Direct answer: The West Indies are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea and adjacent Atlantic Ocean, comprising a chain of islands in three main archipelagos (Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles, and Lucayan Archipelago) located to the southeast of the United States and to the north of South America. They stretch from near Florida in the north to near Venezuela in the south, and from the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos in the north to Trinidad and Tobago at the south end. Bermuda is sometimes included in broader definitions due to historical and cultural ties, but geographically it is not part of the West Indies itself.