Map of Caribbean

Barbados

Area: 430 sq km; 166 sq mi
Population: 274,000 (June 2006)
Capital City: Bridgetown
People: About 80% of Barbados's population are of African descent, 4% European descent, and 16% mixed. Barbados's population growth rate has been very low, less than 1% since the 1960s.
Languages: English
Religion(s): Protestant 67% (Anglican 40%, Pentecostal 8%, Methodist 7%, other (e.g. also small Jewish and Muslim communities) 12%), Roman Catholic 4%, other 12%, none 17%.
Currency: Barbadian Dollar (BBD) The exchange rate is tied to the US dollar. 1 US$ = 1.998 BD$.(approx. 3.92 BD$ = £1.00)

GEOGRAPHY

Barbados is the most easterly of the Caribbean islands. Most of the island is relatively flat, with low, gentle hills in the interior, except for the north-east, which rises up to 340 metres. The west coast has white sandy beaches and calm turquoise waters. The east side of the island faces the more turbulent Atlantic. Coral reefs surround most of the island.

HISTORY

The original inhabitants of Barbados were Arawak Indians, who were driven off the island around AD 1200 by invading Carib Indians from Venezuela. The Carib Indians in turn abandoned the island around 1500. Portuguese explorer Pedro a Campos in 1536 named the island Los Barbados (Bearded Ones), presumably after the long, hanging aerial roots of the island's fig trees, which resemble beards. English settlers established the island’s first European settlement in 1627. In the 1640s the colonists planted their fields with sugarcane and brought slaves to the island to work on the sugar plantations. The sugar industry continued to boom until the 19th century. Barbados gained internal self-government in 1961 and became an independent nation on 30 November 1966. Since independence, Barbados has been a stable democracy.

Basic Economic Facts

GDP: (at market prices) for 2005: (Economic Planning & Research Unit, Barbados Ministry of Economic Affairs & Development, August 2006*) - BD$6,122-2m or US$3,061-1m.
GDP per capita at factor cost for 2005: (see * above) - BD$18,400 or US$9,200-00 (an 8.8% increase over 2004)
Annual Growth: 3.5% (2006)
Inflation: 7.6% (September 2006 - Central Bank of Barbados, January 2007)
Unemployment: (September 2006 - Central bank of Barbados, January 2007) Major Industries: tourism, offshore financial services, sugar, light manufacturing, component assembly for export

About the people

Dominican Republic

Area: 48,730 sq km (18,704 sq mi)
Population: 8,895,000 (2005 UN est.)
Capital City: Santo Domingo (pop. approx. 3 million). Second largest city: Santiago de los Caballeros (pop. 500,000)
People: Mixed 73%, European 16%, African origin 11%
Language(s): Spanish
Religion(s): Roman Catholic 95%

GEOGRAPHY
Location: Caribbean, eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. Haiti occupies the western third.
Geographical co-ordinates: 19 00 N, 40 40 W.
Terrain: Mountainous
Climate: Maritime tropical. Little seasonal temperature variation; seasonal variation in rainfall.

HISTORY

The island of Hispaniola, of which the Dominican Republic forms the eastern two-thirds and Haiti the remainder, was originally occupied by the Tainos, an Arawak speaking people. The Tainos welcomed Colombus in his first voyage in 1492, but subsequent colonisers were brutal, reducing the Taino population from about 1 million to a few thousand in 50 years. To ensure adequate labour for plantations, the Spanish brought African slaves to the island beginning in 1503.

In the next century, French settlers occupied the western end of the island, which Spain ceded to France in 1697, In 1804, forces led by Juan Pablo Duarte, the hero of Dominican Independence, drove out the settlers and established the Dominican Republic as an independent state.

ECONOMY

GDP: purchasing power parity - $52.71 billion (2003 est.)
Per Capita GDP: purchasing power parity - $6000 (2003 est.)
Annual Growth: 9.3% GDP growth in 2005.
Major Industries: (Industry = 17% of GDP). Sugar refining, pharmaceuticals, cement, ferronickel and gold mining, light manufacturing, construction, services (including offshore assembly operations, especially textiles), and transportation

St Vincent

Area: 389 sq km; 150 sq miles
Population: 117, 848 (July 2006 estimate)
Capital : Kingstown
People: Most Vincentians are the descendants of African slaves brought to the island to work on plantations. There are also a few white descendants of English colonists, as well as some East Indians, Carib Indians, and a sizeable minority of mixed race. St Vincent has a high rate of emigration. With extremely high unemployment and underemployment, population growth remains a major problem.
Languages: English
Religion(s): Anglican 47%, Methodist 28%, Roman Catholic 13%, Seventh Day Adventist, Hindu, other Protestant 12%
Currency:Eastern Caribbean Dollar (XCD) GBP1.00 = 5.33 XCD, 1 EUR = 3.60 XCD

GEOGRAPHY

St Vincent and the Grenadines is a multi-island nation consisting of the main island St Vincent, which covers about 85% of the country's territory, and of 32 smaller islands and cays, the Grenadines. St Vincent is a high volcanic island. A volcanic ridge runs from Grenada in the south up through the Grenadine islands. St Vincent is hilly and its rich volcanic soil is very productive. The Grenadines, flat, mainly bare coral reefs, lie like stepping-stones between St Vincent and Grenada. Fewer than a dozen of these islands are populated. The largest are Bequia, Canouan, Mayreau, Mustique and Union Island. These are relatively low-lying. All islands have beautiful white-sand beaches.

HISTORY

St Vincent was originally settled around 5,000 BC by the Ciboney people, then by the Arawaks and subsequently by the warlike Caribs. The island was sighted by Christopher Columbus in 1498 who named it St Vincent.

Granted by Charles I to the Earl of Carlisle in 1627, the islands were disputed between Britain and France but were finally ceded to Britain in 1783. Internal self-government was granted in 1969 and St Vincent and the Grenadines attained independence within the Commonwealth in 1979.