Barbados

Barbados, a colony of Britain until 1966, is a 166-square-mile (430-square-kilometer) island located in the Atlantic Ocean about 200 miles (320 kilometers) northeast of Trinidad and Tobago and about 450 miles (720 kilometers) northwest of Guyana in South America. The World Bank estimates its 2011 population to be 286,705. Most Barbadians are the descendants of African slaves brought to the island during the 17th century to work the sugar cane plantations. Barbados, now a center for financial services and tourism, is economically and politically stable, making it one of the more populated and affluent Caribbean nations. According the 2011 Human Development Index, Barbados ranked 47 out of 187 countries surveyed, giving it a very high developed country rating and placing it above the regional average.

Barbados ...