Countless years ago a great mountain range stretched north of what is now the highest coast of South America, the range was in a constant state of upheaval, lashed by continuous rains, swept by storms, with fire pouring out of every peak and finally the mountains fell beneath the sea, calming most of the volcanoes. The exposed peaks were covered in vegetation of fantastic beauty and left these peaks above the sea to form the West Indies island chain as we know it today. Although they were islands surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and were nowhere near Asiatic India, they were still considered the West Indian Islands. So why the concept of West Indian, we ask? Christopher Columbus, who discovered these islands, can certainly explain why he gave such a name to islands that were never of Indian descent. Discovered in 1492 by Christopher Columbus, the West Indies received this name because he mistakenly believed he had reached the Indies, and he himself wrote about it as Las Yndias Ocidentales, called the Accidental Indies. After the mistake was realized, they were called the West Indies to distinguish them from the East Indies and at the time in the 16th century they were known as the Little Indies, while the East Indies were called the Great Indies. The native inhabitants of the West Indies and America were called Indians because of the same mistake. To distinguish them from the inhabitants of India they were called Amerindians or Redskins. The islands are divided into three main groups: Bahamas, Greater Antilles and Lesser Antilles. The Greater Antilles consist of Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and Jamaica, and everything else, except the Bahamas, is included in the Lesser Antilles group and was also called the Caribbean Islands. The name West Indies is often applied loosely to the continental territories of South and Central America (central Spain), and was formerly applied to those of North America as well. The name America was used to include the West Indies. The British use of the Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands created confusion. The Spanish correctly called all the eastern islands of the West Indies chain the Windward Islands, Islas de Balovento, and the small islands near the northern coasts of South America the Leeward Islands, Islas de Sotavento..