Antigua & Barbuda genealogy may seem complex and it turns out that potentially it just might be the case for many. Part of the issue is its location, as it makes up part of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean Sea. Therefore, there are may hurricanes and humidity that can impact records. Like many of the Caribbean islands, the history consists of slavery with more than 90% of the population being of African descent.
The country consists of three islands named Antigua, Barbuda and Redonda. Note that Redonda is an uninhabited island. The island was initially colonized by Spanish and French to then later be settled by the British. Finally in 1667, the islands became a British colony with Barbuda becoming part of the colony in 1860.
For this country, tobacco was the initial commercial crop. Eventually, it would change to sugarcane. Hence, this brought in Africans as enslaved people to the island. Then in 1834, slavery was abolished by the British. Like many of the other islands, it did not necessarily mean they were truly freed but that it would open up to be exploited like many other places throughout the Americas. Finally in 1981, the islands would become independent.
This now leads to what is below, which are links are posted to assist you with Antigua & Barbuda genealogy research. Note that some posts that appear below are related to Puerto Rico and/or the
- African Slavery in the Caribbean & South America
- Genealogy Lesson on Last Names When Researching
- Slavery in the Caribbean
- Santiago Margarida – 8 Years Old Facing Slavery
- Finding Passengers in the US Virgin Islands 1906 to 1947
- Antigua, Nevis,
Montserrat , St. Christopher and Falmouth Records for the 1700s - Finding a Family History Center for Free Research
- Understanding Your X Chromosome DNA
- Ancestry’s Genetic Communities for DNA – My View
- Finding a Family History Center for Free Research
- Slave Voyage Database & Slave Registers for British Colonies
- African Holocaust and the Impacts to Our Ancestors
- Video Tutorial: Looking at Digital Records on FamilySearch
- How to Find Ancestors on Family Search Website
- How Recent Was An Ancestor From A Region?
- Genealogy Help for All of the Caribbean
- PARES – Portal to Spain’s Archives
- PARES – Portal to Spain’s Archives – Part 2
- What To Do With Your DNA Test Kit And How To Understand It?
- Finding Records on FamilySearch for Genealogical Research
- Using the International Genealogical Index for Research
- Researching Your African Ancestry in the Caribbean
- Interesting DNA Results from AncestryDNA
- Researching Your Haitian Ancestry
- Questions on Family Research
- Indexing: Why You Should Help Family Search
- Lesson Learned in Researching Your Genealogy
- Kissing Cousins – A Reality in All Family Trees
- So Why Do Genealogy?
- Round Robin Genealogy
- Puerto Rican and Dominicans – Getting Your DNA Tested for Genealogical Purposes