The concept of the West Indies decided to include Antilles and the Bahamas. The Caribbean Sea washes only Antilles, which are subdivided into the Greater Antilles and Lesser Antilles. Greater Antilles bordered the northern boundary of the sea and includes four major islands: Cuba, Haiti (formerly known as Hispaniola), Jamaica and Puerto Rico, as well as smaller surrounding islands - archipelagos Canarreos Archipelago (the biggest island of Isla de la Juventud) and Jardines de La Reina, lying on the southern coast of Cuba.
Lesser Antilles are divided into the Windward and Leeward Islands (Southern Antilles), so called in relation to the north-west trade winds. The first group lies on the eastern border of the sea and consists of about 50 islands, the largest of which are: St. Croix, St. Thomas (Virgin Islands), Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Kitts, Barbuda, Antigua (Antigua and Barbuda), Grand Terre and Basse-Terre (Guadeloupe), Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Barbados, Grenada, Tobago and Trinidad. The southern Netherlands Antilles are located along the coast of South America and includes the island of Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire (Netherlands possessions), Margarita, archipelagos Las Aves and Los Roques (Venezuela) and several other smaller area.
In the western Caribbean Sea are several archipelagos, such as the Cayman Islands, Terneff, Islas de la Bahia and Miskitos, as well as a number of separate islands (Providencia, San Andres) and reefs (Lighthouse, Glover, Media Luna and others).