Antigua and Barbuda is a twin-island nation in the Americas and it lies between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The country is made up of two main populated islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and several other smaller islands such as Long, Green, Great Bird, Guinea, Maiden and York Islands, and further south, the Redonda island. The total population as of 2011 is roughly 81,800. St. John’s on Antigua is the capital city and the largest port in the nation.
Antigua and Barbuda are separated from each other by a few nautical miles, and they are in the middle of the Leeward Islands, a section of the Lesser Antilles. The country got its name from Christopher Columbus in 1493 when he discovered the island. The name was given in tribute of the Virgin of La Antigua in the Seville Cathedral. The nation is nicknamed “Land of 365 Beaches” because of the numerous beaches that surround the islands. The culture, language and governance of Antigua and Barbuda have been influenced a lot by the British Empire, of which the nation was once a part of.
The history of this country can be separated into three main different eras. Antigua and Barbuda was initially occupied by the archaic age hunter-gatherer Amerindians known as the Ciboney or Siboney. These were then succeeded by the ceramic age pre-Columbian Saladoid people who spoke Arawak and they emigrated from the lower Orinoco River. The first wave of European colonisation neglected the two islands but they were occupied by England in 1632. Under British rule, the islands experienced an influx of both African slaves and Britons. In 1981, the country was granted sovereignty and became the present nation of Antigua and Barbuda.
Pre-Columbian settlement
Around 1232, the territories presently referred to as Antigua and Barbuda were inhabited by the Arawak people. This group of people survived by planting peas, maize, corn, and other vegetables and as a result introduced agriculture in the two islands where they also planted sweet potatoes, cotton, tobacco, guavas, pineapples, and chillies. They also made exceptional seagoing vessels which they used to sail across the Caribbean and the Atlantic oceans. As a result, the Arawaks and the Caribs were able to rule over most of the Caribbean Islands and South America. Some of their descendants still live in Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil.
The Arawaks lived in the islands for more than a hundred years when another branch of the Arawaks was established. This new tribe was very peaceful and it included the worshipping of a different god and numerous other beliefs. The new tribe was known as Galapopa which originated from the Antiguan word for ‘peace’. The other tribe was known as Galashopa which meant ‘war’. The two tribes lived in peace for a number of years, during which the Galashopa were planning to seize and enslave the Galapopa. On 8th December 1342, the Galashopa attacked the Galapopa in a surprise attack that had been anticipated by the Galapopa people. The Galapopa tribe won the battle since its men were well trained.
After the war, the leader of the Galapopa, Marianna, found herself in charge of both tribes and the whole territory. It is believed that she named the territory Antigua and not Barbuda since Antigua meant god while Barbuda meant devil. The region was soon faced with bad weather which affected the land and the locals even offered sacrifices to the gods so as to calm them and it dawned on the people that they had to honour both god and the devil thus changing the territories name to Antigua and Barbuda and a result crops began to prosper and poverty was reduced. Everything was okay on the two islands until the next queen took power. Her name was Mishlaelae and it was during her tenure that Christopher Columbus discovered the islands.
Christopher Columbus had come to the islands to mine gold and enslave the locals and to save her people the queen had an affair with him. The majority of the Arawaks left Antigua during this era and those left behind were later on conquered by the Caribs. The Caribs had better weapons and sea-faring expertise that allowed them to seize the majority of the West Indian Arawak states, enslaving a few and probably cannibalising others. The Caribs, however, left in the 16th century due to a scarcity of fresh water.
European colonization
On his second voyage in 1493, Christopher Columbus discovered the two islands and named the bigger one Santa Maria de la Antigua. It is important to note that early efforts by the Europeans to conquer the two islands were a failure due to the exceptional defences of the Caribs. England finally managed to colonize the islands in 1632, and Thomas Warner was appointed as the first governor. Antigua officially became a British colony in 1667. Barbuda had been annexed by Britain in 1628 and in 1680 Charles II gave the island to the Codrington family who governed in until 1860 when the island was annexed to Antigua.
The settlers planted a number of cash crops such as sugarcane, ginger, indigo and tobacco. During this era, Sir Christopher Codrington created the first big sugar estate in Antigua in 1674 he and hired Barbuda to raise provisions for his plantations. In the fifty years after he created his first plantation, the sugar industry in the islands became very profitable to the extent that most farmers substituted other crops with sugarcane, making it the islands’ economic backbone.
Enslaved Africans were imported to work on these sugar estates. Some locals were also enslaved and made to work on these plantations. In 1807, slave trade was abolished and the Codringtons created a huge ‘slave-farm’ on Barbuda where children were bred to offer the territory a labour force that was not paid. This went on for years until 1834 when the slaves were emancipated.
By the 18th century, Antigua was the only Caribbean island under British governance to have a good harbour. Antigua was the dockyard for the British West Indies and was also used as the base of the British Royal Navy Caribbean fleet from 1725-1854. The island came to be known as the English Dockyard since it provided a well-protected and sheltered deepwater port.
Political development
Like all other colonies of the British Empire, slaves in Antigua were emancipated in 1834. They, however, remained dependant economically on the plantation owners. Economic chances for the freed men were restricted by a scarcity of farming land, inaccessibility to credit, and an economy that was built on agriculture instead of manufacturing. These conditions went on until 1939 when a member of the royal commission insisted on the establishment of a trade union movement. The Antigua Trades and Labour Union was formed and this became the key focus of political enhancement. The trade union obtained a lot of strength during the mid-years of the 20th century that were economically troubled. Vere Cornwall Bird used the trade union as his political vehicle and he became the president of the union in 1943.
Bird and other trade unionists created the Antigua Labour Party (ALP) with Bird as the leader. The party ran its first candidates in 1946, and in 1951, ALP became the majority party, starting a long succession of electoral victories. In 1971, the party was voted out of office in a general election that placed the Progressive Labour Movement in power. Bird and the ALP, however, returned to office in 1976.
Independent Antigua and Barbuda
The two islands attained their independence from the United Kingdom in 1981and became the nation of Antigua and Barbuda. The country was led to independence by Bird on 1 November 1981. The country also joined the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States at its formation in 1981.Antigua and Barbuda is, however, still a part of the Commonwealth of Nations. It has also remained as a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as the Queen of Antigua and Barbuda.
The ALP remained in power throughout the 1980s and its position was strengthened by divisions in the opposition. Divisions, however, appeared in the ALP towards the late 1980s. The divisions were brought about by claims of financial misdealing in 1986, and sale of armaments in 1990. Both claims involved senior government officials and these issues led to continued parliamentary controversy.
In April 1992, three opposition parties joined to create the United Progressive Party (UPP). In September 1993, Vere Bird retired and his son, Lester Bird, became the new Prime Minister. In March 1994, ALP won its fifth successive election victory, securing a total of 11 out of the 17 seats in the house. The UPP took five seats while the Barbuda People’s Movement secured one seat. The UPP won the 2004 general elections making Baldwin Spencer the Prime Minister. This victory removed the ALP, which had been the longest serving selected government in the Caribbean from power.
