Parishes of Antigua and Barbuda

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Updates: 

FIPS PUB 10-4 Change Notice 13 was issued on 2008-02-04. A code has been created for Redonda, formerly unnoted by the standard. It has been added to the table.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter I-8, published on 2007-04-17, has new ISO parish codes for Antigua and Barbuda. They are shown in the table below. They replace codes from a draft version, ISO/DIS 2166-2, which had not been supported. (The current document uses the name "Saint John's" instead of "Saint John".)

"Antigua and Barbuda: a Legacy of Environmental Degradation, Policy Failure, and Coastal Decline" by Klaus de Albuquerque and Jerome L. McElroy is an online document  from the Environmental and Natural Resources Policy and Training Project (EPAT). It includes population figures from three censuses, which I have placed in the Population history section. I also used them to replace the rounded figures in the main table. Celvin Ruisdael provided this reference.

A review of available information indicates that Redonda, although uninhabited, is considered a separate dependency from Barbuda. I have added it to the table (but left the HASC code for Barbuda unchanged).

International standard ISO 3166-2 was published on December 15, 1998. It superseded ISO/DIS 3166-2 (draft international standard). For Antigua, the draft standard showed seven parishes with their codes. The final standard mentions that there are seven parishes, but declines to specify names or codes. It says that these divisions are "not relevant".

Country overview: 

At the beginning of the 20th century, Antigua was one of five presidencies of the Leeward Islands, a British colony. On 1956-06-30, each presidency became a separate colony. On 1981-11-01, Antigua was granted full independence, and renamed Antigua and Barbuda.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Antigua og Barbuda
2. Dutch: Antigua en Barbuda
3. Finnish: Antigua ja Barbuda
4. French: Antigua et Barbuda f
5. German: Antigua und Barbuda n
6. Icelandic: Antigúa og Barbúda
7. Italian: Antigua e Barbuda
8. Norwegian: Antigua og Barbuda
9. Portuguese: Antígua f e Barbuda f (n in Portugal)
10. Spanish: Antigua y Barbuda
11. Swedish: Antigua och Barbuda

Origin of name: 

Antigua was named by Columbus after Santa Maria la Antigua, a chapel in Seville (Spanish antigua: ancient).

Primary subdivisions: 

Antigua and Barbuda is divided into six parishes and two dependencies.

Territorial extent: 

Antigua Island, and several closely adjacent islands such as Guana Island and Long Island, are partitioned by the six parishes. Barbuda Island, with its adjacent islets, forms the dependency of Barbuda. Redonda Island forms another dependency. Redonda is actually nearer to Montserrat than to Antigua.

Origins of names: 

1. Barbuda: thought to be named, like Barbados, for wild fig trees whose aerial roots give them a bearded appearance.
2. Redonda: Island was named Nuestra Señora de la Redonda by Columbus (Spanish redonda: round).

Change history: 

1. 1872: According to the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda's history  page, Redonda became part of Saint John's parish.
2. 1967-02: Redonda became a dependency of Antigua and Barbuda.

Other names of subdivisions: 

Some sources show the saints' names in the possessive, e.g. Saint George's parish.

Population history:

Notes: 1960 data are de facto population. 1970 data are calculated from sampling. 1991 data are generated resident population.