The West Indies is the name for the group of the islands of the Bahamas and the Antilles . The Antilles are divided into two groups : the larger Greater Antilles , on the north limit of the Caribbean Sea , and the Lesser Antilles , on the east and south . The region consists of the Antilles , divided into the larger Greater Antilles which bound the sea on the north , the Lesser Antilles on the south and east ( including the Leeward Antilles ) , the Bahamas , and the Turks and Caicos Islands or the Lucayan Archipelago , which are in fact in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba , not in the Caribbean Sea .