Great Inagua Island occupies a strategic position in the northern West Indies. Straddling the passage between Cuba and Hispaniola, Great Inagua is the apex in an equilateral triangle that defines the Windward Passage. Inagua's location is important in two regards. First, if one branch of the Ceramic Age colonization of the northern West Indies proceeded along the north coast of Hispaniola to Cuba, then Great Inagua is the likely first landfall in the Bahama archipelago. Second, Irving Rouse (1992) has conclusively demonstrated that cultural developments in the West Indies are focused on inter-island passages. It is therefore likely that the first Inaguans participated in the interchange between western Hispaniola and eastern Cuba across the Windward Passage.