Nicknamed The Rock for its geographical features or Small England for the political and social similarities with the former metropolis, Barbados is the easternmost island of the Lesser Antilles. With a surface of barely 430 square kilometers, this island nation is a just tiny blip on a world map.

From a geological standpoint, this island is a genuine oddity because it came into being when the Atlantic coastline clashed against the Caribbean plaques as a result of a volcanic eruption. Corals did their own toilsome contribution for several million years, whipping the island into shape at approximately 300 feet above sea level.

Featuring a relatively plain relief –the island's highest peak is the Hillaby Mont with a height of roughly 300 meters- Barbados is divided in eleven parishes or districts. The total population is 274,000 inhabitants.

The west part, bathed by the Caribbean Sea, boasts the best beaches, while the east coast is much scraggier because it's in direct contact with the choppy Atlantic Ocean whose great waves provide excellent conditions for the practice of windsurfing and other nautical sports. The south and southeast sides are for sure the safest spots for taking a swim.

First dwellers and the arrival of Europeans Recent archeological findings in the zone of St. Charles Port have allowed scholars to track down the origins of the first islanders to the year 1623 BC. Amerindians canoed their way up from neighboring Venezuela, paddling against fierce tides in rickety boats usually carved out of tree trunks.

Arawaks –members of a tribe of short, brown-skinned Indians- settled down near the coast and used harpoons, nets and hooks to fish. They also grew cotton, cassava, maize and fruit trees like guavas and papaya.

The seemingly ideal life these first islanders used to lead was suddenly interrupted in 1200 AD with the arrival of Caribs, a tribe of warriors that eventually conquered the Arawaks and killed them off little by little. Some bold historians assert the newcomers used to practice cannibalism, the main factor –they say- that took a deadly toll on the defeated. The Portuguese dubbed the island Barbados as they stumbled on it on their way to Brazil. Portuguese explorer Pedro Campos gave the island this name probably inspired by the beardy look of figs that used to grow wildly on the premises.

Spaniards came ashore in 1492 and quickly enslaved the Caribs, despite their ferocious opposition. The brutal hardships and living conditions imposed by the new colonizers –alongside such unknown diseases as smallpox and TB brought in by the conquistadors- soon did the Indians in. The Spanish Crown, however, made a short shrift of the island and embarked on the conquest of neighboring territories in their heated quest for gold, a situation that opened a window of opportunity for other European colonizers who were at the time scouring the region in search of new lands to seize.

British colonization, sugar and slavery The first British ship that docked in Barbados came to the island on March 14, 1625 and its skipper John Powell claimed the new land on behalf of King James I. A couple of years later, another man named Powell –Henry Powell- commandeered a group of 80 Britons and 10 slaves that settled down on the island.

The new conquistadors struck tents in an area they called Jamestown in honor of the British king –this zone is now known as Holetown. The settlers started felling trees and sowing the seeds of tobacco, cotton and other crops.

Sugarcane panned out to be Barbados' top income source until it was recently replaced by tourism, an economic activity that got started in a piecemeal fashion. The farming of the three crops depended almost exclusively on workforce hired in England.

The croplands were assigned to those with no financial problems who were backed up by the metropolis, while the poor –eager to make a killing in the New World- were supposed to sign a contract that forced them to work for landowners for a five-year term. The remainder of the workforce was made up of kidnapped people and convicted criminals sent out from England.

The offspring of some of those white workers and slaves still live on the east coast of Barbados where their ancestors mingled with the black population brought in by the Dutch from West Africa (Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ghana, Cote de Ivory, Nigeria and Cameroon) and were sold to settlers who then used the sweat of their brows in the fledgling sugar industry. Financial problems began pounding Barbados' sugar industrials hard in the late 17th century as a result of natural disasters caused by hurricanes, droughts, plagues and the emergence of the Leeward Islands and Jamaica as tough competitors in the sugar market.

Slave rebellion and emancipation Even though it was not the first slave uprising that ever occurred in the country –the very first happened in 1692- the Bussa Rebellion is penciled in as the longest and best known of all in Barbados' history. On April 14, 1816, rioting slaves tried to throw their weight around the abolition ideals that were making the rounds at the time and launched a coast-to-coast rebellion. This was not spontaneous, off-the-cuff unrest, but rather a well-planned revolt led by Bussa, who eventually died in action during a battle against settlers.

A statue depicting an African Negro defiantly breaking up the shackles of slavery –finally abolished in 1834- was unveiled back in 1985, in one of the road overpasses that connect the airport with the Bridgetown downtown area, to immortalize Bussa's action. On the heels of abolition, former slaves were bound to endure a four-year learning period that forced them to work 45 hours a week without a wage, as a way of paying plantation owners for the small huts they gave them as living quarters. When that span of time was up, over 70,000 African-Barbadians joined the population of free men and women of the British colony.

Independence Barbados' independence went into force on November 30, 1966. Nevertheless, the island never broke free from the former metropolis altogether. Today, the country's top authority is exercised by a Governor appointed by the British Crown, despite having a Prime Minister who serves a five-year term in office.

Over 300 years of British rule left a profound footprint on islanders' way of life and in the country's infrastructure. African influence, though, also roars everywhere to the beat of the drums and is reflected in cuisine traditions, music, architectural styles and street names.

Even the language underwent some kind of a change. Even though English is the official language on the island, most residents tend to communicate in Bajan, the gaudy local dialect. Way over 90 percent of the population is of African origin, descendants of those slaves who were snatched out of their lands in the 17th and 18th centuries. Now, they rub elbows with the children of the first-ever British colonizers, as well as with Hindu, Jewish and Arab immigrants who settled down on the island later on. The strong influence of the so-called Black Continent is mostly seen in crafts, literature, typical food and music –calypso is one of the island nation's major icons.

The finest lifestyles among Bajans –a nickname that Barbadians love- bloom during the island's Crop Over Festival that marks the end of the sugarcane harvest. This particular crop was as the number-one hard currency income source for its residents until the 1980s.

The celebration stretches out during the entire month of July and features an array of cultural, historical and musical events with calypso contests to choose the best performer of the popular rhythm. The whole show comes to a close in early August with the Grand Kandooment, an explosion of colorfulness in which over 25 bands vie to win the prize for the best disguise. The chattels or mobile houses are commonplace all over Barbados and their origin is closely linked to the development of the island's sugar industry. Driven by the need to have living quarters that were easy to assemble and take down, sugarcane cutters cooked up a kind of house that allowed them to move from one plantation to the next in just a couple of shakes

Barbados' Seven Wonders Barbados is blessed with several historical, architectural and natural sightseeing spots that turn the island in a special and one-of-a-kind place. Talk of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World has been going on for ages, but Barbadians like bragging with their own “wonders,” things that no visitor can afford to pass up.

- The Harrison Caves. This is one of the island's major attractions. The first historic background about the caves harks back to the 18th century. A gallery of stalactites and stalagmites, in some cases merging together into huge pillars, offers a spectacular view dotted by eye-popping waterfalls and countless underground streams of crystal-clear water.

- Baobab. This tree is said to have been brought from Guinea in 1738. Two gorgeous trees –probably boasting the widest trunks in the entire Caribbean Basin- grow in Barbados. It takes fifteen men with their hands locked together to embrace the huge baobab at Queen's Park in Bridgetown. The second tree –somewhat smaller- is located in Warren St. at the St. Michael Parish.

- Jacobin-style mansions. Barbados harbors two of the only three Jacobin-style mansions still standing in the Western Hemisphere. Built in the mid 17th century, the San Nicholas Abbey and the Drax Hall Estate rank as two architectural jewels worth stealing a look at. The houses are located at the S. Peter and St. George parishes, respectively.

- The Morgan Lewis Mill. This is one of the two oldest sugar mills still preserved intact in the Caribbean. Located at the St. Andrew Parish, the mill showcases an assortment of ancient tools used to churn out sugar by means of a wind-propelled engine during the colonial rule.

- The Jewish Synagogue. Hunted down by the Dutch, some 300 Brazilian Jews called Barbados their home during the 1660s. Located in Bridgetown, the original temple was built as far back as 1654, though it was swept away by a hurricane in 1831. Fully restored in 1983 –featuring all ornaments and gothic arches- the synagogue is considered a valuable asset by the Barbadian National Heritage Fund.

- The Cannon Collection. The world's oddest collection of 17th-century cannons speaks volumes of how the British Crown turned the island into a major military stronghold in an effort to protect its interests in the Caribbean. Across from the Main Barracks lies the building constructed in 1802 to house the Garrison Savannah. The deck of the military fortress exhibits 26 of the best-preserved artillery guns unearthed all across the island nation.

- The Grapefruit. An old legend goes that the grapefruit –a hybrid resulting from the genetic combination of orange and lime- was first obtained in Barbados. It was then dubbed The Forbidden Fruit. Today, islanders like serving grapefruits cut in halves and sprinkled with a few drops of angostura, a bitter beverage brewed in neighboring Trinidad.