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The Leeward Islands

Quick Facts: Geography of the Leeward Islands

Location: The northern islands of the Lesser Antilles, in the Caribbean Area: Anguilla: 39 square miles (102 sq km) Antigua: 108 square miles (280 sq km) Barbuda: 62 square miles (161 sq km) Guadeloupe 1 : 687 square miles (1,780 sq km) Montserrat: 39 square miles (102 sq km) Saint Kitts: 65 square miles (168 sq km) Sint Eustatius: 8 square miles (21 sq km) Sint Maarten: 13 square miles (34 sq km) Climate: tropical, moderated by northeast trade winds. Many islands face hurri- canes between July and October. Nevis: 36 square miles (93 sq km) Saba: (5 square miles (13 sq km)

Terrain: Anguilla has dry, flat land, and St. Barts is hilly and rugged. All other islands have hilly, volcanic interiors. Elevation extremes: lowest point: Caribbean Sea—0 feet highest point: Grande Soufriére, Guadeloupe—4,810 feet (1,467 meters) Natural hazards: hurricanes and tropical storms, volcanoes

1 includes Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Desirade, the two Iles des Saintes, Saint- Barthélemy, Iles de la Petite Terre, and Saint Martin.

Source: Adapted from CIA World Factbook 2015.

Guadeloupe, French St. Martin, and St. Barts together form a unified territory of France called a département . However, St. Barts and St. Martin will be treated separately from Guadeloupe in this book because they are located about 150 miles (240 km) to the north and because of their size. Sint Maarten, located on the southern part of the island of St. Martin, is a territory of Holland. So are Saba and Sint Eustatius, as well as two islands located to the south, Bonaire and Curaçao. These two islands are sometimes included with another group of islands in the Lesser Antilles, the Windward Islands. Saba is only about 5 square miles (13 sq km), while Sint Eustatius is