This is a list of metropolitan areas in the West Indies. As described by Encyclopædia Britannica Online, the West Indies are a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north. From the peninsula of Florida on the mainland of the United States, the islands stretch 1,200 miles (1,900 km) southeastward, then 500 miles (800 km) south, then west along the north coast of Venezuela on the South American mainland. Any city, town, or any other form of settlement that lies within this area can be considered a West Indian city. Despite this, some countries such as Guyana, Suriname, and Belize which lie in South America and Central America respectively, are not geographically a part of the West Indies, but because of their historical, cultural, and political standpoint they have always been included as one.