The West Indies is an 1889 history of Britain’s colonies in the Caribbean, particularly Jamaica. It served as a travel guide for British people wishing to visit the islands and detailed their situation and commercial importance within the British Empire. It was written by Charles Washington Eves, a London-born merchant who advocated for the export of Jamaican goods to Britain and increased investment by London in the West Indies. Eves was also responsible for organising the Jamaica display at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London in 1886 and he was selected to represent Jamaica at the Colonial Conference in 1887, an attempt to foster closer relations between Britain and its imperial possessions.