Greater Antilles

The Greater Antilles are the Caribbean island group comprising Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and the Cayman Islands.

Cuba: Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean and the principal island of the Republic of Cuba. It is the largest and westernmost major island in the group.
Caribbean Plate: The Caribbean Plate is a tectonic plate underlying much of the Caribbean region. Its motion and boundaries underpin the region’s volcanic and seismic history.
Taíno: The Taíno were an Indigenous people of the Caribbean, including parts of the Greater Antilles, before European colonization. Their societies shaped the islands before Spanish conquest.
Lesser Antilles: The Lesser Antilles are the arc of smaller islands stretching from the Virgin Islands toward Trinidad and Tobago. They form the neighboring island group southeast of the Greater Antilles.
Hispaniola: Hispaniola is a Caribbean island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is the group’s only major island divided between two sovereign states.
Cayman Trough: The Cayman Trough is a deep oceanic trench between Cuba and Jamaica. It marks an active plate boundary near the group’s western islands.
Christopher Columbus: Christopher Columbus was a Genoese navigator whose 1492 Atlantic voyage initiated sustained European contact with the Americas. His voyages reached several Greater Antillean islands and began Spanish colonization.
Lucayan Archipelago: The Lucayan Archipelago comprises the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands in the western Atlantic. It lies north of the Greater Antilles but is not part of the group.
Jamaica: Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea, south of Cuba. It is one of the five principal island units in the group.
Windward Passage: The Windward Passage is a strait between Cuba and Hispaniola. It separates two major islands and provides a key route between the Atlantic and Caribbean.

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