Bridgetown
| Bridgetown | |
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| Coordinates: | |
|---|---|
| Country | Barbados |
| Parish | Saint Michael |
| Established | 1628 |
| Area | |
| - City | 15.0 sq mi (38.8 km²) |
| Population (2006) | |
| - Metro | 96,578 |
| HDI (2006) | 0.971 – high |
The City of Bridgetown is the capital and largest city of the nation of Barbados. The Bridgetown port is located on the southwestern coast of the island along Carlisle Bay. Established by the British in 1628, Bridgetown is a West Indies tourist destination, and acts as an important financial, informatics and convention centre in the Caribbean region.
Geography
Bridgetown is located on a built-up coastal strip that stretches for several miles on each side of the town. The city's centre was originally a swamp, which was drained and filled-in to make way for city's early development.
Barbados has a tropical climate, with mostly sunny and fair weather. Temperatures in January range from 69.8°F (21°C) to 82.4°F (28°C), and in July from 73.4°F (23°C) to 86°F (30°C). The heat is tempered by the prevailing cool northeast tradewinds. The dry season occurs from January to June, and the hurricane season extends from June to October, although hurricanes usually miss Barbados. Instead, there are spectacular tropical rainstorms, which are short, heavy, and dry up quickly. Total mean annual rainfall is 32.6 inches 829.8mm).
The Constitution River draining the west coast lies about a half kilometer south of Bridgetown port. The Careenage, which has an obsolete dry dock and wharves, provides anchorage for pleasure craft or fishing boats, and has two main bridges near the city center.
The city of Bridgetown, and the wider Greater Bridgetown area, cover around 15 square miles (39 square kilometers). The Central Bank, Treasury Building, and National Insurance Building dominate the skyline.
The main street is Broad St, which runs, parallel to the Careenage, directly through the centre of the city, past the Parliament Buildings, and is clustered with stores, restaurants, banks, and other services. Bay St is another major traffic artery into the city. The Spring Garden Highway, which lies to the west of the city, plays host to over 85,000 bystanders and participants in the annual Grand Kadooment Carnival Parade. Ribbon development stretches inland and along the coasts. Numerous businesses have relocated to suburban malls.
History
Although the island was totally abandoned or uninhabited when the British landed there, one of the few traces of indigenous pre-existence on the island was a primitive bridge constructed over the Careenage area's swamp at the centre of Bridgetown. It was suspected that this bridge was created by a people indigenous to the Caribbean known as the Arawak. Upon finding the structure the British settlers began to call what is now the Bridgetown area, Indian Bridge. It is widely believed that the Arawaks were driven from Barbados to the neighbouring island of Saint Lucia, during an invasion by another people indigenous to the region known as the Caribs. Eventually after 1654 when a new bridge was constructed over the Careenage by the British, the area became known as The Town of Saint Michael and later as Bridgetown, and the final name stuck.
The British established Bridgetown after their settlement at James Town.
Bridgetown is the only city outside continental North America that George Washington visited. (George Washington House, the actual house where he stayed, is now part of the Garrison Historic Area)
From 1800 until 1885 Bridgetown served as the main seat of Government for the former British colonies of the Windward Islands. During this period the resident Governor of Barbados also served as the Colonial head of the Windward Islands. After the Government of Barbados officially exited from the Windward Island union in 1885, the seat was moved from Bridgetown to St. George's on the neighbouring island of Grenada.
Barbados has been governed by the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) for the last thirteen years, commonly called the "Owen Arthur Administration". Prime Minister Owen S. Arthur was chosen from among leaders around the globe to deliver the William Wilberforce lecture on the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade.
Amongst the breathtaking landscapes, and the fresh look of the city; Barbados attracts many investors from various fields. The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup tournament attracted thousands of visitors to the island and was a very prosperous event. The final match was played on Saturday April 28, 2007.
Government
Barbados is a parliamentary democracy within the British Commonwealth. The chief of state Queen Elizabeth II represented by a Governor General. The head of government is the prime minister. The bicameral parliament consists of the Senate, of 21 appointed seats, and the House of Assembly, of 30 members elected by direct popular vote to serve five-year terms.
Formerly, the Town of Saint Michael the city of Bridgetown, and the Greater Bridgetown area occupy most of the parish of Saint Michael. Parts of the Greater Bridgetown area lie along the borders of the neighbouring parishes Christ Church and St. James.
Economy
Since achieving independence in 1966, the island nation of Barbados has transformed itself from a low-income economy dependent upon sugar production, into an upper-middle-income economy based on tourism and the offshore sector. Barbados went into a deep recession in the 1990s after three years of steady decline brought on by fundamental macroeconomic imbalances. After a painful readjustment process, the economy began to grow again in 1993. Growth rates have averaged between three and five percent since then.
Bridgetown serves as the administrative centre of Barbados, houses most government ministries and departments, a principal center for wholesale and retail commerce and trade, as well as a central hub for the island's public transport system. The City of Bridgetown also has a well regulated stock exchange with securities of Barbadian and regional Caribbean companies.
Per capita GDP of Barbados was estimated at $US19,300 in 2007.
All seven of Barbados's primary Highways begin close to the City of Bridgetown. Public transport services in Barbados are operated by buses, mini-buses and by "route-taxis", or "ZRs", which are privately owned mini vans that are a cross between taxis and buses.
The Grantley Adams International Airport is located in Seawell, Christ Church. The city of Bridgetown and New York City in the United States, were the only cities in the western hemisphere to be served by the now retired British Airways Concorde flights, and the Grantley Adams airport is one of four global display sites for the retired supersonic aircraft.
The Bridgetown Port (or "Deep Water Harbour" as its known) is the port of entry for cruise and cargo ships docking in Barbados, and is one of the shipping and transhipment hubs for the entire Eastern Caribbean. The Deep Water Harbour lies a short distance across Carlisle Bay northwest of the Careenage Canal.
Demographics
Bridgetown's metropolitan population was 96,578 in 2006.
For a city of its size, the Greater Bridgetown area is home to several prestigious educational institutions. The city serves as the seat of one of the three campuses of the University of the West Indies in the northern suburb of Cave Hill. The campus sits on a bluff offering a spectacular view of Bridgetown and its port. The Barbados Community College is located three miles east of the Central Business District in a suburb known as "The Ivy", while the sprawling campus of the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic is located just beyond the eastern limits of the city in a suburb known as "The Pine". In addition, the city houses such distinguished secondary schools as Harrison College, Combermere and The St.Michael School.
Of interest
The Public Buildings or parliament, which stand at the heart of the city directly north of Heroes Square, house the third oldest continuous parliament in the British Commonwealth. Indeed, at one point in the city's early history, Bridgetown was the most important city of all British possessions in the New World due to the city's easterly location in the Caribbean region.
The City of Bridgetown also played host to the 1994 United Nations Global Conference on Sustainable Development of Small Islands States. Bridgetown has branches of some of the largest banks in the world and English-speaking Caribbean and is internationally recognised as an emerging financial domicile. The city is currently experiencing a phenomenal spurt of redevelopment in preparation for the 2007 World Cricket Cup Finals to be held at the historic Kensington Oval. The Oval is being renovated to a state-of-the-art sports facility that will accommodate 30,000 spectators. Live viewership for the 2007 event is estimated to be in the region of two billion people.
Other sites of interest include:
- National Heroes Square (formerly Trafalgar Square) and Fountain Garden [1]
- Parliament Buildings of Barbados
- The Cathedral Church of Saint Michaels and All Angels
- The St. Mary's Anglican Church
- The St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral
- The Jewish Synagogue
- The Pelican Village and Craft Centre
- Queen's Park
- The Nelson Statue
- The Barbados Museum
- Kensington Oval (site of the 2007 Cricket World Cup final)
- Carlisle Bay Beach
- Cheapside market
- The Tom Adams Financial Complex
- The Frank Collymore Hall of the Performing Arts
- The Cathedral Plaza
- The Cave Shepherd Department Store (No.10 Broad Street)
- The Sagicor Building (lower Broad Street)
- The Cheapside Gardens
- The Red Light District
- Sagicor Plaza
- The Garrison Savannah and National Historic Area
- The Hilton Hotel
Attractions: Pierhead Development Complex
Re-development
- In 2004 the capital of Bridgetown celebrated its 375th Anniversary of Establishment, and did so with a year long calendar of events and twinning agreements with Bridgetown, Nova Scotia, Canada, and with Wilmington in North Carolina, United States.
See also
- Demographics of Barbados
- List of cities in Barbados
- Parishes of Barbados
- Transportation in Barbados
Notes
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Encyclopaedia Britannica Bridgetown Retrieved August 7, 2008.
- World Fact Book 2008 Barbados Retrieved August 7, 2008.
External links
- Historical info of Bridgetown - Barbados postal service
- Deep Water Harbour Port
- Bridgetown Cruise Terminals
- Map overview of Bridgetown
- Overview of Bridgetown
- Aerial view over Bridgetown's centre
- Detailed map of Bridgetown
- The Importance of Bridgetown in the New world - The UNESCO World Heritage Centre website
- The City of Bridgetown to be revamped (Tuesday, May 30, 2006) - Barbados Advocate Newspaper
- Square on target (Tuesday, January 2, 2007) - Barbados Nation Newspaper
- Then & Now - Swinging into history (Sunday, July 24th, 2005) - Barbados Nation Newspaper
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