Barbados
as the most easterly island in the Caribbean chain of Islands, stretching from
Florida on the North American mainland to the Guianas on the northern mainland
of South America, stands in splendid isolation at Latitude 13° North and
Longitude 59° 37W. With 23 kilometres (14 miles) at its widest point and
34 kilometers (21 miles) long, it is a mere 416 square kilometres (166 square
miles).
Most of
the island is made up of soft marine deposits of coral limestone. This limestone
cover gives way in the north-eastern part of the island to a terrain of clays
and sandstones comprising the Scotland marine sedimentary formation. This
area runs through the parishes of St. Joseph, St. John and St. Andrew and
embraces about one-sixth of the island.
Barbados
has been described as flat and low lying, but in fact, it rises from west
to east in a series of gentle terraces to its highest point of about 1100ft
at Mount Hillaby in St. Andrew. The terrain dips in St. George to form the
St. George Valley, separating the main limestone terraces from a lower limestone
ridge in the Christ Church area.
Temperature
and Rainfall
Barbados enjoys a stable climate. The temperature rarely falls below 23°C
or rises above 30°C. There is a definite "wet season" from July
to November and a "dry season" with minimum rainfall recorded in
February and March.
Population
At the end of 2000 residential population stood at 267,900 with birth rate
per thousand being 14.0 and population growth rate 0.2.
The infant
mortality rate was 10.0 per thousand in 1999 and 16.7 per thousand live births
in 2000.
Live births
totalled 3 764 in 2000.
