Antigua and Barbuda, land of the 365 beaches

Friday, 9 December 2011 - 01:36 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General
Reading Time:  4 minutes

Antigua - English Harbour and Falmouth Harbour © remote.org / Frederik Ramm

Antigua – English Harbour and Falmouth Harbour © remote.org / Frederik Ramm

Antigua and Barbuda is a twin-island nation lying between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of two major inhabited islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and a number of smaller islands. The permanent population number approximately 85,000 (2010) and the capital and largest port and city is St. John’s, on Antigua.

Separated by a few nautical miles, Antigua and Barbuda are in the middle of the Leeward Islands, part of the Lesser Antilles, roughly at 17 degrees north of the Equator. The country is nicknamed “Land of 365 Beaches” due to the many beaches surrounding the islands. Its governance, language, and culture have all been strongly influenced by the British Empire, which the country was formerly part of.

The island group constists of Antigua, Barbuda, Bird Island, Bishop Island, Blake Island, Cinnamon Island, Codrington Island, Crump Island, Dulcina Island, Exchange Island, Five Islands, Great Bird Island, Green Island, Guiana Island, Hale Gate Island, Hawes Island, Henry Island, Johnson Island, Kid Island, Laviscounts Island, Lobster Island, Long Island, Maid Island, Moor Island, Nanny Island, Pelican Island, Prickly Pear Island, Rabbit Island, Rat Island, Red Head Island, Redonda, Sandy Island, Smith Island, The Sisters, Vernon Island, Wicked Will Island and York Island.

Antigua - English Harbour - The dark three-masted boat is owned by Silvio Berlusconi © Oskarp Antigua and Barbuda in its region © TUBS Antigua - St Johns with Cathedral © Oskarp Antigua - St Johns Harbour with cruising ships © Oskarp Antigua - St Johns Cathedral © UKWiki Antigua - St Johns aerial view © Oskarp Antigua - St John - Newgate Street © UKWiki Antigua and Barbuda map © CIA World Factbook Antigua - English Harbour and Falmouth Harbour © remote.org / Frederik Ramm
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Antigua - English Harbour - The dark three-masted boat is owned by Silvio Berlusconi © Oskarp
Tourism dominates the economy, accounting for more than half of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Antigua is famous for its many luxury resorts. Weak tourist activity since early 2000 has slowed the economy, however, and squeezed the government into a tight fiscal corner. Investment banking and financial services also make up an important part of the economy. Major world banks with offices in Antigua include the Bank of America (Bank of Antigua), Barclays, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Scotia Bank. Financial-services corporations with offices in Antigua include PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has accused the Antigua-based Stanford International Bank, owned by Texas billionaire Allen Stanford, of orchestrating a huge fraud which may have bilked investors of some $8 billion.

The culture is predominantly British: For example, cricket is the national sport and Antigua has produced several famous cricket players including Sir Vivian Richards, Anderson “Andy” Roberts, and Richard “Richie” Richardson. Other popular sports include football, boat racing and surfing (the Antigua Sailing Week attracts locals and visitors from all over the world). American popular culture and fashion also have a heavy influence. Most of the country’s media is made up of major United States networks.Many Antiguans prefer to make a special shopping trip to St. Martin, North America, or San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Read more on Government of Antigua and Barbuda, Wikivoyage Antigua and Barbuda and Wikipedia Antigua and Barbuda. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organisations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.






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