Antigua and Barbuda, Caribbean Political Geography

Related Category: Caribbean Political Geography

Antigua was sighted by Columbus in 1493 and named for a Spanish church in Seville. The islands were successfully colonized in 1632, when the British introduced sugarcane from St. Kitts. Barbuda was colonized from Antigua in 1661. The abolition of slavery in 1834 hurt the sugar industry; sugar has not been commercially grown on the island since 1985. Antigua, with Barbuda and Redonda as dependencies, became an associated state of the Commonwealth in 1967 and achieved full independence within the Commonwealth in 1981. The Labor party has led the nation since independence; Lester Bird became prime minister in 1994. The islands suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Luis in 1995. Many inhabitants of Barbuda, culturally and politically distinct from Antiguans, have pressed for independence from the larger island.