Im age s Antigua &Barbuda
Alexis Andrews
Zemi, Barbuda 2000 B.C .
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Barbuda 4000 years later
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Copyright 2007 alexis andrews Indian Creek Publishing ISBN-13: 978-0-9790114-0-5 ISBN-10: 0-9790114-0-X All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher. I would like to thank the following photographers for allowing me to use their images on the pages listed. Allan Aflak p. 74, 76 Sam Bowles, Bowles Associates p. 81 Eli Fuller p. 44 Roddy Grimes-Graeme p. 29, 50, 69, 83, 95, 100, 114, 143 Ken Maguire p. 88, 89 Alex Portman p. 45, 47, 191.5 Cory Silken p. 152 Rick Tomlinson p. 155
All other photographs copyright 2007 alexis andrews I would also like to thank Dr. Reginald Murphy and the Museum of Antigua & Barbuda for allowing me access to their collection of artifacts and historical archives.
Printed in Hong Kong
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Introduction
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Nature
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Culture
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Beaches
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Places
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Ya c h t i n g
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R al ph Camac ho on board Sexy Sue, 1986
Starfish
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Im ag es THIS BOOK is a collection of photographs taken over a 20 year period. It is not meant to be complete in its description of Antigua & Barbuda but will hopefully serve as an introduction to the Islands’ diverse visual stimuli and also as a reminder that there is beauty in the simplest of everyday things. Some of the images were created for advertising purposes and some specifically for this book but all were made trying to remain true to a personal conviction; that if photography is to be powerful it must somehow be a joy to produce. My life on this rock has been an incredible journey made special by the warmth and hospitality of all the people that I have met and spent time with.
This book is dedicated to all of you.
Indian Creek, 2006
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Antiguan Horse Spider
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&
Antigua
Barbuda THE FIRST INHABITANTS of Antigua & Barbuda were an archaic Amerindian people called the Siboney. They arrived by dugout canoe all the way from the Orinoco river basin, settling on various islands along the way. They were religious, hard working hunters, farmers, manufacturers and artists. They also believed that spirits floated around them during their daily activities so it was necessary to have powerful objects, zemis, to ward off any evil that intervened. These zemis, which were created mostly from stone or shells, were often placed in the middle of a settlement where anyone could touch them and they bore the same symbolic weight as modern religious idols.
I nt r o du ct ion
The Siboney or Stone people lived in various places on Antigua & Barbuda and although the names have been mordernised many of these places remain the same to this day. In Barbuda there are several sites which have been identified and excavated by archaeologists and remnants of their history are also preserved in an unofficial open air museum on Barbuda known as Indian Cave. Located on the northeastern coast, it houses a cavern where two small petroglyphs or rock carvings can be seen. Barbuda later became known for shipwreckstrading vessels laden with goods would often run aground on the many coral reefs that litter her circumference.
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by Sandra Gonsalves
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AMERINDIAN AGRICULTURAL activities centred around their villages. They were a very resourceful people who developed tools to make farming less onerous. Conch shells were fashioned to scale fish. Even modern man has yet to develop a painless method of scaling fish. Today Antiguan fishermen still suffer the same scraped knuckles as their Amerindian ancestors. The basic mortar and pestle as we know it was carved out of stone by the Siboney. This was an extremely important utensil in the Amerindian ‘kitchen’ as it was used to ground cassava or manioc. After the cassava was ground it was turned into bread. At a later period, when Arawak indians lived in these islands, acres of fertile land were used to cultivate delicious fruit and vegetables, many of which remain a staple in Antiguan diets. The most famous is the Antigua black pineapple. The sweet, slightly tangy flavour of that bright orange-sunset coloured pineapple was nurtured by the Amerindians. It is one of the few items that link Antigua & Barbuda with its original inhabitants. The ancient fruit can still be seen and sampled on Market Street or in the country at Fig Tree Drive. The fruit has also led Antigua & Barbuda’s adventures abroad as the central element in our coat of arms on the face of our passport.
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Mor ter & Pestle c . 1500 B. C .
Detail from Arawak pot c . 500 A.D.
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ON 11 NOVEMBER 1493 an Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus, working on behalf of the Spanish Crown, sighted the island whose Amerindian name for several thousand years had been Waladli and boldly renamed it Santa Maria la Antigua. Strangely enough, Columbus never set foot on either Antigua or Barbuda but a few centuries later many feet would trample the heavily forested lands that made up the islands’ topography. Little is known about the naming of Barbuda (it was once called Dulcina) but the 62 square mile island was settled by an English planter family called Codrington around 1674. Much has changed in Barbuda since then but the capital still retains the name of Codrington. After Antigua & Barbuda was initially discovered no Europeans actually landed but as economics changed in Europe, the sight of large three and four-masted vessels billowing with canvas became the norm on the Caribbean horizon. Before long these ships and their owners were laying claim to various islands. The French and Dutch periodically tried to take control of Antigua but by 1666 she was formally retained by the Crown of England under the Treaty of Breda.
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AROUND THIS TIME the European sweet tooth became more demanding and the use of the Caribbean as a sugar producing region evolved. Other derivatives of the sugar cane were molasses and rum and their combined export produced enormous riches that eventually had to be protected by fortifications and artillery. Several of these coastal defences are still here today and preserved within the National Park at English and Falmouth harbours. By this time the Arawak Indians had either died from a mixture of intense labour from enslavement and disease or wiped out by the fierce Caribs who regularly raided the islands. Even as recently as the early 1800s Caribs from Dominica would raid Antigua and its plantations, once carrying off the young wife of a plantation owner who was kept by the Carib leader for some time in the densely forested hills of Dominica. Since the enslavement of Amerindians was unsuccessful the idea of importing slaves from Africa became a reality when the first ships docked at Redcliffe Quay. They brought many traditions from Africa which are still prevalent in Antiguan society today. The making and use of various pots is of Ghanaian origins and proves a direct link with the African continent. Around the same time, Antigua’s ethnic makeup was beginning to evolve. In time it would include not only African and English, but by the early 1800s Portuguese and by the 1900s Lebanese and Syrian. In the seventeenth century, however, it was the economics of slavery that cultivated and moulded Antigua and the emerging sugar market.
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Sugarcane
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BETTY’S HOPE in Antigua, which was the largest sugar producing estate and also owned by the Codrington family, still houses two functioning windmills. Despite being ravaged by natural disasters and the elements of time the windmills have been restored to their original working state. In fact, the heavy stone structures of over 100 other stately windmills can still be seen along the country side. As the sugar trade continued to boom the planters demanded protection and by 1725 Antigua became the headquarters for the Royal British Navy. Antigua's unique coastal layout allowed the English an advantage of over their enemies and Admiral Horatio Nelson who commanded the British navy from 1784-87 controlled the West Indian based fleet from English Harbour. A few years after he left the island for his famous Battle of Waterloo the Naval Dockyard was abandoned HIGH RES IAMGE TO COME and eventually fell into disrepair. Ships continued to visit the Dockyard over the years but it was not until much later that things began to change.
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Canonball c .1760
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TODAY THE ENTIRE AREA is known as Nelson'sDockyard National Park and the old naval dockyard has been restored to its former Georgian glory. Canons still stand at the ready at Barclay Point and Blockhouse near Fort Shirley while the Admiral’s former residence is now a museum created through the tireless efforts of the late and wonderful Desmond Nicholson. By 1968 there were enough yachts based here that a regatta was held - the first Antigua Sailing week - and everyone agreed that it should be held annually and now along with the Charter Yacht Show in December, Antigua Sailing Week is considered an important international event on the Antiguan calendar. Antiguans and Barbudans are a positive people and each year in August we commemorate emancipation in with a carnival . For one week during the summer calypsonians with their melodic rhymes and masqueraders in their bright colourful costumes perform on stage and in the streets. A frenzy of loud live music and dance is rife in several areas of St. John’s. These days we have an additional celebration in our calendar year as we were granted independence from Great Britain in November 1981.
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Ash cloud from Montserrat Volacano, Shirley Heights Lookout
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THE TOURISM MARKET CONTINUES to flourish and much like the sugar industry before it, is driven by sales mostly from both the European and American markets. Although both islands first received much of their visitors through conventional advertising and word of mouth, one man and his cricket bat played a fair part in influencing the tourism product. Sir Vivian Richards whose cricketing test match career spanned 17 years shattered records and left the name Antigua & Barbuda on people’s lips. Redonda, A large rock protruding from the deep blue depths of Caribbean sea is also considered a part of Antigua. Redonda’s history includes a phosphate mining business from the 1800s until the early 1900s after which the island was taken over by goats. An extraordinary set of circumstances also led Redonda to being listed as a kingdom! Due to the sheer cliffs and lack of good anchorage visitors have been few and far between over the years and to this day the island is a safe refuge for a nesting booby bird colony-one of the very few between here and the Galapagos. Antigua & Baruda’s history is rich, colourful and enchanting but it is perhaps the unchanged places that are still the most mystical - the same rainforest, the same caves and rocks shaped by time, the swirling seas and the same beaches where the Amerindians, the first Antiguans, sat quietly peering out to sea. The same spirits that they welcomed and those that they shunned with their zemis could still be floating around today.
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Mining equipment, Redonda
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Nature [ 28 ]
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Thorn tree, rainforest
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Leaf veins
Heliconia
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Cassi
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Claw
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Sunset on Darkwood lagoon
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Frangipani (Ca ri b b e a n Ja s mi n ) t h e h o st pl a n t
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Fra ngip ani Hawkmoth Caterpillar
African Egret
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Culture [ 58 ]
Coa lp o t, Elvie’s Pottery, Seaview Farm
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Bookies Bar, All Saints 1986
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B ar bu d a Fi s her ma n , 19 8 6
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Cornfield
Roast Corn on the roadside
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Market fruit
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Kai, Antigua Carnival Queen
Andre, International Kiteboarding Champion
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Bummy, Sailing Week spectator, Standfast Point
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Antigua Carnival
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April 1986, Antigua Recreation Ground - West Indies vs England. With this bat Sir Vivian Richards breaks the world record for the fastest century ever made in a test match [ 80 ]
MUSEUM OF ANTIGUA & BARBUDA
Sir Vivian Ric hards
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