For general non-philatelic information go to Wikipedia.
Wikipedia does not use the term "West Indies" in descriptions I see. Wikipedia writings are much more recent era. For example, for Jamaica it does mention the Greater Antilles but not West Indies. It has fallen out of favor.
All very well, but the international cricket team from the Caribbean is still called the West Indies, so the nomenclature is still in use in the area at least.
How things change in a short lifetime:
(1965)
Roy
The term "West Indies" is not a country but a region that comprises the Caribbean sea, in use since the 1500s was used by every European country with possessions in the area back then, every country not just northern European countries. Within the "West Indies" there was, probably still is a subdivision into "Lesser Antilles" and "Greater
Antilles". Cuba, Puerto Rico are among others in the Greater Antilles, Guadeloupe, Grenada also among others are part of the Lesser Antilles. Spain colonized most of the Greater Antilles while Netherlands, France and Denmark mostly colonized the Lesser Antilles. Times change and countries are renamed but history can not be change that's the way it was whether we like it or not.
In cricket Guyana on mainland South America is regarded as being part of the West Indies.
All the Guyanese I know (married one so know quite a few) consider Guyana as part of the West Indies, may be not geographically but certainly in every other respect.
Another geographic conundrum is the map of Poland
over the last five or six hundred years.
If Roland Hill had been around earlier,
collecting Polish stamps would be a vast
undertaking as borders changed,
areas were partitioned and city's names and spelling
reflected the, then current, dominant power.
One debate I see is how to describe the area between Asia and Australia and associating nearby islands to continents. There are some methods using Earth plates or social definitions based upon human migration with such names like Webber and Wallace lines. Some description says Malay archipelago and others just call it Australasia. Maps have drawn lines through Papua New Guinea to separate them. I doubt many would know Melanesia and Micronesia.
That part of the world, between South Asia and Australia its known as Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, Islands of black people, small islands and many islands respectively. When I began to learn geography the capital of Indonesia's was Batavia, Jakarta today, but not for much longer.
" ..... When I began to learn geography ...."
Haha !
Well it seems that few schools teach that subject, ....
...er whachamacallit ? .... oh yes, Geo Graph Eee.
I happened to mention to one of my grandson's friends
something about severe wild fires in Portugal and Spain.
I was only making small talk, but there was that blank
"deer in a headlight look"
She recognized that Spain was a country over there,
but
(Over where, nope,l no idea.)
Portugal, might as well be a province of Tasmania.
I was so glad that my grandson knew and showed her
where on the 13" world globe I gave him and his brother
years ago.
I've now bought six or seven globes over some twenty
years that accompany an envelope of world stamps for
a birthday or X-mas present. My grand kids may not
have become stampers, but at least they have some
'learnin' and do not have to ask Alixa for everything !
It's very sad how little kids know now-a-days, almost in every possible area!
I learned geography when there was East and West Germany (lived in Germany in the early 60s) and the USSR so there was just Yugoslavia rather than all the countries now in the area. There has been a lot of changes since in Africa and Arabian peninsula.
Harvey wrote, “It's very sad how little kids know now-a-days, almost in every possible area!”
It’s not just sad, and it’s not just kids. It’s gangrene of the body politic, and has taken root in all aspects of life in virtually every country in the in the world. It’s evident almost everywhere it seems, in the Oval Office, in governing groups everywhere and at every level, the empty spaces on library shelves following raids by self-appointed censors, in the dark web of “social media,” in attacks on immigration and voters’ rights, in constant warfare, in racism, in the growing gulf separating the rich from the poor, in rampant consumerism, in mass shoutings, in global pollution of air, water, and soil, in apparently inevitable rising seas, rising temperatures, drought, wildfires, habitat destruction, floods, landslides, epidemics and pandemics, worsening storms, in religion based not on love but on hate, and in governments based on economic growth rather than sustainability.
We don’t recall getting on this obsolete roller coaster, but here we are and it’s moving faster and faster, barely negotiating curves, struggling up ever-steeper slopes and hurtling down the other side, most of its passengers unaware of the imminent dangers they face.
I have been working on "A Stamp for Every Country" album. a variation of a version on AlbumEasy, and been looking at country profiles from several sources. One primary one has been Linn's Stamp News listing on their web site.
The descriptions see, somewhat dated. For example, for writeups of islands in Caribbean area, the area is the West Indies that still seems to be a valid description. You do not hear that often. There is also the Greater and Lesser Antilles and other areas like Leeward Islands are not used.
I liked a description for a country in Central America as a banana republic since Linn's adds political activities for many countries. This reminds of the Woody Allen movie "Bananas".
Country names like Persia and Mesopotamia are much more nostalgic/
re: Geographic descriptions over time
For general non-philatelic information go to Wikipedia.
re: Geographic descriptions over time
Wikipedia does not use the term "West Indies" in descriptions I see. Wikipedia writings are much more recent era. For example, for Jamaica it does mention the Greater Antilles but not West Indies. It has fallen out of favor.
re: Geographic descriptions over time
All very well, but the international cricket team from the Caribbean is still called the West Indies, so the nomenclature is still in use in the area at least.
re: Geographic descriptions over time
How things change in a short lifetime:
(1965)
Roy
re: Geographic descriptions over time
The term "West Indies" is not a country but a region that comprises the Caribbean sea, in use since the 1500s was used by every European country with possessions in the area back then, every country not just northern European countries. Within the "West Indies" there was, probably still is a subdivision into "Lesser Antilles" and "Greater
Antilles". Cuba, Puerto Rico are among others in the Greater Antilles, Guadeloupe, Grenada also among others are part of the Lesser Antilles. Spain colonized most of the Greater Antilles while Netherlands, France and Denmark mostly colonized the Lesser Antilles. Times change and countries are renamed but history can not be change that's the way it was whether we like it or not.
re: Geographic descriptions over time
In cricket Guyana on mainland South America is regarded as being part of the West Indies.
re: Geographic descriptions over time
All the Guyanese I know (married one so know quite a few) consider Guyana as part of the West Indies, may be not geographically but certainly in every other respect.
re: Geographic descriptions over time
Another geographic conundrum is the map of Poland
over the last five or six hundred years.
If Roland Hill had been around earlier,
collecting Polish stamps would be a vast
undertaking as borders changed,
areas were partitioned and city's names and spelling
reflected the, then current, dominant power.
re: Geographic descriptions over time
One debate I see is how to describe the area between Asia and Australia and associating nearby islands to continents. There are some methods using Earth plates or social definitions based upon human migration with such names like Webber and Wallace lines. Some description says Malay archipelago and others just call it Australasia. Maps have drawn lines through Papua New Guinea to separate them. I doubt many would know Melanesia and Micronesia.
re: Geographic descriptions over time
That part of the world, between South Asia and Australia its known as Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, Islands of black people, small islands and many islands respectively. When I began to learn geography the capital of Indonesia's was Batavia, Jakarta today, but not for much longer.
re: Geographic descriptions over time
" ..... When I began to learn geography ...."
Haha !
Well it seems that few schools teach that subject, ....
...er whachamacallit ? .... oh yes, Geo Graph Eee.
I happened to mention to one of my grandson's friends
something about severe wild fires in Portugal and Spain.
I was only making small talk, but there was that blank
"deer in a headlight look"
She recognized that Spain was a country over there,
but
(Over where, nope,l no idea.)
Portugal, might as well be a province of Tasmania.
I was so glad that my grandson knew and showed her
where on the 13" world globe I gave him and his brother
years ago.
I've now bought six or seven globes over some twenty
years that accompany an envelope of world stamps for
a birthday or X-mas present. My grand kids may not
have become stampers, but at least they have some
'learnin' and do not have to ask Alixa for everything !
re: Geographic descriptions over time
It's very sad how little kids know now-a-days, almost in every possible area!
re: Geographic descriptions over time
I learned geography when there was East and West Germany (lived in Germany in the early 60s) and the USSR so there was just Yugoslavia rather than all the countries now in the area. There has been a lot of changes since in Africa and Arabian peninsula.
re: Geographic descriptions over time
Harvey wrote, “It's very sad how little kids know now-a-days, almost in every possible area!”
It’s not just sad, and it’s not just kids. It’s gangrene of the body politic, and has taken root in all aspects of life in virtually every country in the in the world. It’s evident almost everywhere it seems, in the Oval Office, in governing groups everywhere and at every level, the empty spaces on library shelves following raids by self-appointed censors, in the dark web of “social media,” in attacks on immigration and voters’ rights, in constant warfare, in racism, in the growing gulf separating the rich from the poor, in rampant consumerism, in mass shoutings, in global pollution of air, water, and soil, in apparently inevitable rising seas, rising temperatures, drought, wildfires, habitat destruction, floods, landslides, epidemics and pandemics, worsening storms, in religion based not on love but on hate, and in governments based on economic growth rather than sustainability.
We don’t recall getting on this obsolete roller coaster, but here we are and it’s moving faster and faster, barely negotiating curves, struggling up ever-steeper slopes and hurtling down the other side, most of its passengers unaware of the imminent dangers they face.