Windward Islands

The Windward Islands are a group of islands in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies in the Caribbean region of the Americas, situated where the southeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western North Atlantic Ocean. Located approximately between latitudes 10° and 16° N and longitudes 60° and 62° W, they extend from Dominica in the north to Trinidad and Tobago in the south. They lie south of the Leeward Islands, northern islands from the Virgin Islands to Guadeloupe, and east of the Leeward Antilles, southwestern islands from the Federal Dependencies of Venezuela to Aruba.

The name was also used to refer to a British colony which existed between 1833 and 1960 and originally consisted of the islands of Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent. Today, these islands constitute three sovereign states, the latter of which is now known as Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The island of Dominica was traditionally considered a part of the Leeward Islands until 1940, when it was transferred from the British Leeward Islands colony to the British Windward Islands. It now composes the fourth sovereign state in the group.

Barbados (until 1885) and Tobago (until 1889) were also part of the British Windward Islands colony but are not today regarded as being part of the Windward Islands grouping. Martinique is the only windward island that is an overseas département of France, which it has been since 1946 and which is 7,000 kilometers away from Paris.