The West Indies
The West Indies are a chain of islands located in the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. This chain of islands runs from the north, close to the US State of Florida, all the way south to the northern shores of South America.
They were named the Indies by Christopher Columbus, the first European on record to reach the islands. He believed that he had reached India, and thus, called the newly-discovered islands the Indies. Later, when it was discovered that what Columbus discovered was not India, the islands were renamed the West Indies, to distinguish them from the Spice Islands in the Pacific Ocean, otherwise known as the East Indies, which now comprise the territory of Indonesia.
