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OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

4/ Another nearby πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ British overseas territory is the island of Montserrat πŸ‡²πŸ‡Έ

Technically the capital is the town of Plymouth. In practice though it and the southern half of the island have been covered by lava since 1995.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montserr

The new capital, Little Bay, is currently under construction
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_B

#geoweirdness

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OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

5/ in the late 1950s-early 1960s there was a short-lived effort to unite all the various πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ British Caribbean territories into the "West Indies Federation" which it was hoped would become independent as a single state

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Ind

However the group could not agree how it would be governed or function viably and was eventually abandoned

#geoweirdness

OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

6/ Moving on we have the case of Saint-Martin/Sint Maarten.

Saint-Martin is part of France πŸ‡«πŸ‡·. Sint Maarten πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡½ is a "constituent country" of the the Kingdom of the Netherlands πŸ‡³πŸ‡±, as are Aruba πŸ‡¦πŸ‡Ό and CuraΓ§ao πŸ‡¨πŸ‡Ό in the Leeward Antilles.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collecti
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint_Maa

#geoweirdness

OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

7/ Not far away is the French πŸ‡«πŸ‡· territory of Saint BarthΓ©lemy πŸ‡§πŸ‡±, purchased from Sweden πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡ͺ in 1878 as we covered in our #geoweirdness thread about Sweden.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Ba

en.osm.town/@opencage/11072296

OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

8/ Saint Martin unlike Saint BarthΓ©lemy πŸ‡§πŸ‡±, but like the other πŸ‡«πŸ‡· French Caribbean territories of Guadeloupe πŸ‡¬πŸ‡΅, Martinique πŸ‡²πŸ‡Ά, and French Guiana πŸ‡¬πŸ‡« - is part of the European Union πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί and is on the maps on the Euro notes πŸ’Ά

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_

#geoweirdness

OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

9/ Nearby we have the tiny islands of Saba and Sint Eustatius, which are part of the Netherlands πŸ‡³πŸ‡± (though they use the US dollar πŸ’΅).

They are municipalities of the Netherlands, NOT constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Saba is famous for being home to Mount Scenery, the highest point in the Kingdom of the Netherlands at 887 meters.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saba_(is

#geoweirdness

OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

10/ Moving Windward now, let’s start with Grenada πŸ‡¬πŸ‡©.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenada

Its main islands are Grenada and two dependencies, Carriacou (the largest) and Petite Martinique. It gained independence from the United Kingdom πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ in 1974 and has an active underwater volcano called Kick β€˜em Jenny. How about that for a name?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kick_%27

Grenada is most famous for being invaded by the US πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ in 1983
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_S

#geoweirdness

10/ Moving Windward now, let’s start with Grenada πŸ‡¬πŸ‡©.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenada

Its main islands are Grenada and two dependencies, Carriacou (the largest) and Petite Martinique. It gained independence from the United Kingdom πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ in 1974 and has an active underwater volcano called Kick β€˜em Jenny. How about that for a name?

OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

11/ Last up is Barbados πŸ‡§πŸ‡§.

The easternmost island in the Caribbean is a continental island that is grouped culturally and politically with the Windward Islands despite not being a part of the volcanic arc.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbados

in 2021 Barbados removed the Queen of England πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ as head of state and became a republic

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presiden

#geoweirdness

OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ replied to OpenCage

12/ Of course, we could go on - there are dozens more islands worth writing about - but we had to stop somewhere.

We’ll share the link to the Caribmap archive we used to find some of the wonderful old maps shared in this thread and in the Greater Antilles thread (be prepared to lose a few hours browsing)

caribmap.org/index.php?id=gada

OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ replied to OpenCage

13/ Thanks for reading and sharing. What did we miss in our look at the #geoweirdness of the Lesser Antilles?

We’ll be back soon with more geoweirdness! Don’t forget to check out our previous threads (including threads about the Greater Antilles and British Overseas Territories) over on the blog:

blog.opencagedata.com/geothrea

Enjoy the weekend!

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