Barba'does, one of the Windward Islands, the most easterly of all the West Indies, lies 78 miles E. of St Vincent, in 13° 4' N. lat., and 59° 37' W. long. Its length is 21 miles; its greatest breadth, 14½ miles; and its area, 166 sq. m., or 106,470 acres, of which no less than 100,000 are under cultivation. At Bridgetown, the capital, is the open roadstead of Carlisle Bay, the only harbour, the island being almost encircled by coral-reefs, which here and there extend as much as 3 miles to seaward. Inside these reefs the coast, excepting at two points, presents long lines of sandy beach. The interior is generally hilly, Mount Hillaby, the loftiest summit, rising 1104 feet above sea-level. Setting aside occasional attacks of yellow-fever, leprosy, and elephantiasis ('Barbadoes leg'), the climate is healthy. The temperature is equable; and the average rainfall is 57 inches. Shocks of earthquake are sometimes felt, and thunderstorms are frequent and severe. But hurricanes are the grand scourge of Barbadoes.
In 1780 one of them destroyed 4326 persons, and property to the value of £1,320,564 sterling; and in 1831 another destroyed 1591 persons, and property to the value of £1,602,800 sterling. In 1780 the winds and the waves together carried a 12-pounder gun 140 yards. Another appalling and destructive hurricane ravaged Barbadoes and St Vincent in September 1898. In 1834, the first year of the apprenticeship under the imperial act of emancipation, the population was 102,231; by 1891 it had increased to 182,306, being an average of 1098 inhabitants to every square mile. About 20,000 are white and the rest coloured. Trade and revenue bear testimony to the benefits of emancipation. Between 1833 and 1892, the revenue had increased from £20,900 to £162,660 (being, however, considerably exceeded by the expenditure, £199,130); the imports, from £481,600 to £1,081,570; the exports, from £408,363 to £926,570. Being everywhere cultivated in regular plantations, Barbadoes (also spelt Barbados) affords no room for the squatting of negroes on unreclaimed lands, as in Jamaica and other West India possessions. On this account, if from no other cause, the negro population have been compelled to labour diligently for hire, and are generally in a condition most creditable to their industry and prudence, contrasting favourably with some of the lower classes among the whites. Altogether, however, the Barbadians are a shrewd and clever people. Barbadoes was made the see of a bishop in 1824; and the bulk of the population belong to the Anglican communion. It contains Codrington College, and many other well-endowed seminaries. It was first colonised by the English in 1625, having previously been depopulated by the Spaniards. The peace of Barbadoes was seriously disturbed in 1876, by riots occasioned by the proposed confederation of the Windward Islands, in which several lives were lost and great damage done to property. See Schomburgk's History of Barbadoes (1848).