Barbuda

The first people on Barbuda were hunter-gatherers who arrived by canoe some 3,000 to 4,000 years ago; Arawak and later Kalinago people followed, the Kalinago calling the island Wa'omoni. After early Spanish and French settlement, an English colony formed in 1666, by which time Codrington was the main place of residence. In 1685 the island was leased to the brothers Christopher and John Codrington, whose family held it as absentee owners until 1870, run by resident managers from a castle that towered over the village until an earthquake ruined it in 1843.

Barbuda's enslaved population grew from 172 in 1746 to 503 in 1831. The enslaved resisted: in Beach's Rebellion of 1741 they rose against a cruel manager, and in 1745 they killed another manager, McNish, and seized the castle and its arms. After slavery was abolished in 1834, Barbudans went on farming the island as common land, because it had all been covered by a single grant.

Barbuda became part of independent Antigua and Barbuda in 1981, keeping its own Barbuda Council, and the Barbuda Land Act of 2007 enshrined communal land rights in law. In September 2017 Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 storm, destroyed more than 90 per cent of the buildings and the whole population was evacuated to Antigua; most residents had returned by February 2019. Since the storm, national policies on Barbudan land and new developments, including the airport opened in 2024, have been at the centre of a political dispute between the island and the national government.

Barbudan identity rests on the land. For generations the island was held in common, and the right to use it is guarded closely; in 2023 the Barbuda People's Movement, which holds the island's seat in parliament and controls its council, vowed to reverse a bill ending communal land ownership, and the dispute has brought renewed calls for independence. The Barbuda Council, elected locally and meeting in Codrington, runs much of island life, from utilities to roads.

The calendar's high point is Caribana in May, with a queen show, a teenage pageant, calypso contests and weekend beach parties. On some Sunday afternoons the Barbuda Turf Club meets for horse racing at a track in the Spring View area. The European fallow deer, found on only one other island in the eastern Caribbean, is a symbol of Barbuda and of the whole country, and hundreds of shipwrecks lie on the reefs around this low, hard-to-see island.

Church is central to life: Pentecostal, Anglican, Wesleyan Holiness and Baptist congregations are the largest, and there is a small Rastafarian community. English and Barbudan Creole are spoken side by side.

Barbuda's population was estimated at about 2,200 in March 2025, higher than before Hurricane Irma, and almost everyone lives in or around Codrington. The village has several churches, a post office, a police station, a hospital in the Spring View area and schools from daycare to secondary, and the Barbuda Council's administration building stands in the Middle Section neighbourhood.

The economy rests mostly on government and tourism, with the central and local governments the largest employers, and fishing provides most of the island's exports, especially lobster caught with low-impact methods handed down over generations. Most homes are single detached houses of concrete block with metal roofs, built on land held under the island's communal system.

Life is quiet and slow. Fishing boats come in to the pier in the afternoon, there is no market, and produce is sold at the roadside or occasionally at the council's agriculture building. Since Irma the basketball and tennis courts have been resurfaced, but the disputes over land, development and the island's relationship with Antigua continue.

Barbuda eats from the sea and the bush. Lobster is the island's prize, cooked straight from the sea and often grilled at the roadside, and crab, conch and fish are also local specialities. Large barracuda are caught close to shore and widely eaten here, and the island's seafood is harvested with low-impact fishing methods developed over many generations.

The island's other specialities are venison from the fallow deer, land turtle, and locally raised beef, lamb and goat. There is no market, so fresh fish and lobster are sold from cold boxes on the street or at the pier, and local fruit and vegetables at the roadside.

Beyond Barbuda's own produce, the table is shared with Antigua: fungie and pepperpot, the national dish of a cornmeal-and-okra dish similar to polenta with a slow-cooked stew; saltfish; and ducana, a sweet potato and coconut dumpling. Local meals are sometimes served with rice, fungie or yabba dumplings, and soursop, ginger beer, passion fruit, sea moss and tamarind juices are among the drinks.