Antigua and Barbuda is an island nation located in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Antigua () and Barbuda () are located in the middle of the Leeward Islands in the Eastern Caribbean, roughly 17 degrees north of the equator. Antigua and Barbuda are part of the Lesser Antilles archipelago with the archipelago of Guadeloupe to the south, Montserrat to the southwest, Saint Kitts and Nevis to the west and Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin to the northwest.

History

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Main article: History of Antigua and Barbuda

Pre-ceramic Amerindians were the first to inhabit the islands of Antigua and Barbuda in 2400 BC. Later Arawak and Carib Amerindian tribes populated the islands. The island of Antigua was originally named Wadadli by the natives. Christopher Columbus landed on his second voyage in 1493 and gave the island the name Antigua. Early settlements by the Spanish and French were succeeded by the English who formed a colony in 1667 by transporting Irish Catholic slaves to Antigua. Slavery, established to run the sugar plantations on Antigua, was abolished in 1834.

The islands became an independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations on 1 November 1981, and Vere Bird became the first prime minister.

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