National flowers

The national flower for Antigua and Barbuda is Agave Karatto, also known as Century Plant, as it only flowers once in 10 – 20 years and then dies. 

History

The first inhabitants were the Guanahatabey people, followed by the Arawak people then the Carib. The Arawak introduced agriculture to Antigua and Barbuda and cultivated the Antiguan "black" pineapple, corn, sweet potatoes, chilli, peppers, guava, tobacco, and cotton.  Christopher Columbus was the first European to visit Antigua in 1493, and named the island Antigua in honour of the “Virgin of the Old Cathedral” found in Seville Cathedral, Spain. 

In 1632, a group of English colonists left St Kitts to settle on Antigua. Christopher Codrington, an Englishman, established the first permanent British settlement and began a sugar colony. Introducing new technology and importing slaves into his Betty's Hope plantation from 1674, the first full-scale sugar plantation was so successful that other planters turned from tobacco to sugar. For a large portion of Antigua's history, the island was considered Britain's "Gateway to the Caribbean" and was on the major sailing routes among the region's resource-rich colonies, with a natural harbour in which to safely dock ships and offload their cargo. 

Sugar cane was one of the most gruelling and dangerous crops slaves were forced to cultivate. Harvesting cane required backbreaking long days in sugar cane fields under the hot island sun with work in the mills and boiling houses being especially testing. In mills, wooden or metal rollers were used to crush cane plants and extract the juices. Slaves were at risk of getting their limbs stuck and ripped off in these machines. 

Unrest against enslavement among the Black Antiguans became increasingly common. In 1729, a man named Hercules was hung, drawn and quartered and three others were burnt alive, for conspiring to kill the slave owner Crump and his family. In 1736 a further uprising led by a slave named ‘Prince Klaus’, which led to his execution and a further 58 slaves burnt at the stake. By the mid-1770s, the number of slaves had increased to 37,500, up from 12,500 in 1713. The British population had fallen from 5,000 to below 3,000. The slave-owning elite used cruel mechanisms to control their plantations and to rule the seas, so that trading ships could run freely.

Lord Horatio Nelson, was stationed on Antigua as Senior Naval Officer from 1784 to 1787 primarily to defend the island's commercial shipping prowess, but also to support the Navigation Acts that prevented trade between Antigua and America, for which he was not popular. A naval dockyard started in 1725, later named Nelson's Dockyard, provided a base for British ships, whose main function was to patrol the West Indies and maintain Britain's sea power. Nelson met and married a young widow from Nevis, Fanny Nisbet in 1787. She returned to London with Nelson and cared for Nelson’s father, the Reverend Edmund Nelson whilst her son, Josiah Nisbet, joined Horatio in the battles against France in 1793 – 1797. Nelson returned to England but became estranged from Fanny and began an affair with Emma, Lady Hamilton. In 1800 the pair agreed to live apart and Fanny went to live in Paris with her son and granddaughter, returning to Exmouth for her own death in 1831 at the age of 70. She outlived Nelson by 27 years and his mistress Lady Hamilton by 16 years.

Slavery was abolished in the Caribbean in 1833 Antigua and Barbados gained independence as a nation-state in 1981 and remains part of the Commonwealth of Nations, as a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II as Queen of Antigua and Barbuda.

Climate, geography and environment

Various natural points, capes, and beaches around the island include: Boon Point, Beggars Point, Parham, Willikies, Hudson Point, English Harbour Town, Old Road Cape and Johnson's Point.  Several natural harbours are formed by these points and capes, including English Harbour leading into English Harbour Town.

The islands' climate is classified as Tropical Maritime and is moderated by fairly constant northeast tradewinds, with velocities ranging between 30 and 48 km/h (19 and 30 mph).  Hurricanes strike on an average of once a year between July and October. The 2017 hurricane season was being particularly severe, with Hurricane Maria and Hurricane Irma, repeatedly damaging vulnerable infrastructures on the islands. Irma was a Category 5 storm as it hit Barbuda, forcing all 1,400 residents to be evacuated to Antigua.  For an economy that is 80% dependent on tourism, this unpredictable weather, increased through climate change, coupled with Covid cancellations of travel, has grave consequences for the island.

Prime Minister Gaston Brown came to COP 26 in Glasgow to speak on behalf of all the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to ask the polluting countries of the North to pay for the increasing destruction to their islands. With SIDS emitting less than 1% of greenhouse gas emissions and with no opportunity to claim grant aid from Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the SIDS are raising their voices of concern.

Culture, music, dance and carnival

Benna (or bennah) is an up-tempo Antiguan calypso song that was introduced following the prohibition of slavery. Songs usually focused on scandals and gossip, in a call-and-response form between a leader and an audience. Benna's popularity and similarity to calypso helped make the island receptive to that genre's introduction. Antigua's steel orchestras can be found in churches and many villages, the largest and oldest is Hell's Gate, with the Brute Force Steel Band as the first steelpan band to record an album.

The Antiguan Carnival is a celebration of music and dance held annually from the end of July to the first Tuesday in August. The most important day is that of the j'ouvert (or juvé), in which brass and steel bands perform for much of the island's population.  The management of the Carnival is under the Ministry of Creative Industries and Innovation.

Sailing and cricket are important to Antigua. Antigua Sailing Week and Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta are two of the region's most reputable sailing competitions, with hundreds of yachts from around the world competing each year. 

The staple dish of Antiguan cuisine is the ‘black pineapple’ and the dukuna, which is a sweet, steamed dumpling made from grated sweet potatoes, flour and spices.