Talk:Antilles

Brazil

The reference to the origin of the name "Brazil" is superfluous. It is also wrong. The derivation of "Brazil" is well known. According to Microsoft Reference: [Old French bresil (Spanish brasil, Italian brasile), from Low Latin brasilium a red dyewood brought from the East. When a similar wood was discovered in S America the country became known as terra de brasil, land of red dyewood]

(c) Larousse plc. All rights reserved

Pronunciation

please - someone tell the world how to pronounce the name of this place.

Some say AN-tilleez, some say an-TIL-eez. Guettarda 02:14, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I suspect both are acceptable. The spelling is the same as the Netherlands Antilles. CaribDigita 04:56, 5 October 2005 (UTC)

I added what I found in Random House Dictionary: an-TIL-eez. Lubrom (talk) 21:27, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

Cayman Islands

Are the Cayman Islands really regarded as part of the Lesser Antilles ?

-- Beardo 23:42, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

No, I think they are in the Greater Antilles. //Big Adamsky 00:02, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes (I think): inferring from the entry in the Encyclopædia Britannica, "Greater"/"Lesser" refer to island size, not necessarily position; the Cayman Islands (south of Cuba) are included in the latter. E Pluribus Anthony | talk | 14:33, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

Actually, numerous other sources (e.g., USGS, et al.) seem to indicate that these appellations are based more on island position, not size. This is also complicated by the fact that the Caymans are not noted in the EB entey for the Lesser Antilles. Egad! Provisionally, I retract my prior assertion. Forgive me! :) E Pluribus Anthony | talk | 00:41, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Bahamas are considered part of the Antilles

Historically, the Bahamas are considered part of the Antilles. The article is a version from the Spanish Encarta. You will see, among other things, that the Bahamas was the first place in the Antilles that Christopher Colombus trod.

http://es.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555176/Antillas.html

Encarta in Spanish is a minority in this case. Encarta in English, the 1911 and current Britannica, the Cumbre Encyclopedia, etc do not consider the Bahamas part of the Antilles. Joelito (talk) 14:01, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Well, though Encarta in Spanish is a "minority" in this case, this is another case recognized. It has to be mentioned in the article in agreement with the bylaws of Wikipedia.

Aidel.

It should be merely a footnote, not the definition used in the article. There is almost universal concensus that the Bahamas are not part of the Antilles. Because one encyclopedia, Encarta in Spanish, considers them part of the Antilles should not change our defintion. Joelito (talk) 16:51, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

The more things change, the more they stay the same, 6+ years later. 64.231.179.54 (talk) 20:31, 16 February 2013 (UTC)

Caribbean vs. Antilles vs. West Indies

Among the most glaring errors in wikipedia is the continuing redirect from West Indies to Caribbean, which are as different as "squirrel" and "mammal". West Indies is the preferred term in English for the islands themselves; THAT should be the title of the main article on the subject, and it should be distinct from "Caribbean". At a minimum, "West Indies" might link to "Antilles". Someone more skilled at wiki-manoeuvers, please take up this task. Sfahey (talk) 20:28, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

Whomever wrote the first paragraph should be shot.

I don't have time to edit this but let it be known reading it gave me an ulcer:

"The Antilles (the same in French; Antillas in Spanish; Antillen in Dutch) refers to the islands forming the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. The Antilles are divided into two major groups: the "Greater Antilles" to the north including the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico; and the smaller "Lesser Antilles" on the southeast—comprising the northerly Leeward Islands, the southeasterly Windward Islands, and the Leeward Antilles just north of Venezuela. The Bahamas, though part of the West Indies, are generally not included among the Antillean islands.[1]"

Are you kidding me? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 160.79.146.2 (talk) 17:14, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

What was the issue?Longinus876 (talk) 11:28, 26 July 2015 (UTC)

Bands

There are 3 bands with the name Antilles: http://www.last.fm/music/Antilles TimoKA (talk) 15:50, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

If they ever get articles of their own, they will be inserted in Antilles (disambiguation). Lubrom (talk) 21:29, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

Requested move 16 November 2018

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: not moved (page mover nac) Flooded with them hundreds 15:50, 23 November 2018 (UTC)

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Antilles → The Antilles – Per WP:THE, we should include "The" in the name if one of the two conditions are met: (1) If a word with a definite article has a different meaning with respect to the same word without the article, and (2) If the definite or indefinite article would be capitalized in running text. In this case, (1) is met because there are at least three smaller Antilles other than the greater one. Antilles by itself is very confusing. Also, The Maritimes can be used as a good example, considering there are other entities that can also be referred to as "Maritimes", such as Maritime Southeast Asia. Kenwick (talk) 06:55, 16 November 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose - Per WP:COMMONNAME, per WP:PRIMARYTOPIC, and because neither condition of WP:THE have been met. ("Antilles" and "The Antilles" are the same thing - the smaller ones are obviously part of the larger Antilles, not a separate entity somewhere else.) - BilCat (talk) 17:43, 16 November 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose move, at least for now. You're citing "The Maritimes"... which is also under an RM at the moment. ONR (talk) 05:32, 17 November 2018 (UTC)

• Support Since the word "The" is included in several less controversial entities, such as The Bahamas and The Gambia, I surely would support your move request. Xindeho (talk) 07:24, 17 November 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose I don't think that either condition of WP:THE is met. Common usage is to refer to the Greater Antilles or the Lesser Antilles, or simply Antilles to refer to both. I don't think I've ever seen "The Antilles". The two countries mentioned have "The" has a capitalized part of the country name and aren't of any use as precedent here. power~enwiki (π, ν) 04:57, 18 November 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose. Absolutely no need for this whatsoever. -- Necrothesp (talk) 14:29, 21 November 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose. The Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Lesser Antilles, the Greater Antilles, the Netherlands Antilles, the Orkneys, the Shetland Islands... I could go on and on. Lots of islands are prefaced by a 'the' in normal speech. Keep them as they are, or we'll be moving hundreds of articles to all begin with a definite article. Celia Homeford (talk) 14:05, 23 November 2018 (UTC)

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The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The boundary between the Greater and Lesser Antilles

Can anyone tell me why the very small Virgin Passage is used as the boundary between the Greater and Lesser Antilles instead of the more significant Anegada Passage? In my opinion, Anegada Passage would be a much better choice as all the islands east of this Passage are very small and spreading southerly towards South America. Also, by using Anegada Passage as the boundary, all three parts of the Virgin Islands would be included in the Greater Antilles. Right now, only the Spanish Virgin Islands is considered a part of the Greater Antilles, that's weird. 2001:8003:9008:1301:70BF:5EFB:E84A:9D69 (talk) 03:46, 7 March 2020 (UTC)

Yeah, I'd say Anegada, too.... Tiredmeliorist (talk) 22:08, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

When did the ABC Islands become part of the Lesser Antilles?

This keeps getting changed for some reason, so I won't start an edit war, but Wikipedia appears to be the only place that puts the ABC Islands with the Lesser Antilles. I'd accept Leeward Antilles (as they are called here), but "Leeward" is not "Lesser" -- different things.

On his 2nd voyage, Columbus entered the Caribbean Sea via the Dominica Passage and continued up the lee side of the northern Lesser Antilles. Pilots continued this practice from South America, going up the eastern (windward side) of the southern islands then cutting across to the western (leeward) sides after Dominica, thus the names Leeward Islands and Windward Islands that define the two parts of the Lesser Antilles (see geographer Carl Sauer's description of "The Carib Islands" on p. 192 of The Early Spanish Main). Although I understand some sources include the ABCs, they are obviously a different part of the region, arguably not even in the same volcanic archipelago. The Spanish called them "Los Gigantes". Even the 1843 map used on our page calls them "Iles sous le vent" (Leeward Islands), not Lesser Antilles. Confusing, yes, but that is why most English-speakers just say ABC islands. Whoever keeps changing it should show their research. Tiredmeliorist (talk) 22:08, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

References