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The Indies Tropical Plants lost in antiquity. Traders of the time proba- The West Indies consisted of three main bly grouped all of South and East Asia into island groups including the Bahamas Geography a geographical region linked to India. In (3,000 tiny islands), the Greater Antilles In The other words, they referred to the “indies” (four large islands) and the Lesser Antilles as the larger region including India and its (40 small heavily populated islands and News™ trading nations to the east and northeast. hundreds of lesser ones). Other than gold European traders knew of the riches of and silver, no resource was more impor- India, Southeast Asia and China and want- tant to the Europeans than the agricultural ed greater access to them other than over potential for growing sugarcane and other Neal Lineback existing land routes. Items from the Indies tropical plants. Today the population of and Mandy Lineback Gritzner arrived in Europe costing many times their the West Indies is estimated at over 40 mil- initial value. Those mostly land routes lion people with ancestry including Span- (Silk Road and others) were dangerous ish, African, East Indian, Dutch, English, THE INDIES: and expensive, while potential transporta- and others. tion by ship was much less so. Europeans initially included most of WEST VS. EAST The Portuguese initially sought water South and East Asia as part of the “indies,” Students often confuse the two world routes around Africa to circumvent the from Pakistan’s Indus River to Japan, in- regions of West Indies and East Indies. expensive land routes controlled by the cluding the mainland areas. This “Greater The West Indies include the islands of the Arabs. While the intent of these proposed Indies” region was the source of many ex- Caribbean and the East Indies are the is- water routes was to reach the “indies” otic items desired by Europeans, including lands of Southeast Asia. The only similari- by traveling fi rst around Africa and then spices, ceramics, fabrics (silk, etc.) and pre- ties between the regions are their names, eastward, Columbus proposed reaching cious stones. This region’s treasures drove their numerous islands and their tropical the “indies” by traveling westward from the period of great European discoveries climates. Culturally, they also are worlds Europe. in the 15th and 16th centuries. apart. Columbus, of course, discovered what Over time, however, the “indies” region Geographers and historians have long he initially thought were the “indies” when was narrowed to include only islands of used the concept of “regions” as a conve- his ships arrived among the islands of the the Malay Archipelago extending from Su- nient, as well as scientifi c, way to divide Caribbean. He and his crews were surely matra eastward nearly to New Guinea and the earth into geographically recognizable ecstatic until by his second and third voy- northward to the Philippines. This region units for discussion and study. Regions ages he began to realize that these islands today is home to more than 370 million in- can be defi ned by some physical or cultur- were not the “indies” associated with the habitants, nearly 10 times the population al commonality, such as an island group or region east of India. of the West Indies. language group. A region may be any size Once accepted in Europe that Colum- Both the West Indies and the East In- from a small portion of a country, such a bus had discovered a new group of islands dies are melting pots of cultures. Although mountain range, to a group of countries, about the same latitude as the “real in- Roman Catholicism and Protestantism such as Latin America, based on culture, dies,” the terms “West Indies” and “East permeate the West Indies, Islam largely language and religion. Indies” were used to distinguish the two dominates in the East Indies, with the ma- As a footnote to discussing the West In- separate regions. Both were rich in re- jor exception of Roman Catholicism in the dies and East Indies, students with little sources and economic potential. Philippines. These contrasting regions are experience using maps also often confuse fascinating composites of cultures, land- west and east. Using any map with scapes and economic activities, north at the top, students can Where are the Indies? necessitating the fi rm place- remember west and east ment of them on our by applying the word mental maps. “WE.” In other And that is Ge- words, west is ography in the to the left and News™. Octo- east is to the ber 15, 2010. right. Brief- #1063. ly, the West Co- Indies lie authors to the left are Neal (west) of Lineback, the Prime ©2010 Meridian Appalachian which pass- State es through West Indies University Greenwich, East Indies Professor England, and the “Greater Indies” Emeritus of East Indies lie to the Geography, and right (east). Geography in the News 10/15/10 T. Smith Geographer Mandy The term “indies” ap- Lineback Gritzner. University parently only came into use in Sources: authors News Director Jane Nicholson serves Europe in the 1400s. Its precise context is as technical editor. ©2010 Maps.com.
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