Barbados-Tuturas+Simona

=Barbados=


 * || [[image:http://www.infoplease.com/images/mbarbado.t.gif width="120" height="119" caption="Map of Barbados" link="http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/country/barbados.html"]] Map of Barbados ||

Major sources and definitions =Geography= An island in the Atlantic about 300 mi (483 km) north of Venezuela, Barbados is only 21 mi long (34 km) and 14 mi across (23 km) at its widest point. It is circled by fine beaches and narrow coastal plains. The highest point is Mount Hillaby (1,105 ft; 337 m) in the north-central area. =Government= Parliamentary democracy. =History= Barbados is thought to have been originally inhabited by Arawak Indians. By the time Europeans explored the island, however, it was uninhabited. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to set foot on the island, but it was the British who first established a colony there in 1627. Colonists first cultivated tobacco and cotton, but by the 1640s they had switched to sugar, which was enormously profitable. Slaves were brought in from Africa to work sugar plantations, and eventually the population was about 90% black. A slave revolt took place in 1816; slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1834. Barbados was the administrative headquarters of the Windward Islands until it became a separate colony in 1885. Barbados was a member of the Federation of the West Indies from 1958 to 1962. Britain granted the colony independence on Nov. 30, 1966, and it became a parliamentary democracy within the Commonwealth. Since independence, Barbados has been politically stable. In May 2003, Prime Minister Arthur won a third term. In parliamentary elections in January 2008, the Democratic Labour Party won 20 out of 30 seats. Former junior finance minister David Thompson took over as prime minister. media type="youtube" key="iWlOwXtEexc&hl=en" height="355" width="425" Barbados is the furthest East of the Caribbean islands and the greater part of the 257,082 population live in the capital Bridgetown. Barbados is a Parliamentary democracy within the Commonwealth and the Queen is the Head of State. The manufacturing sector consists mainly of light industry with the production of cement the only heavy industry. Barbados is the most easterly of the Caribbean islands, immediately east of the Windward Islands and 460 km north-west of Venezuela. Since 1966 it has been an independent sovereign state within the British Commonwealth. Tourism is Barbados' leading industry but the island also produces about 80,000 tonnes of sugar per annum, mainly for the UK market. The offshore business sector has emerged as one of the main growth areas in recent years, now the second largest earner of foreign exchange after tourism. Tax and other concessions are offered to offshore companies engaged in investment, export manufacturing, banking and trusts, insurance, ship registration and foreign sales corporations. No capital gains or estate duty taxes are applied, and exemptions from exchange controls apply to certain approved investments Barbados has no railway. There is one major port, at Bridgetown, and two minor ports. The principal airport is Grantley Adams International Airport, approx. a 30 minute drive from Bridgetown.
 * Sovereign:** Queen Elizabeth II (1952)
 * Governor-General:** Sir Clifford Husbands (1996)
 * Prime Minister:** David Thompson (2008)
 * Current government officials**
 * Land area:** 166 sq mi (430 sq km); **total area** 166 sq mi (431 sq km)
 * Population (2008 est.):** 281,968 (growth rate: 0.3%); birth rate: 12.4/1000; infant mortality rate: 11.0/1000; life expectancy: 73.2; density per sq mi: 654
 * Capital and largest city (2003 est.):** Bridgetown, 98,900
 * Monetary unit:** Barbados dollar
 * Language:** English
 * Ethnicity/race:** black 90%, white 4%, Asian and mixed 6%
 * Religions:** Protestant 67% (Anglican 40%, Pentecostal 8%, Methodist 7%, other 12%), Roman Catholic 4%, none 17%, other 12%
 * National Holiday:** Independence Day, November 30
 * Literacy rate:** 97% (1995 est.)
 * Economic summary:** **GDP/PPP** (2005 est.): $4.841 billion; per capita: $17,400. **Real growth rate:** 2.5%. **Inflation:** –0.5% (2003 est.). **Unemployment:** 10.7% (2003 est.). **Arable land:** 37.21%. **Agriculture:** sugarcane, vegetables, cotton. **Labor force:** 128,500 (2001 est.); services 75%, industry 15%, agriculture 10% (1996 est.). **Industries:** tourism, sugar, light manufacturing, component assembly for export. **Natural resources:** petroleum, fish, natural gas. **Exports:** $209 million (2004 est): sugar and molasses, rum, other foods and beverages, chemicals, electrical components. **Imports:** $1.476 billion (2004 est.): consumer goods, machinery, foodstuffs, construction materials, chemicals, fuel, electrical components. **Major trading partners:** U.S., UK, Trindad and Tobago, St. Lucia, Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Japan (2004).
 * Member of Commonwealth of Nations**
 * Communications: Telephones:** main lines in use: 135,700 (2004); mobile cellular: 200,100 (2004). **Radio broadcast stations:** AM 2, FM 6, shortwave 0 (2004). **Television broadcast stations:** 1 (plus two cable channels) (2004). **Internet hosts:** 241 (2005). **Internet users:** 150,000 (2005).
 * Transportation: Railways:** 0 km. **Highways:** total: 1,600 km; paved: 1,600 km (2003). **Ports and harbors:** Bridgetown. **Airports:** 1 (2005).
 * International disputes:** in 2005, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago agreed to compulsory international arbitration that will result in a binding award challenging whether the northern limit of Trinidad and Tobago's and Venezuela's maritime boundary extends into Barbadian waters and the southern limit of Barbadian traditional fishing; joins other Caribbean states to counter Venezuela's claim that Aves Island sustains human habitation, a criterion under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which permits Venezuela to extend its EEZ/continental shelf over a large portion of the Caribbean Sea
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