HISTORY
Antigua
was first inhabited by the Siboney ("stone people")
whose settlements date at least to 2400 BC. The Arawaks--who originated
in Venezuela and gradually migrated up the chain of islands now
called the Lesser Antilles--succeeded the Siboney. The warlike
Carib people drove the Arawaks from neighboring islands but apparently
did not settle on either Antigua or Barbuda.
Christopher
Columbus landed on the islands in 1493, naming the larger one
"Santa Maria de la Antigua." The English colonized the
islands in 1632. Sir Christopher Codrington established the first
large sugar estate in Antigua in 1674, and leased Barbuda to raise
provisions for his plantations. Barbuda's only town is named after
him. Codrington and others brought slaves from Africa's west coast
to work the plantations.
Antiguan
slaves were emancipated in 1834 but remained economically dependent
on the plantation owners. Economic opportunities for the new freedmen
were limited by a lack of surplus farming land, no access to credit,
and an economy built on agriculture rather than manufacturing.
Poor labor conditions persisted until 1939 when a member of a
royal commission urged the formation of a trade union movement.
The Antigua
Trades and Labor Union, formed shortly afterward, became the political
vehicle for Vere Cornwall Bird, who became the union's president
in 1943. The Antigua Labor Party (ALP), formed by Bird and other
trade unionists, first ran candidates in the 1946 elections and
became the majority party in 1951, beginning a long history of
electoral victories.
Voted
out of office in the 1971 general elections that swept the progressive
labor movement into power, Bird and the ALP returned to office
in 1976, winning renewed mandates in every subsequent election
under Vere Bird’s leadership until 1994 and also under the
leadership of his son, Lester Bird, up until March 2004, when
the ALP lost power in national elections.
In the last elections on March 23, 2004, the United Progressive Party (UPP) won 12 of the 17 seats in Parliament. The main opposition ALP, now led by Steadroy "Cutie" Benjamin, retained four seats.
