Sotavento comes from Latin roots, which is made up of "subtus" which means "below" and "ventus" which means "wind". According to the royal academy, the word lee is used in maritime environments to refer to the area or opposite part where the seeing comes from referring to a particular place. So we can say that leeward is a word that refers to the opposite sector to that from which the wind derives; On the other hand, the antonino de sotavento, is windward, which is the direction in which the wind moves.
These two terms leeward and windward are used in the maritime context to refer to the sectors or places where the wind moves, and which is projected on the boats; but they are also used in other areas such as hunting and of great importance in climatology, geomorphology and physical geography, also with the same meaning previously exposed, that is, for those who sail, they refer to leeward to the opposite part from where the wind enters the ship or vessel.
Although in those countries where constant or planetary winds stand out, such as the so-called trade winds or westerly winds, leeward and windward are used with great frequency in toponymy (a discipline that is responsible for the etymological study of the proper names of a place) on a scale local or regional. Fact that occurs with a region located in Venezuela, called Barlovento.
On the other hand, a group of islands that are located in the Lesser Antilles, off the coast of Venezuela, are called the Leeward Islands. Sotavento is also awarded to the group of islands that are in Cape Verde; or to islands, reefs and sandbanks located in Hawaii, among others.
