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About Barbados

     Barbados (IPA: [bɑrˈbeɪdos]), situated just east of the Caribbean Sea, is an independent island nation in the western Atlantic Ocean. At roughly 13° North and 59° West, the country lies in the southern Caribbean region, where it is a part of the Lesser Antilles island-chain. Its closest island neighbours are St. Vincent and St. Lucia to the west, Grenada to the south-west, and Trinidad and Tobago to the south, with which Barbados now shares a fixed official maritime boundary.

     Barbados's total land area is about 430 square kilometres, (166 square miles), and is primarily low-lying, with some higher regions in the island's interior. The organic composition of Barbados is thought to be of non-volcanic origin and is predominantly composed of limestone-coral. The island's climate is tropical, with constant trade winds off the Atlantic Ocean serving to keep temperatures mild. Some more undeveloped areas of the country contain woodland and scrubland. Other parts of the interior which contribute to the agriculture industry are dotted with large sugarcane estates and wide, gently sloping pastures, with many good views down to the sea coast.

     Barbados has one of the highest standards of living and literacy rates worldwide. Despite its small size, Barbados's Human Development Index ranking is consistently among the top 50 in the world. For example, in 2006, it was ranked thirty-first in the world, and third in the Americas, behind Canada and the United States. The first indigenous people were Amerindians who arrived here from Venezuela around 350 CE. The Arawak people were the second wave of migrants, arriving from South America around 800 CE. Arawak settlements on the island include Stroud Point, Chandler Bay, Saint Luke's Gully and Mapp's Cave. According to accounts by descendants of the aboriginal Arawak tribes on other local islands, the original name for Barbados was Ichirouganaim. In the thirteenth century, the Caribs arrived from South America in the third wave, displacing both the Arawak and the Salodoid-Barrancoid. For the next few centuries, the Caribs — like the Arawak and the Salodoid-Barrancoid — lived in isolation on the island.

     The origin of the name Barbados is controversial. It was the Portuguese that were the first to conquer (discover) and name the island. As early as 1511, the island is referred to as Ilha dos Barbados (island of the bearded ones) in an official Portuguese document. It is a matter of conjecture whether the word "bearded" refers to the long, hanging roots of the bearded fig-tree (Ficus citrifolia), indigenous to the island, to bearded Amerindians occupying the island, or to the foam spraying over the outlying reefs giving the impression of a beard. In 1519, a map produced by the Genoese mapmaker Vesconte de Maggiola showed and named Barbados in its correct position north of Tobago.

About St. George

Saint Georgeis a parish of Barbados at the southeastern end of the island.

St. Georgehas the largest land area of the 11 parishes of Barbados and has a relatively flat 'close to sea-level' terrain. St. Philip has the largest area of crop cultivation making it locally considered "the country". St. Philip does not have a 'true' city as some other parishes but rather 'areas' and 'villages'. Six Cross Roads is the largest area by virtue of both commercial and residential population and is the central hub for the parish.

Six Cross Roads, or locally known as just Six Roads, is a roundabout and its immediate neighborhood of which six roads converge extended in from the west 'from city' (Bridgetown); north-west toward Four Cross Roads and St. George; north-east toward Bushy Park; east toward Bayfield; south-east toward The Crane; south-west toward Oistins. Though there are a few areas in Barbados known as 'Four Cross Roads' there is only one area known as 'Six Cross Roads'. This parish is home to the only 'dependency' of Barbados called Culpepper Island. This tiny rock in the ocean is used as a feeding ground for sheep but cant be reached unless by boat or by foot at low tide.