ABSTRACT
Antigua and Barbuda, with areas of 280 and 161 square kilometers, respectively, are situated in the Leeward Islands. In 1493, Columbus sighted Antigua, which he named after Santa María La Antigua, the cathedral of Seville. Except for a six-month French occupation in 1666, the islands were exclusively under British rule from 1632 to 1981, when they became independent as a united nation.
