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AREA: 430 sq km (166sq mi).
POPULATION: 262,000.
CAPITAL: Bridgetown, pop. 6,100.
RELIGION: Protestant.
LANGUAGE: English.
LITERACY: 99%.
LIFE EXPECTANCY: 76 years.
ECONOMY: Industry: tourism, food
processing,
component assembly, clothing.
Export crops:
sugar, seafood. Food crops: vegetables,
fish.
Settled by the British in 1627,
Barbados
is the only former Caribbean
colony that
never changed hands. It won independence
in 1966 but retains a strong
British flavor.
With more than 600 people per
square kilometer,
Barbados is one of the world's
most densely
populated nations. Despite high
unemployment,
it has a stable democracy and
a relatively
prosperous economy. Tourism now
supersedes
sugar production.
Text source: National Geographic Atlas of
the World Revised Sixth Edition, 1995
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