Leeward Islands

(lēˈwərd)

1. The northern group of the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies, extending from the Virgin Islands southeast to Dominica. Inhabited by Caribs when Columbus discovered them in 1493, the islands were hotly contested by the Spanish, French, and British in the 17th and 18th centuries.
2. A chain of small islets of Hawaii in the central Pacific Ocean west-northwest of the main islands. The Leewards constitute a government bird sanctuary.