Antigua & Barbuda: Physical Geography

Antigua and Barbuda consists of two main inhabited islands, Antigua and Barbuda, along with the small, uninhabited island of Redonda, all located in the Lesser Antilles chain of the eastern Caribbean. Barbuda lies roughly 30 miles north of Antigua, while Redonda sits about 35 miles southwest. Together the islands form a compact archipelago whose geology has been shaped more by limestone deposition than by volcanic activity.

Antigua's terrain is generally low and undulating, though its southwestern corner rises to volcanic hills reaching about 1,330 feet at Mount Obama, the country's highest point. The island's coastline is notably irregular, with numerous bays, headlands, and offshore reefs that have long given it a reputation for having a beach for nearly every day of the year. Barbuda, by contrast, is a flat coral island with a modest highland region in its northeast reaching roughly 300 meters.

Both islands sit atop the Barbuda Bank, an undersea limestone platform, and their karst landscapes feature caves and sinkholes typical of coral-cap geology. The absence of significant rivers or reliable freshwater sources has long shaped settlement patterns and agriculture, a constraint dating back to the earliest years of European colonization that continues to affect water management today.