page_title: Antigua
section_title: British
hierarchical_section_title: Antigua / History / British
caption_attribution_description: English: Jolly Harbour on the western coast of the Antigua island, Caribbean.
context_page_description: Antigua, also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the West Indies. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Barbuda became an independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations on 1 November 1981.
  Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish after an icon in Seville Cathedral, "Santa Maria de la Antigua" — St. Mary of the Old Cathedral. The name Waladli comes from the indigenous inhabitants and means approximately "our own". The island's circumference is roughly 87 km and its area 281 km². Its population was 80,161. The economy is mainly reliant on tourism, with the agricultural sector serving the domestic market.
  Over 22,000 people live in the capital city, St. John's. The capital is situated in the north-west and has a deep harbour which is able to accommodate large cruise ships. Other leading population settlements are All Saints and Liberta, according to the 2001 census.
  English Harbour on the south-eastern coast provides protected shelter during violent storms.
context_section_description: Christopher Columbus named the island "Antigua" in 1493 in honour of the "Virgin of the Old Cathedral" (Spanish: La Virgen de la Antigua) found in Seville Cathedral in southern Spain. On his 1493 voyage, honouring a vow, he named many islands after different aspects of St. Mary, including Montserrat and Guadeloupe.
  In 1632, a group of English colonists left St. Kitts to settle on Antigua. Sir Christopher Codrington, an Englishman, established the first permanent British settlement. The island rapidly developed as a profitable sugar colony. For a large portion of Antigua history, the island was considered Britain's "Gateway to the Caribbean". It was located on the major sailing routes among the region's resource-rich colonies. Lord Horatio Nelson, a major figure in Antigua history, arrived in the late 18th century to preserve the island's commercial shipping prowess.
  According to A Brief History of the Caribbean, British diseases, malnutrition and slavery eventually destroyed the vast majority of the Caribbean's native population. There are some differences of opinions as to the relative importance of these causes.
caption: Aerial view of Jolly Harbour on the western coast of Antigua.
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