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
