ABSTRACT
The islands of the West Indies have been compared to a necklace of jewels strung in a curving line along the outer edge of the Caribbean Sea.1 Anchored at the north end by Jamaica and at the south by Barbados, the chain of the British West Indies was interspersed with other islands variously held by France, Spain, The Netherlands, Denmark, and even Sweden. Jamaica and Barbados stood apart. The other British islands belonged to one or another of two geographical groups: to the north, the Leeward Islands; to the south, the Windward Islands. In the first group were four chief islands-Antigua, Montserrat, St Christopher (colloquially called St Kitts), and Nevis-and a subgroup of smaller islands, the British Virgin Islands. In the Windward Islands were Dominica, St Vincent, Tobago, and Grenada and the Grenadines. The Windward Islands were also called the Ceded Islands because they had been turned over to Great Britain by France in 1763 as part of the settlement ending the Seven Years War. All of the British West Indies are listed, with their estimated populations, 1760-1790, in table 14.1.
