WEST INDIES, in'diz. A large archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean between the North and South American continents. It consists of the Ba hama Islands, a somewhat irregular group lying to the southeast of the peninsula of Florida and the Greater and Lesser Antilles (see ANTILLES). a long chain of islands stretching in a great curve from the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico east ward and southward to the mouths of the Or inoco, and inelosing the Caribbean Sea between it and the mainland. The total area of the archipelago is about 92.000 square miles. of which the Greater Antilles alone take up over 82.000. With the exception of the Bahamas, which are low, of coral formation. the islands are nearly all mountainous. The Antilles are, in fact, the projecting remnants of a former mountain range which was similar in formation to the Central American Cordillera, and formed a continuous or nearly continuous bridge be tween the northern and southern continents. The consists of a core of crystalline rocks flanked by Cretaceous and Tertiary deposits, and these formations make up the larger portion of the Greater Antilles, hut appear only sporad ically in the Lesser Antilles, chiefly in the Virgin Islands, in the eastern half of Guadeloupe, and in Barbados and Trinidad. The other members of the Lesser Antilles owe their origin to a line of volcanic activity, and consist of recent, and gen erally still active, volcanic cones. The West Indian cordillera culminates in Haiti at an alti tude of over 10,000 feet, while in the Lesser Antilles the maximum elevation is about 5000 feet. The climate of the West Indies is tropical, with an average mean temperature of 72° for the coldest and SO° for the warmest month, and average extremes of 54° and 100°. The annual rainfall varies between 40 and 66 inches. Most of the rain is brought by the northeast trade wind, which is the prevailing wind in summer. Hence the slimmer is the wet season. the wintor months being eomparatively dry. as the winds
then are generally southeast. A peculiar feature. of the elimate is the extremely violent burri canes which from time to time, generally between July and November, eause serious destruction of life and property. The flora is related to that of tropical South America, though less rich in distinctively tropical species. The fauna is char acterized chiefly by a paucity of large mammals as Nun pared with the fauna of tire mainland, though the other divisions of I he animal kingdom arc well represented. For details of the flora and fauna of I he principal islands see the separate articles.
The industries are mainly agricultural, and sugar. tobacco, : nil collie a re the principal economic plants. The importance of cane sugar llas declined in recent years, but fruit and cot ton culture is developing. The population of the whole archipelago is a little more than 6,000, 000. Two-thirds of the inhabitants are negroes r of African blood, though in Cuba and Porto Rico the whites are in the majority. The En ropeo us are chiefly descendants of Spanish. French, and English settlers. The principal remaining element of the population is the imported Chinese and Indian coolies, the aboriginal Indian popu lation being almost wholly extinct. Politically the West Indies are much divided. Of the Greater Antilles, Porto Rico belongs to the United States and Jamaica to (h-eat Britain, while Cuba and Haiti represent independent republics, the latter containing two—Ilaiti and Santo Do mingo. The other islands are colonial possessions of I reat Britain, France, the and Denmark, the British possessions being by far the largest. The West Indies were so called because they were at first believed to be a part of India. They were the earliest parts of the New World to be discovered and settled, and served as a base for the Spanish expeditions of conquest and ex ploration on the mainland. For details of his tory, see articles on the separate isln wk.