View of downtown St. John's , the capital of Antigua and Barbuda , on the island of Antigua . Taken from Mount St. John's Medical Center.
Photo: This image or media was taken or created by Matt H, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Top Mission Street in Codrington, Barbuda, near the airport and River Road.
Photo: CROIX, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Did you know?
Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east and the Caribbean Sea on the west, Antigua and Barbuda is located within the Leeward Islands moist forest and Leeward Islands xeric scrub ecoregions. The country shares maritime borders with Anguilla, Saint Barthélemy, and Saint Kitts and Nevis to the west, Montserrat to the southwest, and Guadeloupe to the south. Antigua and Barbuda has numerous natural parks, including Codrington Lagoon, one of the largest internal bodies of water in the Lesser Antilles. Despite its dense population, the country has large swaths of undeveloped land, however, Antigua and Barbuda has experienced many environmental issues due to climate change.
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500px provided description: Valley Church Beach, Antigua [#Travel ,#Beach ,#Vacation ,#Sea ,#Playa ,#Antigua ,#Trip ,#Caribbean ,#Cruise ,#Crucero ,#Mare ,#Mar ,#Praia…
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Nelson's Dockyard Museum - Antigua
Photo: Anneli Salo, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Etymology
Antigua is Spanish for 'ancient' and barbuda is Spanish for 'bearded'. The island of Antigua was originally called Waladli by the Arawaks, and the Caribs possibly called Barbuda Wa'omoni. Christopher Columbus, while sailing by in 1493, may have named it Santa Maria la Antigua, after an icon in the Spanish Seville Cathedral. The "bearded" of Barbuda is thought to refer either to the male inhabitants of the island, or the bearded fig trees present there. The term Wadadli is a corrupted form of the original Arawak name, emerging from a misspelling in a popular 1970s song.
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History
Archaic-period hunter-gatherers called the Ciboney were the first culture present in Antigua and Barbuda. Carbon dating has established the earliest settlements started around 3700 BC. They were succeeded by the ceramic age pre-Columbian Arawak-speaking Saladoid people who migrated from the lower Orinoco River. They introduced agriculture, raising, among other crops, the Antigua black pineapple (Ananas comosus), corn, sweet potatoes, chillies, guava, tobacco, and cotton. Later on the Caribs settled the island.
Christopher Columbus was the first European to sight the islands in 1493.
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Casa de Gobierno de Antigua y Barbuda (Saint John´s).
Photo: Ulises Icardi, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
The shore in south Antigua.
Photo: Thricecube, Public domain · source
Geography
Limestone formations, rather than volcanic activity, have had the most impact on the topography of both Antigua and Barbuda, which are both relatively low-lying islands. Boggy Peak, also known as Mt. Obama from 2008 to 2016, is the highest point on both Antigua and Barbuda. It is the remnant of a volcanic crater and rises a total of 402 meters. Boggy Peak is located in the southwest of Antigua (1,319 feet).
Both of these islands have very irregularly shaped coastlines that are dotted with beaches, lagoons, and natural harbours. There are reefs and shoals that surround the islands on all sides.
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Barbuda Council Millenium Administration Building is the base for the Secretary of the Council. It is located in Codrington.
Photo: CROIX, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Barbuda in 2025. The light on the horizon comes from city lights in Antigua.
Photo: CROIX, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Government and politics
Antigua and Barbuda is a unitary parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy. The current Constitution of Antigua and Barbuda was adopted upon independence on 1 November 1981. This replaced the pre-independence constitution of the Associated State of Antigua, which did not thoroughly define the relationship between the two islands. The island of Barbuda maintains much autonomy, while the island of Antigua is directly governed by the national government.
The executive branch has two primary leaders.
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Economy
Tourism dominates the economy, accounting for more than half of the gross domestic product (GDP). As a destination for the most affluent travelers, Antigua is well known for its extensive collection of five-star resorts. However, weaker tourist activity in lower and middle market segments since the beginning of the year 2000 has slowed the economy and put the government into a tight fiscal corner. Antigua and Barbuda has enacted policies to attract high-net-worth citizens and residents, such as abolishing personal income tax in 2016.
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Demographics
The National Bureau of Statistics estimated a population of 106,365 in 2026, making Antigua and Barbuda one of the least populated countries in the Caribbean. This is an increase of 24% from the 2011 census. Between 2008 and 2020, Antigua and Barbuda had an average of 1,188 live births per year, or one birth every seven hours. In 2011, 62% of Antiguans and Barbudans aged fifteen or over were never married, 27% were married, 5% were divorced or separated, and 3% were widowed. In 2022, the total fertility rate stood at 1.6 children per woman, significantly lower than the average of Caribbean small states. The main driver of population growth in Antigua and Barbuda is immigration.
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Culture
The music of Antigua and Barbuda has some African characteristics, with minimal influence from European music, but the music is distinct. Records of music in Antigua and Barbuda date back to Christopher Columbus' writings in 1493, when it was still home to Arawak and Carib people, still, very little research has been done on early music from the islands. African labourers are documented in history to have danced outside in the 1780s to the toombah (later tum tum), a drum adorned with tin and shell jingles, and the banjar (later bangoe, maybe related to the European banjo).
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