The East and West Indies are separated by half the planet. The West Indies are islands in the Caribbean, including the Greater Antilles, the Lesser Antilles, and the Bahamas; while the East Indies include islands that encompass Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. When Christopher Columbus reached the New World in 1492, he believed that he had actually found a shorter route to the East Indies. Thus, Columbus thought the islands he had reached made up a portion of the Indies and considered the islands’ inhabitants to be “Indians.”