Lucayan Archipelago

The Lucayan Archipelago, also known as the Bahamian Archipelago, is an island group comprising the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and the British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands. The archipelago is in the western North Atlantic Ocean, north of Cuba and the other Antillean Islands, and east and south-east of Florida.

William Keegan writes: "Modern political considerations aside, the islands form a single archipelago with common geological, ecological, and cultural roots." Though it is sometimes considered part of the Caribbean region, the Lucayan Archipelago is not geographically located within the Caribbean Sea.

• The Bahamas
• Turks and Caicos Islands (United Kingdom)

The Mouchoir Bank, the Silver Bank, and the Navidad Bank are a submerged continuation of the archipelago, to the southeast of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Mouchoir Bank is disputed between the Turks and Caicos Islands and Dominican Republic; Silver Bank and Navidad Bank are part of the Dominican Republic.

The Lucayan Archipelago was named for the original native Lucayan people. Julian Granberry and Gary Vescelius suggest the following Lucayan (Taíno) etymologies for various Lucayan islands.

• List of Caribbean islands
• West Indies

• Granberry, Julian (October 1991). "Lucayan Toponyms". Journal of the Bahamas Historical Society. 13. Retrieved 8 December 2013.

• Keegan, William F. (1992) The People Who Discovered Columbus: The Prehistory of the Bahamas. University Press of FloridaISBN 0-8130-1137-X