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 Barbados
is 21 miles long and 14 miles wide, lying east of the main
chain of the Leeward and Windward islands. It is flatter,
drier, and more prosperous and tourists who come here
looking for the ‘untouched’ Caribbean are in for a
disappointment. There are no volcanoes or rain forests,
and hardly any rivers, but there are plenty of white sand
beaches and lots of pleasantly rolling countryside with
fields of sugar cane, brightly painted villages, flowering
trees and open pastures. The island is probably better
equipped with infrastructure and reliable tourist services
than anywhere else to the south of Miami on this side of
the Atlantic.
Most
of the island is covered by a cap of coral limestone, up
to 600,000 years old. Several steep inland cliffs or
ridges run parallel to the coast. These are the remains of
old shorelines, which formed as the island gradually
emerged from the sea. There are no rivers in this part of
the island, although there are steep-sided gullies down
which water runs in wet weather. Rainwater runs through
caves in the limestone, one of which, Harrison’s Cave,
has been developed as a tourist attraction. The island’s
water supply is pumped up from the limestone. In the
Scotland District in the northeast, the coral limestone
has been eroded and older, softer rocks are exposed. There
are rivers here, which have cut deep, steep-sided valleys.
Landslides make agriculture and construction hazardous and
often destroy roads.
Barbados
has a population of 265,000. This is more than any of the
Windwards or Leewards, and is considered enough to make
the island one of the ‘big four’ in the Caribbean
Community. With population density of 1,596 per square
mile in 1997, Barbados is one of the most crowded
countries in the world. Because Barbados lies upwind from
the main island arc, it was hard to attack from the sea,
so it never changed hands in the colonial wars of the 17th
and 18th centuries. There is no French, Dutch, or Spanish
influence to speak of in the language, cooking or culture.
People from other islands have often referred to Barbados
as Little England, and have not always intended a
compliment. Today, the more obvious outside influences on
the Barbadian way of life are North American. Most
contemporary Barbadians stress their Afro-Caribbean
heritage and aspects of the culture which are
distinctively ‘Bajan’. There are extremes of poverty
and wealth, but these are not nearly so noticeable as
elsewhere in the Caribbean. This makes the social
atmosphere relatively relaxed. However, there is a history
of deep racial division. Although there is a very
substantial black middle class and the social situation
has changed radically since the 1940s and 50s, there is
still more racial intolerance on all sides than is
apparent at first glance.
Click here to go to Barbados web site. |
