Lesser Antilles

The Lesser Antilles are an arc of Caribbean islands extending from the Virgin Islands southward to Trinidad and Tobago, along the boundary between the Caribbean and Atlantic.

Leeward Islands: The northern island group of the Lesser Antilles, extending from the Virgin Islands toward Dominica. They form the northern section of the arc.
Subduction: The descent of one tectonic plate beneath another at a convergent plate boundary. Atlantic oceanic crust descends beneath the Caribbean plate along the arc.
Dominica: A mountainous Caribbean island nation in the Windward Islands, known for its volcanic terrain and rainforests. Its rugged volcanic landscape typifies several central islands in the arc.
Caribbean colonization: The European conquest and settlement of Caribbean societies beginning in the late fifteenth century. The islands' strategic sea routes made them central to European imperial competition.
Windward Islands: The southern island group of the Lesser Antilles, commonly extending from Dominica to Grenada. They continue the arc southward from the Leeward Islands.
Caribbean Plate: A tectonic plate underlying much of the Caribbean Sea and parts of Central America and northern South America. Its eastern boundary hosts the Lesser Antilles subduction zone.
Martinique: A Caribbean island and overseas department of France in the Windward Islands. Its status shows how European political ties remain part of the island arc's present.
Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean: The diverse Indigenous societies that inhabited Caribbean islands before and during European colonization. Their histories include the islands of the Lesser Antilles and their neighboring archipelagos.
Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc: A chain of active and dormant volcanoes following the eastern Caribbean plate boundary. Subduction beneath the arc created many of its volcanic islands.
Puerto Rico Trench: A deep ocean trench north of Puerto Rico marking a major boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates. It illustrates the region's complex plate-boundary system north of the island arc.

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