 |
Antigua and Barbuda
|
Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II
(1952)
Governor-General: Louise Lake-Tack
(2007)
Prime Minister: Baldwin Spencer
(2004)
Current government officials
Total area: 170 sq mi (440 sq km)
Population (2008 est.): 69,842 (growth
rate: 0.5%); birth rate: 16.3/1000; infant mortality rate:
17.6/1000; life expectancy: 72.6; density per sq mi: 409
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
St. John's, 23,500
Other large cities: English
Harbour, 2,900; Codrington (capital of Barbuda), est. pop. 870
Monetary unit: East Caribbean
dollar
Languages:
English (official), local dialects
Ethnicity/race:
black 91%, mixed 4.4%, white 1.7%, other
2.9%
Religions:
Christian (predominantly Anglican and other
Protestant; some Roman Catholic)
National Holiday:
Independence Day (National Day), November 1
Literacy rate: 85.8% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007
est.): $1.189 billion; per capita $10,900 (2005 est.). Real
growth rate: 3.8% (2007 est.). Inflation: 2.8% (2007
est.). Unemployment: 11% (2001 est.). Arable land:
18.18%. Agriculture: cotton, fruits, vegetables, bananas,
coconuts, cucumbers, mangoes, sugarcane; livestock. Labor
force: 30,000 (1991); agriculture: 3.8%, industry: 22%,
services: 74.3% (2002 est.). Industries: tourism,
construction, light manufacturing (clothing, alcohol, household
appliances). Natural resources: negl.; pleasant climate
fosters tourism. Exports: $84.3 million (2007 est.):
petroleum products 48%, manufactures 23%, machinery and transport
equipment 17%, food and live animals 4%, other 8%. Imports:
$522.8 million (2007 est.): ffood and live animals, machinery and
transport equipment, manufactures, chemicals, oil. Major trading
partners: Poland, UK, Germany, Italy, China, U.S., Singapore,
Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (2006).
Member of Commonwealth of Nations
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 40,000 (2006); mobile cellular: 102,000 (2006). Radio
broadcast stations: AM 4, FM 2, shortwave 0 (1998).
Television broadcast stations: 2 (1997). Internet
hosts: 2,133 (2007). Internet users: 32,000 (2006).
Transportation: Highways: total:
1,165 km, paved: 384 km, unpaved: 781 km (2002). Ports and
harbors: Saint John's. Airports: 3 (2007).
International disputes: none.
Major sources and definitions
|
|
Geography
Antigua, the larger of the two main islands, is
108 sq mi (280 sq km). The island dependencies of Redonda (an uninhabited
rocky islet) and Barbuda (a coral island formerly known as Dulcina) are
0.5 sq mi (1.30 sq km) and 62 sq mi (161 sq km), respectively.
Government
Constitutional monarchy.
History
The island of Antigua was explored by
Christopher Columbus in 1493 and named for the Church of Santa Maria de la
Antigua in Seville. Antigua was colonized by Britain in 1632; Barbuda was
first colonized in 1678. Antigua and Barbuda joined the West Indies
Federation in 1958. With the breakup of the federation, it became one of
the West Indies Associated States in 1967, self-governing its internal
affairs. Full independence was granted Nov. 1, 1981.
The Bird family has controlled the islands since
Vere C. Bird founded the Antigua Labor Party in the mid-1940s. While
tourism and financial services have turned the country into one of the
more prosperous in the Caribbean, law enforcement officials have charged
that Antigua and Barbuda is a major center of money laundering, drug
trafficking, and arms smuggling. Several scandals tainted the Bird family,
especially the 1995 conviction of Prime Minister Lester Bird's brother,
Ivor, for cocaine smuggling. In 2000, Antigua and 35 other offshore
banking centers agreed to reforms to prevent money laundering.
Bird Dynasty Ends
In March 2004, the Bird political dynasty came
to an end when labor activist Baldwin Spencer defeated Lester Bird, who
had been prime minister since 1994. In 2005, income tax, which had been
eliminated in 1975, was reintroduced to help alleviate Antigua's
deficit.
On July 17, 2007, Louise Lake-Tack became the
first woman governor-general of Antigua and Barbuda.
See also Encyclopedia: Antigua and Barbuda.
U.S. State Dept. Country
Notes: Antigua and Barbuda
Information Please® Database, © 2008 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
More on Antigua and Barbuda from Infoplease:
- Antigua and Barbuda: meaning and definitions - Antigua and Barbuda: Definition and Pronunciation
- Antigua and Barbuda - Map of Antigua and Barbuda & articles on flags, geography, history, statistics, disasters current events, and international relations.
- Saint John's, city, Antigua and Barbuda - Saint John's Saint John's, city (1991 pop. 21,514), capital of Antigua and Barbuda, in the ...
- Antigua and Barbuda - Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda , independent Commonwealth nation (2005 est. pop. 68,700), ...
- Antigua and Barbuda - Antigua and Barbuda Profile: History, Government and Political Conditions, Economy, U.S.-Antigua and Barbuda Relations
Warning: DOMDocument::loadXML(): Input is not proper UTF-8, indicate encoding !
Bytes: 0xE1 0x66 0x69 0x63 in Entity, line: 1 in /site/html/include/elibrary_search_box.php on line 109
|
|
