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General Background
The Greater Antilles are part of the West Indies which is a chain of island that starts in the Bahamas and finishes on the coast of
South America with the Island of Margarita which is part of Venezuela.
The term Antilles dates traditionally from before the Europeans discovered the New World, when Antilia referred to semi mythical 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.
The Greater Antilles are the four largest islands of the Antilles.
They are Cuba, Hispagnola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Jamaica and Puerto Rico. The Bahamas is not considered as a part of the Greater Antilles. Geographically, it is located between Florida (USA) to the north, Cuba to the southwest and Hispagnola to the south. Although its global land mass is about the size of Jamaica, its low population of 287.000 thousands and the fact that it is an archipellago of 700 small island and not a solid piece of land forming one island makes it a part of the lesser Antilles. There is also the very important physiographic fact that the Bahamian plateau appeared to be part of a the same land mass than Florida. It is separated from Florida by a navigable valley. The Greater Antilles are a triangular underwater mountain range including Cuba, Jamaica, Hispagnola and Puerto Rico. On the gravimetric map below, one can see the mountain range and its prolongation by the arc shaped mountain of the Lesser Antilles which finishes with the Venezuelan isle of Margarita.
Caribbean basin gravimap
click on the map
to see a larger version
The Greater Antilles contain nearly 90 percent of the land mass of West Indies. Their population is about 75% of the estimated 33.640.000 people of the Caribbean.
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Map of the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas
showing the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico
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FROM CUBA TO PUERTO RICO
a geographic overview
The Greater Cuba island is the largest of the Greater Antilles. Its geographic
position between Florida ( North), Bahamas (North West), Hispagnola (South west) Jamaica (South) makes it the geographic center of the Caribbean. It looks like a giant shrimp swimming toward the Gulf of Mexico. Tucked under the shrimp's chin is the Isle of Pines (Island of the Youth). Going south from the Isle of Pines, one encounters The Caymans islands.
From the south eastern tip of Cuba we can travel south east toward
Hispagnola. The west portion of the this island is the territory of Haiti and the east belongs to the Dominican Republic. The windward passage separate Cuba from Haiti.
Picture of the Windward passage
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Jamaica is 90 miles south from Cuba and 100 west from Haiti. It is the
third largest of the Greater Antilles and the only among them that is completely surrounded by the Caribbean Sea
Northern Caribbean Sea picture
showing Cuba (north), Jamaica (south) and
Haiti (south east)
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Beyond the eastern limit of Hispagnola lies the island of Puerto Rico. It is the easternmost point of the Greater Antilles.
Hispagnola, Puerto Rico
and the beginning of the Lesser Antilles
Physiographically, Puerto Rico is the last peak of the mountain chain that
forms the Greater Antilles. From there, the Geology of the West Indies changes dramatically. Traveling south, from the Virgin islands to Venezuela, we encounter a myriad of wonders that rise out the sea to form an arc shaped archipelago called the Lesser Antilles.
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