Area south of Bear island (4)
I believe the answer is:
cuba
'island' is the definition.
(Cuba is an example)
'area south of bear' is the wordplay.
'area' becomes 'a' (maths abbreviation).
'south of' says to put letters next to each other.
'bear' becomes 'cub' (I have seen 'Young bear ' mean 'cub' so perhaps 'bear' could also mean 'cub').
'a' after 'cub' is 'CUBA'.
(Other definitions for cuba that I've seen before include "detached area" , "Island nation" , "Castro's country" , "tropical country" , "Its capital is Havana" .)