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Antigua and Barbuda Timeline |
A
chronology of key historical events from 1493 to the present
day.
1493 - Christopher Columbus visits Antigua and names it after the Church of Santa Maria de la Antigua in Seville, Spain.
1632 - Antigua colonised by English settlers from St Kitts.
 British rule
1667 - France formally ends its claim to Antigua in accordance with the Treaty of Breda.
1674 - Christopher Codrington, a sugar planter from Barbados, sets up a sugar plantation in Antigua.
1685 - Codrington leases the island of Barbuda from the British crown; African slaves imported to grow first tobacco and then sugarcane on plantations.
1834 - Slaves of Antigua emancipated.
1860 - Barbuda reverts to the British crown.
1871-1956 - Antigua and Barbuda administered together as part of the Leeward Islands federation.
Sir Vere Cornwall Bird Sr. (1910 - 1990) was the first Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda. In 1994 he was declared a national hero.
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The Bird era
1946 - Vere Bird forms the Antigua Labour Party (ALP).
1958-62 - Antigua and Barbuda part of the British-sponsored West Indies Federation.
1967 - Antigua and Barbuda become a self-governing state within the British Commonwealth, with Britain retaining control of defence and foreign affairs.
1969 - Barbuda separatist movement comes into being.
1971 - George Walter replaces Vere Bird as prime minister after the Progressive Labour Movement (PLM) beat the ALP in the general elections.
1972 - Sugar industry closed down.
1976 - ALP, led by Bird, returns to power after winning the general election.
Independence
 Antigua and Barbuda became independent in 1981
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1981 - Antigua and Barbuda becomes independent.
Early 1980s - Attempts made to replant sugarcane fields, but these are finally abandoned in 1985 because of financial problems.
1983 - Antigua and Barbuda supports the US invasion of Grenada (as it has supported US sanctions against Cuba).
1990 - Prime Minister Vere Bird's son, Vere Jr, removed from public office in the wake of allegations of gun-running.
1993 - Vere Bird resigns as prime minister and is replaced by his son, Lester.
1994 - Lester Bird's ALP wins the general elections.
1995 - Riots erupt in protest against new taxes; Bird's brother, Ivor, convicted of smuggling cocaine into Antigua and Barbuda; Hurricane Luis hits the islands, claiming 75% of all homes and setting back development by 10 years.
Allegations of money laundering
1998 - Government closes down six Russian-owned banks accused of money laundering.
1999 February - US State Department describes the country as "one of the most attractive centres in the Caribbean for money launderers".
1999 March - Bird's ALP wins another general election; direct hit by Hurricane Jose causes extensive damage.
2001 Multi-national Financial Action Task Force reports that Antigua is "fully cooperative" in the fight against money laundering.
 The United Progressive Party, led by Winston Baldwin Spencer, won the 2004 general election.
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2004 March - Lester Bird concedes defeat in general election. Baldwin Spencer, leader of United Progressive Party, is sworn in as prime minister.
2004 October - Parliament passes anti-corruption bill, providing for fines and jail terms for errant ministers and officials.
2005 April - Personal income tax - scrapped in 1975 - is re-introduced. Ruling party says move is needed to tackle deficit left by former administration.
2007 March - World Trade Organisation sides with Antigua in ruling that the US has failed to comply with a ruling to relax its restrictions on offshore, online gambling. Antigua, which has an internet betting industry, filed the case in 2003.
2007 December - WTO orders the US to pay compensation to Antigua over its online gambling trade dispute, but far less than the Caribbean nation had been seeking.
source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/country_profiles/1202625.stm |
