ANTILLES

group of islands comprising all of the West Indies (q.v.) except the Bahamas. They are divided into two major groups: the Greater Antilles (q.v.), including Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic), Jamaica, and Puerto Rico; and the Lesser Antilles, comprising all the rest of the islands. The term Antilles dates traditionally from before Europeans discovered the New World, when Antilia referred to semimythical lands located somewhere west of Europe across the Atlantic. On medieval charts it was sometimes indicated as a continent or large island and sometimes as an archipelago. After discovery of the West Indies by Columbus, the Spanish term Antillas was commonly assigned to the new lands, and Sea of the Antilles in various European languages is used as an alternate designation for the Caribbean Sea.