Royal Cruise Line - The History of Antigua

The island's past though is strewn with history. One which in modern times is host to a number of resorts and has a bustling tourist industry, antigua is a beautiful patch of land on our Earth.

Antigua's first well documented settlers, who in turn were succeeded by the Arawaks; these archaic people were succeeded by agriculturalist Saladoid people who migrated from Venezuela. Also known as "archaic people", antigua's earliest settlers were pre-agricultural Amerindians.

The Carib's superior weapons resigned the Arawak's to inevitable defeat and were enslaved and cannibalised. Those who chose to stay were raided by the Carib's, the majority of the Arawaks left Antigua around 1100AD.

This allowed them to populate much of the rest of the Caribbean and even South America. The Carib's were excellent seafarers and were very skilled at boatmaking.

Early attempts to settle on Antigua were futile and it wasn't until 1632 that the English succeeded in colonising the island; because of the excellent defences of the Caribs. Christopher Columbus was the first known European to step foot on Antiguan soil in 1493.

The slaves were treated horribly and made to live in horrific conditions. The Europeans set up sugar plantations all over the islands and imported slaves from the west coast of Africa to work these plantations.

Antigua was used as the HQ for the British Royal Navy during the 18th century.

A trade movement set up in 1939 improved labour conditions for the workers. They did however remain dependent upon the plantation owners financially. Antiguan slaves were emancipated in 1834, as with all slaves in the British Empire.

In 1981 Antigua achieved independence from the United Kingdom.

These days Antigua is a haven for holiday makers from Europe and North America with resorts springing up along the beautiful coastline allowing vacationers to soak up the sun in the beauty of the island, as mentioned above.

There remains no animosity towards Europeans, despite the islands past.