Bangladesh protests India's fencing and walling off high-traffic
sections of the porous boundary; a joint Bangladesh-India boundary
commission resurveyed and reconstructed 92 missing pillars in 2007;
dispute with India over New Moore/South Talpatty/Purbasha Island in
the Bay of Bengal deters maritime boundary delimitation; after 21
years, Bangladesh resumes talks with Burma on delimiting a maritime
boundary

Refugees and internally displaced persons:

refugees (country of origin): 26,268 (Burma)
IDPs: 65,000 (land conflicts, religious persecution) (2007)

Illicit drugs:

transit country for illegal drugs produced in neighboring countries

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

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@Barbados

Introduction
Barbados

Background:

The island was uninhabited when first settled by the British in
1627. Slaves worked the sugar plantations established on the island
until 1834 when slavery was abolished. The economy remained heavily
dependent on sugar, rum, and molasses production through most of the
20th century. The gradual introduction of social and political
reforms in the 1940s and 1950s led to complete independence from the
UK in 1966. In the 1990s, tourism and manufacturing surpassed the
sugar industry in economic importance.

Geography
Barbados

Location:

Caribbean, island in the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Venezuela

Geographic coordinates:

13 10 N, 59 32 W

Map references:

Central America and the Caribbean

Area:

total: 431 sq km
land: 431 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative:

2.5 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries:

0 km

Coastline:

97 km

Maritime claims:

territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:

tropical; rainy season (June to October)

Terrain:

relatively flat; rises gently to central highland region

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mount Hillaby 336 m

Natural resources:

petroleum, fish, natural gas

Land use:

arable land: 37.21%
permanent crops: 2.33%
other: 60.46% (2005)

Irrigated land:

50 sq km (2003)

Total renewable water resources:

0.1 cu km (2003)

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):

total: 0.09 cu km/yr (33%/44%/22%)
per capita: 333 cu m/yr (2000)

Natural hazards:

infre