|
|
Information Pages
 The Ciboneys, called the "stone people", a tribe coming from what is now Venezuela, were the first inhabitants of Antigua and Barbuda. Their presence can be traced back until 3100 BC. They were followed by the Arawak, a tribe that had arrived from South America about 4 centuries BC. They did a lot of fishing, grew corn and cassava, smoked tobacco and brewed alcohol. They also brought sweet potatoes, pineapples, guava and peppers. Around 700 AD, the fierce Caribs, a tribe coming from the Amazon region, invaded both islands, putting a harsh end to the peaceful Arawak civilization. Our very own beer is called Wadadli, a slight deformation of "Waladli", the name given to Antigua by the Caribs. In 1493, Christopher Columbus sailed along our shores and gave our main island the name of Antigua, after "Santa Maria la Antigua", his favorite church in Seville. Quite offending for us, Columbus didn't even put foot on our island! Probably, competition for cruise ship tourists was already fierce in those times. But the Spanish only landed on Antigua in 1520 and gave up the island very soon. In 1627, the British claimed the small paradise for themselves. The first British settlers were under constant attacks from the French who controlled Antigua for two years. The British settlers first experimented with indigo and tobacco plantations, but were not very successful. In 1674, Sir Condrington installed the first sugar plantation on Antigua. Soon, more than 150 cane-processing windmills would cover the island, testimony of the success of sugar cultivation. Of course, the new wealth also brought the tragedy of slavery, since thousands of enslaved black people were imported from Africa to work in the sugar production. Codrington used the island of Barbuda to grow food for the slave population. And if we don't have many forests nowadays, it is because the central valley's forests were destroyed to make place to sugar cane fields. Glorious pages of British naval history were written on Antigua's shores. The greatest star of the movie was the famous admiral Horatio Nelson.  As a young captain, his duty was to enforce England's Navigation Act which prohibited trade between the Crown colonies and the Americans. He transformed Antigua into an important British naval base, installing his fleet in English Harbour, a natural harbour protected from the destructive hurricanes. There, he built an impressive dockyard that became a center of British commerce in the Caribbean. Later, other great admirals like Rodney and Hood would use English Harbour and its extensive constructions, like the Shirley Heights fortifications built in 1781 by Sir Shirley in order to protect the dockyards.But the sugar market was on the decline, and the abolition of slavery in 1834 destroyed the plantation economy. The disastrous economical situation would last until the middle of the 20th Century, when tourism became a new and main source of income. The tourism sector caters as well to high end resort guests as to the large number of cruise ship visitors. 80% of the people are working in the services sector. The agricultural sector, mainly tropical fruits and plants, fishery as well as a blooming construction sector and offshore banking, contribute to the island's revenue. The country is independent since 1981.  Nowadays, more than 80% of Antigua's people are descendants from African slaves. They live in harmony with "expats", - foreign residents, mainly of British origin -, and other communities from Syria and Lebanon, China and from other Caribbean islands.
If you like to discover more about the island's history and culture, don't miss a visit at the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda in St. John's, as well as the Dockyard Museum in Nelsons Dockyard in English Harbour.
|
|
|
