entific research or for any other peaceful purposes

Transnational Issues Antarctica

Disputes - international:
Antarctic Treaty freezes claims (see Antarctic Treaty Summary in
Government type entry); sections (some overlapping) claimed by
Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, NZ, Norway, and UK; the US and
most other states do not recognize the territorial claims of other
states and have made no claims themselves (the US and Russia reserve
the right to do so); no claims have been made in the sector between
90 degrees west and 150 degrees west; several states with land
claims in Antarctica have expressed their intention to submit data
to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf to
extend their continental shelf claims to adjoining undersea ridges

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

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@Antigua and Barbuda

Introduction Antigua and Barbuda

Background:
The Siboney were the first to inhabit the islands of Antigua and
Barbuda in 2400 B.C., but Arawak and Carib Indians populated the
islands when Columbus landed on his second voyage in 1493. Early
settlements by the Spanish and French were succeeded by the English
who formed a colony in 1667. Slavery, established to run the sugar
plantations on Antigua, was abolished in 1834. The islands became an
independent state within the British Commonwealth of Nations in 1981.

Geography Antigua and Barbuda

Location:
Caribbean, islands between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic
Ocean, east-southeast of Puerto Rico

Geographic coordinates:
17 03 N, 61 48 W

Map references:
Central America and the Caribbean

Area:
total: 443 sq km (Antigua 280 sq km; Barbuda 161 sq km)
water: 0 sq km
note: includes Redonda, 1.6 sq km
land: 443 sq km

Area - comparative:
2.5 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries:
0 km

Coastline:
153 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm

Climate:
tropical; little seasonal temperature variation

Terrain:
mostly low-lying limestone and coral islands, with some higher
volcanic areas

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: Boggy Peak 402 m

Natural resources:
NEGL; pleas