the Lesser Antilles, but the term Leeward Islands now applies to just this group of islands.

nopop2001 The de-federation of the British Leeward Islands began in 1940 when Dominica became a separate colony under the governor of the Windward Islands. It was completed by the Leeward Islands Act of 1956. Since the collapse of the West Indian Federation in 1962, the British Leeward Islands subsequently joined the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) and received special consideration as lesser-developed countries.