Antilles
The
Antilles is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and east. The Antillean islands are divided into two smaller groupings: the Greater Antilles, which includes the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and the Cayman Islands; and the Lesser Antilles, which contains the northerly Leeward Islands, the southeasterly Windward Islands, and the Leeward Antilles just north of Venezuela. The Lucayan Archipelago, though part of the West Indies, are generally not included among the Antillean islands. Geographically, the Antillean islands are generally considered a subregion of North America. Culturally speaking, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico – and sometimes the whole of the Antilles – are included in Latin America, although some sources avoid this socioeconomic emphasized oversimplification by using the phrase "Latin America and the Caribbean" instead. In terms of geology, the Greater Antilles are made up of continental rock, as distinct from the Lesser Antilles, which are mostly young volcanic or coral islands.