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Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of North America, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It is 34 kilometres in length and up to 23 km (14 mi) in width, covering an area of 432 km2 (167 sq mi). It is in the western part of the North Atlantic, 100 km (62 mi) east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea. Barbados is east of the Windwards, part of the Lesser Antilles, at roughly 13°N of the equator. It is about 168 km (104 mi) east of both the countries of Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and 180 km (110 mi) south-east of Martinique and 400 km (250 mi) north-east of Trinidad and Tobago. Barbados is outside the principal Atlantic hurricane belt. Its capital and largest city is Bridgetown.
Barbados, island country in the southeastern Caribbean Sea, situated about 100 miles east of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Roughly triangular in shape, the island measures some 21 miles from northwest to southeast and about 114miles from east to west at its widest point. The capital and largest town is Bridgetown, which is also the main seaport. Barbados was inhabited by its indigenous peoples – Arawaks and Caribs – prior to the European colonization of the Americas in the 16th century. Barbados was briefly claimed by the Spanish who saw the trees with the beard like feature. Empire from 1532 to 1620. The island was English and later a British colony from 1625 until 1966. Since 1966, it has been a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, modelled on the Westminster system, with Elizabeth II, Queen of Barbados, as head of state.
The Caribbean Community is an organisation of fifteen states and dependencies throughout the Caribbean having primary objectives to promote economic integration and cooperation among its members, to ensure that the benefits of integration are equitably shared, and to coordinate foreign policy. The organisation was established in 1973. Its major activities involve coordinating economic policies and development planning; devising and instituting special projects for the less-developed countries within its jurisdiction; operating as a regional single market for many of its members ; and handling regional trade disputes. The secretariat headquarters is in Georgetown, Guyana. CARICOM is an official United Nations Observer.
Since the island country's independence in 1966, the economy of Barbados has been transformed from a low-income economy dependent upon sugar production into an upper-middle-income economy based on tourism and the offshore sector. Barbados went into a deep recession in the 1990s after 3 years of steady decline brought on by fundamental macroeconomic imbalances. After a painful re-adjustment process, the economy began to grow again in 1993. Growth rates have averaged between 3%–5% since then. The country's three main economic drivers are: tourism, the international business sector, and foreign direct-investment. These are supported in part by Barbados operating as a service-driven economy and an international business centre.
The era of piracy in the Caribbean began in the 1500s and phased out in the 1830s after the navies of the nations of Western Europe and North America with colonies in the Caribbean began combating pirates. The period during which pirates were most successful was from the 1660s to 1730s. Piracy flourished in the Caribbean because of the existence of pirate seaports such as Port Royal in Jamaica, Tortuga in Haiti, and Nassau in the Bahamas. Piracy in the Caribbean was part of a larger historical phenomenon of piracy, as it existed close to major trade and exploration routes in nearly all the five oceans.
Owen Seymour Arthur, PC was a Barbadian politician who served as Prime Minister of Barbados from 6 September 1994 to 15 January 2008. He was the longest-serving Barbadian Prime Minister at the time of his death. He also served as Leader of the Opposition from 1 August 1993 to 6 September 1994 and from 23 October 2010 to 21 February 2013.
Sugar plantations in the Caribbean were a major part of the economy of the islands in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Most Caribbean islands were covered with sugar cane fields and mills for refining the crop. The main source of labor, until the abolition of chattel slavery, was enslaved Africans. After the abolition of slavery, indentured laborers from India, China, Portugal and other places were brought to the Caribbean to work in the sugar industry. These plantations produced 80 to 90 percent of the sugar consumed in Western Europe, later supplanted by European-grown sugar beet.
Slavery in the British and French Caribbean refers to slavery in the parts of the Caribbean dominated by France or the British Empire.
Canada–Caribbean relations are the long established relationships between Canada and the many states of the Caribbean or West Indies. These ties have been on-going throughout the history of both regions. Initially these relations were based on the policies of European colonial powers in the Americas. More recently, both Canada and most of the Caribbean islands have achieved self-government, putting their relations into a different phase. CARICOM diplomats have referred to Canada as a '"special friend" of the Caribbean at the regional and bilateral levels.' Ties exist in such plurality of organs such as: the Commonwealth of Nations, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, Organization of American States, ParlAmericas, the United Nations, and the World Trade Organization.
The Port of Bridgetown, is a seaport in Bridgetown on the southwest coast of Barbados. Situated at the North-Western end of Carlisle Bay, the harbour handles all of the country's international bulk ship-based trade and commerce. In addition to international-shipping the Deep Water Harbour is the port of entry for southern-Caribbean cruise ships. The port is one of three designated ports of entry in Barbados, along with the privately owned Port Saint Charles marina and the Sir Grantley Adams International Airport. The port's time zone is GMT −4, and it handles roughly 700,000 cruise passengers and 900,000 tonnes of containerised cargo per year.
Bristol, a port city in south-west England, was involved in the transatlantic slave trade. Bristol's part in the trade was prominent in the 17th and 18th centuries as the city's merchants used their position to gain involvement. It is estimated that over 500,000 enslaved African people were traded by Bristol merchants.
Tourism is one of the Caribbean's major economic sectors, with 25 million visitors contributing $49 billion towards the area's gross domestic product in 2013, which represented 14% of its total GDP. It is often described as, "the most tourism-dependent region in the world".
A Jewish population has been in Barbados almost continually since 1654.
Plantation Reserve Sugar is a product of the West Indies Sugar & Trading Company of Barbados and is a coarser, lighter raw cane sugar with a distinctive natural taste. The product itself is only made using sugarcane selected and harvested when sucrose content is at its peak. This occurs during a 2-week period of the 5 month harvest season and provides exceptionally pure juice for the mills. This juice purity allows the production of naturally larger crystals through a unique process that takes almost three times longer than that used for normal sugar.
The United States and Barbados have had cordial bilateral relations since Barbados' independence in 1966. The United States has supported the government's efforts to expand the country's economic base and to provide a higher standard of living for its citizens. Barbados is a beneficiary of the U.S. Caribbean Basin Initiative. U.S. assistance is channeled primarily through multilateral agencies such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank, as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) office in Bridgetown.
Barbados–United Kingdom relations are the relations between the governments of Barbados and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK). The historical ties between the two countries are long and complex, including settlement, post-colonialism and modern bilateral relations. The two countries are related through common history spanning three-hundred and thirty-nine years (1627–1966). Since the Barbadian date of independence, these nations continue to share ties through the Commonwealth of Nations, and as two of sixteen separate nations across the globe closely co-existing through sharing of the same Head of State, Queen Elizabeth II as their Monarch.
Barbadian–Nigerian relations are foreign relations between Barbados and Nigeria. Barbados and Nigeria formally established diplomatic relations on 24 April 1970. Nigeria is accredited to Barbados from its embassy in Port of Spain,. Currently the Barbadian Government does not have foreign accreditation for Nigeria, however the Nigerian Government has said that it was highly desirous of Barbados establishing an embassy directly to Nigeria.
Barbadian-French relations are the bilateral relations between the two countries, Barbados and France. Both countries have established diplomatic relations on May 3, 1968. Barbados is represented in France through its embassy in Brussels (Belgium). France is represented in Barbados through its embassy in Castries, led by and an additional honorary consulate in Bridgetown.
Black Barbadians or African Barbadians are Barbadians of entirely or predominantly African descent.
The architecture of Barbados is a reflection of the country's cultural and political history. Originating from the seventeenth-century, the buildings located in Barbados can be seen as being heavily influenced by British colonial and West African architecture.