Barbados

Barbados

Barbados

Maps of barbados

Barbados, island country in the southeastern Caribbean Sea, situated about 100 miles (160 km) east of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Roughly triangular in shape, the island measures some 20 miles (32 km) from northwest to southeast and about 15 miles (25 km) from east to west at its widest point. The capital and largest town is Bridgetown, which is also the main seaport.

Palm trees by the ocean, Barbados

The geographic position of Barbados has profoundly influenced the island’s history and culture and aspects of its economic life. Barbados is not part of the nearby archipelago of the Lesser Antilles, although it is usually grouped with it. 

The island is of different geologic formation; it is less mountainous and has less variety in plant and animal life. As the first Caribbean landfall from Europe and Africa, Barbados has functioned since the late 17th century as a major link between western Europe (mainly Great Britain), eastern Caribbean territories, and parts of the South American mainland.

 The island was a British possession without interruption from the 17th century to 1966, when it attained independence. Because of its long association with Britain, the culture of Barbados is probably more British than is that of any other Caribbean island, though elements of the African culture of the majority population have been prominent. Since independence, cultural nationalism has been fostered as part of the process of nation-building.

Barbados 

Land

The rocks underlying Barbados consist of sedimentary deposits, including thick shales, clays, sands, and conglomerates, laid down approximately 70 million years ago. Above these rocks are chalky deposits, which were capped with coral before the island rose to the surface.

 A layer of coral up to 300 feet (90 metres) thick covers the island, except in the northeast physiographic region known as the Scotland District, which covers about 15 percent of the area, where erosion has removed the coral cover. The government has adopted a conservation plan to prevent further erosion.

Barbados islands