Beautiful Barbados

From http://www.guardian.co.uk/country-profile/barbados

Country profile: Barbados

Facts and statistics on Barbados including history, population, politics, geography, economy, religion and climate

• The Guardian, Saturday 18 April 2009
• Article history

Map of Barbados. Source: Graphic

Potted history of the country: With Caribs long gone from Barbados, British settlers found the island uninhibited on their arrival in 1627. The demand for sugar, rum and molasses made it a common destination for slaves, and the industries flourished long after the abolition of slavery in 1834. The nation retains a strong British culture, four decades after independence in 1966.

1. At a glance
2. Location: The most easterly of the Caribbean islands
3. Neighbours: Trinidad
4. Size: 166 square miles
5. Population: 273,987 (180th)
6. Density: 1,650.5 people per square mile
7. Capital city: Bridgetown (population 116,000)
8. Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II
   Head of government: Prime minister David Thompson
9. Currency: Barbados dollar
10. Time zone: Barbados time (-4 hours)
11. International dialling code: +1 246
12. Website: barbados.gov.bb
13. Data correct on Saturday 18 April 2009

Political pressure points: The prime minister, David Thompson, in power since January 2008, won a no-confidence vote in March over his handling of a financial crisis involving the troubled insurer CLICO. The Barbados Labour party had accused him of masking the extent of an emergency that threatens jobs and pensions.

Population mix: African-Caribbean 80%, European 4%, mixed 16%

Religious makeup: Protestant 36%, Catholic 3%, Muslim 1%

Main languages: English

Living national icons: Kamau Brathwaite (writer), George Lamming (writer), Rihanna (singer), Sir Garry Sobers (cricketer, retired), Obadele Thompson (athletics)

Barbados on a map. Source: Graphic

Landscape and climate: Almost completely encircled by coral reefs, the easternmost Caribbean island's position, tropical climate and gently sloping limestone plains make it fertile growing ground for sugarcane, which covers about 80% of the island's surface. The wet season runs from June to November and the dry season from December to May.

Highest point: Mount Hillaby 336 metres

Area covered by water: Less than one square mile

Healthcare and disease: Occasional outbreaks of Dengue fever are among the few concerns on an island that has some of the best healthcare facilities in the region. The government is funding a $90m (£64m) programme to reduce the country's prevalence of HIV nearer the Caribbean average of 1.2%.

Average life expectancy (m/f): 72/78

Average number of children per mother: 1.5

Maternal deaths per 100,000 live births: 16

Infant deaths per 1,000 births: 12

Adults HIV/Aids rate: 1.5%

Doctors per 1,000 head of population: 1.2

Adult literacy rate: 99.7% (m 99.7%/f 99.7%)

Economic outlook: The end of the construction boom has hurt the tourism industry, and foreign exchange earnings have suffered as offshore banking activities have slowed. The government has committed to stronger trade ties with China.

Main industries: Tourism, banking, insurance, rum

Key crops/livestock: Sweet potatoes, coconuts, poultry

Key export: Rum

GDP: £1,752m (145th)

GDP per head: £5,980

Unemployment rate: 9.8%

Proportion of global carbon emissions: 0.01%

Most popular tourist attractions: Enterprise beach, one of the most popular white-sand beaches, the Andromeda botanic gardens

Local recommendation: A tour of the 350-year-old Sunbury Plantation House, 25 minutes from Bridgetown in the St Philip countryside

Traditional dish: Coucou (cornmeal and okra paste) and flying fish

Foreign tourist visitors per year: 547,534

Media freedom index (ranked out of 173): n/a

Did you know ... Road tennis, originally played on quiet streets with a wooden paddle and a de-fuzzed tennis ball was invented on the island.

National anthem:
We write our names on history's page
With expectations great
Strict guardians of our heritage
Firm craftsmen of our fate

· Information correct on date of first publication, Saturday 18 April 2009.

Ever since I posted the article I'd found on Nidhe Israel Museum, I knew I wanted to visit.  I've always known that one of the earliest-ever synagogues in the western hemisphere was here but I didn't know where it was in Bridgetown, or how to get there.

Then I found out that a local department store had a shuttle to Bridgetown for shopping and I figured we could take that, shop a little, then find the museum and synagogue.  I am not a big fan of Bridgetown.  The very first year we were here a drunks/doped up man put his arm around our son and started talking to him.  Ever since that situation, I've been uncomfortable there.  The parking is also a nightmare as are the narrow one-way streets.  So, when we've wanted something, we've always shopped at a mall on the coast.

We got on the bus at 8:45 am and headed to Bridgetown.  As is usual with these shuttles, we picked up people at 2 or 3 other hotels in Worthing and Hastings before we landed in front of National Heroes Square.   This square used to be called Trafalgar Square until 1999 and has a statue of Lord Horatio Nelson in it.  This statue was erected 30 years before the one in London.  Nelson had sailed to Barbados in 1805. The new memorial, for which the National Heroes Square was named, commemorates Barbadians killed in the two World Wars.

We headed over to Cave Shepherd and bought a few items.  The, off to the synagogue and museum.  Along the way, I was accosted by someone, presumably not the same person who was interested in our son.  He asked for money for "soup" before he was sent on his way.

The Bridgetown Synagogue was just lovely.  It dates back to 1654.  At that time there was a Jewish population of 300 here.  They had left South America and were allowed to settle here.  The synagogue was destroyed by a hurricane in 1831 and rebuilt in 1837.  Today, the original sand floor has been replaced with tiles but the rest has been kept as it was.

The parking lot is being dug up as part of an archeological project of the University of the West Indies.  There were three men working today and we talked extensively with one of them.  (pictures to be posted later!)  So far, they have uncovered the foundation of a rabbi's house, the foundations of other buildings, pottery and artifacts from the Arawak and Carib Indians.  Many of the artifacts are located now in the museum.

The Nidhe Israel (Scattered of Israel) Museum is located in the middle of the synagogue's cemetery.  Many of the inscriptions from the tombs are along the walls along with translations.  We got a partial, very helpful tour from Celso Brewster, the museum's manager.  He explained a lot of the history of the Jewish people before and after they got to Barbados.  We learned a little about the Jewish Diaspora; exodus from Spain and Portugal during the inquisition in 1492.

The Dutch were a major naval power then and were colonizing Brazil.  Many Jews volunteered to settle in Reclife, Brazil, and they learned about sugar there.  Harvesting, marketing, building sugar mills.  They brought all these skills to Barbados when they fled Reclife in 1591.

By 1948 there were only 70 Jewish people still on Barbados and by 1925 only one.  The Nidhe Israel Synagogue was deconsecrated and sold.  In 1931, Askenazi Jews migrated to Barbados from Poland.  Moses Altman and his son, Paul, were among these and they rescued the synagogue from demolition in 1989.

Restoration is still going on and I'm sure much about Barbados will be learned from the archeological findings.

The museum shows the sugar trail, and how spices were traded, the history of the Jewish people before and after they arrived in Barbados and much more.  Embedded in sand and covered with glass are many of the artifacts dug up outside.  These make up much of the floor and it feels a little weird to walk over them.

There were spice exhibits where we got to smell them and guess what they were.  There was an interactive display that showed how much time you'd have to work for various products.  30 days for a pound of saffron!  Wow!

We went back to our bus meeting place and Tom ran into that same guy from this morning.  He actually apologized for hassling us!

Back home and naptime!