Overview
Island country, Lesser Antilles, Caribbean Sea.
It consists of three islands: Antigua, Barbuda, and Redonda. Area:
171 sq mi (442 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 77,800. Capital: St.
John’s (on Antigua). The majority of the population are descendants of
African slaves brought in during colonial times. Language: English
(official). Religion: Christianity (mostly Protestant; also Roman
Catholic). Currency: Eastern Caribbean dollar. The largest of the
islands is Antigua (108 sq mi [280 sq km]), which lacks forests,
mountains, and rivers and is subject to droughts. The main anchorage is
the deepwater harbour of St. John’s. Barbuda—25 mi (40 km) north of
Antigua, 62 sq mi (161 sq km) in area, and mostly uninhabited—is home to
a large bird sanctuary; its only human settlement is Codrington, on the
western coast. Redonda, an uninhabited rock (0.5 sq mi [1.3 sq km]),
lies southwest of Antigua. Tourism is the mainstay of the country’s
economy; offshore banking is growing. Christopher Columbus visited
Antigua in 1493 and named it after a church in Sevilla, Spain. It was
colonized by English settlers in 1632, who imported African slaves to
grow tobacco and sugarcane. Barbuda was colonized by the English in
1678. In 1834 the islands’ slaves were emancipated. Antigua (with
Barbuda) was part of the British colony of the Leeward Islands from 1871
until that colony was defederated in 1956. The islands achieved full
independence in 1981.
Profile
Official name Antigua and Barbuda
Form of government constitutional monarchy with two legislative houses
(Senate [17]; House of Representatives [171])
Chief of state British Monarch represented by Governor-General
Head of government Prime Minister
Capital Saint John’s
Official language English
Official religion none
Monetary unit Eastern Caribbean dollar (EC$)
Population estimate (2008) 87,500
Total area (sq mi) 171
Total area (sq km) 442
1Directly elected seats only; attorney general and speaker may serve ex
officio if they are not elected to House of Representatives.
Main
islands that form an independent state in the Lesser Antilles in the
eastern Caribbean Sea, at the southern end of the Leeward Islands chain.
There is one dependency, the small island of Redonda. The capital is St.
John’s, on Antigua.
Land
Antigua’s coastline is intricate, with bays and headlands fringed with
reefs and shoals; several inlets, including Parham and English Harbour,
afford anchorage for shipping, and St. John’s has a deepwater harbour.
The island has an area of 108 square miles (280 square km). It is mostly
low and undulating, but in the west there are volcanic rocks that rise
to 1,330 feet (405 metres) at Boggy Peak. An absence of mountains and
forests distinguishes Antigua from the other Leeward Islands. Because
there are no rivers and few springs, droughts occur despite a mean
annual rainfall of some 40 inches (1,000 mm). The average January
temperature is around 77 °F (25 °C); that of August, 82 °F (28 °C).
Summer highs can reach 90 °F (32 °C).
Barbuda, formerly Dulcina, lies 25 miles (40 km) north of Antigua. A
coral island, flat and well-wooded, with highlands rising to 143 feet
(44 metres) at Mount Obama (formerly Lindsay Hill) in the northeast, it
is 62 square miles (161 square km) in area. Barbuda is without streams
or lakes and receives less rainfall than Antigua. Codrington, the only
settlement, lies on a lagoon to the west. The climate is similar to that
of Antigua.
Redonda, an uninhabited rock, lies 25 miles (40 km) southwest of
Antigua. It rises sheer to a height of 1,000 feet (305 metres) and is
0.5 square mile (1.25 square km) in area. Phosphate deposits are located
there.
People
The majority of the population is of African descent. Most of Antigua’s
inhabitants live in St. John’s. The language is English, and nearly
three-fourths of the people are Protestant, one-third of whom are
Anglican. There are also a number of Moravians, Methodists, and Roman
Catholics.
Economy
Agriculture, once the mainstay of the economy, has been largely
supplanted by tourism. Sugar was long the dominant crop on Antigua, but
its production is now insignificant. Barbuda was never involved in the
sugar plantation system, its inhabitants always having been fishermen
and subsistence farmers. Their traditional system of land tenure is
threatened by tourism development. Fruits and vegetables, including
citrus fruits, mangoes, and eggplants, are now cultivated on the
islands. Manufacturing plays a small role in the economy; most activity
involves processing agricultural products and making clothing and
textiles and concrete blocks. An international airport is near St.
John’s.
Government and society
Antigua and Barbuda is a constitutional monarchy. The British monarch is
nominal head of state, represented by a governor-general. The
constitution allows for a Senate and a House of Representatives.
Executive power is vested in a Council of Ministers headed by the prime
minister. Primary and postprimary education is compulsory.
History
Antigua was visited in 1493 by Christopher Columbus, who named it for
the Church of Santa Maria de la Antigua in Sevilla (Seville), Spain. It
was colonized by English settlers in 1632 and remained a British
possession although it was raided by the French in 1666. The early
colonizers were also attacked by Carib Indians, who were once one of the
dominant peoples of the West Indies. At first tobacco was grown, but in
the later 17th century sugar was found to be more profitable.
The nearby island of Barbuda was colonized in 1678. The crown granted
the island to the Codrington family in 1685. It was planned as a
slave-breeding colony but never became one; the slaves who were imported
came to live self-reliantly in their own community.
The emancipation in 1834 of slaves, who had been employed on the
profitable sugar estates, gave rise to difficulties in obtaining labour.
An earthquake in 1843 and a hurricane in 1847 caused further economic
problems. Barbuda reverted back to the crown in the late 19th century,
and its administration came to be so closely related to that of Antigua
that it eventually became a dependency of that island.
The Leeward Islands colony, of which the islands were a part, was
defederated in 1956, and in 1958 Antigua joined the West Indies
Federation. When the federation was dissolved in 1962, Antigua
persevered with discussions of alternative forms of federation.
Provision was made in the West Indies Act of 1967 for Antigua to assume
a status of association with the United Kingdom on February 27, 1967. As
an associated state, Antigua was fully self-governing in all internal
affairs, while the United Kingdom retained responsibility for external
affairs and defense.
By the 1970s Antigua had developed an independence movement,
particularly under its prime minister George Walter, who wanted complete
independence for the islands and opposed the British plan of
independence within a federation of islands. Walter lost the 1976
elections to Vere Bird, who favoured regional integration. In 1978
Antigua reversed its position and announced it wanted independence. The
autonomy talks were complicated by the fact that Barbuda, long a
dependency of Antigua, felt that it had been economically stifled by the
larger island and wanted to secede. Finally, on November 1, 1981,
Antigua and Barbuda achieved independence, with Vere Bird as the first
prime minister. The state obtained United Nations and Commonwealth
membership and joined the Organization of East Caribbean States. Bird’s
party won again in 1984 and 1989 by overwhelming margins, giving the
prime minister firm control of the islands’ government.
Richard Tolson
David Lawrence Niddrie
Janet D. Momsen
