Talk:Lesser Antilles

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[edit] Trinidad and Tobago

Discussion copied from user talk pages. Piet 12:45, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Are you sure Trinidad and Tobago are part of the Lesser Antilles? I've never been quite sure of that one. Do you have a good source that definitively includes them? Guettarda 11:33, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

I've followed the list in Lesser Antilles. Correct if you think it is wrong. I've been doing this while cleaning up Category:Caribbean islands, you may want to check this category as well, to check for mistakes. There's something I'm not sure of: I thought the Antilles were only a part of the Caribbean islands, but it appears all of the Caribbean islands are also in the Antilles. What do you think?
At the moment the category tree would be
Maybe the Antilles category could be removed, it only has three childs at the moment. Lesser and Greater Antilles would be direct childs of Caribbean islands then. Also, maybe the Leeward Antilles could form a subcategory.
I'm still working on it, I think most of articles in the top category will go to a subcategory (it's already down from 86 to 23). The tree is not perfect yet, but I think it was necessary to bring some order into this category. Feel free to check, correct or help out :-) Basically every island should be as low as possible into the tree. Also this tree should be for the islands, not for countries / cities / etc. Piet 12:19, 29 August 2006 (UTC)


I'm pretty sure that the Virgin Islands are not part of the Lesser Antilles. I don't know if TT should be considered part of the LA or not. The truth is I'm not sure I've seen anything definitive ones way or the other, and I think it's important to have a solid source for things like that. For example, at Lesser Antilles, the reference doesn't sound defintive, and there's nothing to say exactly how closely the article follows the reference. Perhaps the reason I am most inclined to distrust the list is the statement "The Lesser Antilles can be divided into the Windward Islands in the south and the Leeward Islands in the north." Since the Virgin Islands aren't part of the Leewards, and Trinidad and Tobago aren't part of the Windwards, I am disinclined to trust that list. There really needs to be a good reference for that list. Guettarda 12:39, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Well a distinction must be made between political/geographical differences and geologic/tectonic differences. For example geologically the Virgin Islands, except St. Croix, were part of the Puerto Rican Bank and thus would be considered part of the "Greater Antilles". Politically the Virgin Islands would be part of the Lesser Antilles since the Lesser Antilles are regarded as everything in the Caribbean besides the Greater Antilles. I will look into sources this week to help clear this debate. Joelito (talk) 20:22, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sourcing

Is anyone aware of a definitive source as to whether Trinidad and Tobago are part of the Lesser Antilles? I am unaware of one. Also, to the best of my knowledge, the Virgin Islands are not part of the Lesser Antilles. Also, the idea that Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao are Lesser Antillean is new to me as well. Guettarda 12:43, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

I've checked other wikis, at first glance Dutch, Spanish and French have more or less the same list, all include T&T. German is more interesting: In verschiedenen Sprachen und Ländern gibt es Unterschiede, wo die Kleinen Antillen im Süden enden: Im Englischen geht man bis nach Trinidad und Tobago, im Spanischen werden häufig Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Isla Margarita und weitere Inseln vor Venezuela dazugerechnet. So according to the German wiki T&T is always in the list, but for the English speakers the countries to the south of it are no longer a part of the Antilles.
BTW, there is not necessarily a "definitive source" for this, as it is not really an official entity. I remember an endless discussion as to which countries belong to Scandinavia. It could be necessary to give different points of view. Too bad the articles didn't mention this before I started categorizing :-) Piet 12:58, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
Wikipedia doesn't pass WP:RS, so what other language WPs say can't be taken as definitive. If the article asserts something, it needs to be verifiable. It's fine if there are conflicting sources, but there need to be sources. I'm not suggesting that there is a single "definitive source", just an adequately reliable source which says something definitive (either than TT, the VI and the Dutch islands are in or out). Guettarda 15:07, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
I didn't suggest other wikis were a definitive source. That wikipedia is not a reliable source for wikipedia goes pretty much without saying. Piet 15:49, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Here is a definition from the Library of Congress. [1] Joelito (talk) 21:58, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dominica

The various articles are inconsistent as to whether its Windward or Leeward. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.36.26.70 (talk) 14:38, 7 September 2007 (UTC)