Geography of Barbados
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This article describes the geography of Barbados.
Barbados is the easternmost island of the Lesser Antilles, situated 480 kilometers north of Guyana, 160 kilometers east of St. Vincent, and 965 kilometers southeast of Puerto Rico. This isolated pear-shaped island extends for 34 kilometers along a north-south axis and has a maximum breadth of 23 kilometers, giving it a total land area of 430 square kilometers.
Barbados is fringed with coral reefs. The island itself is characterized by lowlands or gently sloping, terraced plains, separated by rolling hills that generally parallel the coasts. Elevations in the interior range from 180 to 240 meters above sea level. Mount Hillaby is the highest point at 340 meters above sea level. Farther south, at Christ Church Ridge, elevations range from sixty to ninety meters.
Eighty-five percent of the island's surface consists of coralline limestone twenty-four to thirty meters thick; Scotland District contains outcroppings of oceanic formations at the surface, however. Sugarcane is planted on almost 80 percent of the island's limestone surface. The soils vary in fertility; erosion is a problem, with crop loss resulting from landslides, washouts, and falling rocks. Most of the small streams are in Scotland District. The rest of the island has few surface streams; nevertheless, rainwater saturates the soil to produce underground channels such as the famous Coles Cave.
Barbados lies within the tropics. Its generally pleasant maritime climate is influenced by northeast trade winds, which moderate the tropical temperature. Cool, northeasterly trade winds are prevalent during the December to June dry season. The overall annual temperature ranges from 24°C to 28°C; slightly lower temperatures prevail at higher elevations. Humidity levels are between 71 percent and 76 percent year round. Rainfall occurs primarily between July and December and varies considerably with elevation. Rainfall may average 187.5 centimeters per year in the higher central area as compared with 127.5 centimeters in the coastal zone.
- Location
- Barbados is Caribbean: an island between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Venezuela
- Geographic coordinates
- Map references
- Central America and the Caribbean
- Area
-
- Total: 431 km²
- Land: 431 km²
- Water: 0 km²
- Area comparative
-
- Australia comparative: 5.5 times smaller than the Australian Capital Territory
- Canada comparative: slightly larger than London
- United Kingdom comparative: slightly larger than the Isle of Wight or Saint Helena
- United States comparative: 2.5 times the size of Washington, DC, about the size of San Antonio, Texas, or half the size of New York City
- Land boundaries
- 0 km
- Coastline
- 97 km
- Maritime claims
-
- Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
- Territorial sea: 12 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%
- Permanent crops: 2%
- Permanent pastures: 5%
- Forests and woodland: 12%
- Other: 44% (2005 est.)
- Irrigated land
- 50 km²
- Natural hazards
- Infrequent hurricanes; periodic landslides
- Environment - current issues
- Pollution of coastal waters from waste disposal by ships; soil erosion; illegal solid waste disposal threatens contamination of aquifers
- Environment - international agreements
-
- Party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution
- Signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
- Geography - note
- Easternmost Caribbean island
[edit] References
- This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain.
- This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain.
Antigua and Barbuda · Bahamas · Barbados · Belize · Canada · Costa Rica · Cuba · Dominica · Dominican Republic · El Salvador · Grenada · Guatemala · Haiti · Honduras · Jamaica · Mexico · Nicaragua · Panama · Saint Kitts and Nevis · Saint Lucia · Saint Vincent and the Grenadines · Trinidad and Tobago · United States
Dependencies and other territories
Anguilla · Aruba · Bermuda · British Virgin Islands · Cayman Islands · Greenland · Guadeloupe · Martinique · Montserrat · Navassa Island · Netherlands Antilles · Puerto Rico · Saint Pierre and Miquelon · Turks and Caicos Islands · U.S. Virgin Islands
