ANTIGUA, ANTIGOA, or ANTEGO, one of the prin cipal West India islands, belonging to Great Britain. It is situated about 20 leagues to the eastward of St. Chris topher's, and is about 20 miles in length, and 50 in cir cumference. This island was discovered by Columbus, in the course of his second voyage ; but it was found totally uninhabited by those few Frenchmen, who fled to it in 1628, when they were driven from St Christo pher's by the Spaniards. This was probably owing to the want of fresh water, for there is not a single rivu let or spring on the whole island ; and the same reason induced these fugitives to leave it, as soon as they could recover their former habitations. But nature presents few obstacles, which the avarice or industry of man will not finally surmount. The country was fertile, and it was found that cisterns might be employed to collect rain water, so as to supply the natural want of springs. Accordingly, in 1632, a few English families took up their residence on this island, and began the cultivation of tobacco ; but the number did not much increase for some years, until lord Willoughby, of Parham, to whom king Charles II. had, in 1663, made a formal grant of Antigua, sent over a considerable number of inhabitants, at his own expense. The settlement, however, was nearly strangled in its infancy ; for, in 1666, a French armament from Martinico, with a body of Caribs, inva ded the island, and ravaged the country with fire and sword. All the negroes that could be found were taken away ; and the inhabitants, after beholding their houses and estates in flames, were plundered even to the clothes on their backs, and the shoes on their feet, without dis tinction of age or sex. This island, however, was re stored to the English in 1668, by the treaty of Breda, and it gradually recovered from these calamities, through the enterprise and attention of colonel Codrington, who removed to it from Barbadoes, in 1674, and employed his knowledge in the cultivation of the sugar cane, with such success, that others, animated by his example, and assisted by his advice, engaged in the same pursuits.
At first, indeed, the produce was black, harsh, and coarse, and on this account it was rejected in England ; and when it was sold in Holland and the Hanse Towns, it did not bring so high a price as that of the other colo vies. But, at length, the planters triumphed over these obstacles, and brought sugar to the market, equal, in value and quality, to that of any of the islands.
Antigua contains two different kinds of soil. The one is a black mould, on a substratum of clay, which is na turally rich, and is very productive when vegetation is not choked by excessive droughts, to which this island is particularly subject. The other is a stiff clay, on a substratum of marl. It is much less fertile than the former, and abounds with a species of grass, which can not be eradicated ; so that many estates, consisting of this kind of soil, which were once very profitable, are now so overgrown with it, as to be converted into pas ture, or so impoverished, as to be entirely abandoned. But, exclusive of these deserted lands, and a small part of the country which is unimprovablc, the rest of the island may be said to be under cultivation. The whole extent of Antigua is about 59,838 acres, of which about 34,000 are appropriated to the growth of sugar, and to pasturage connected with it. The other principal arti cles of cultivation arc cotton and tobacco ; and, in favour able years, the planters also raise considerable quantities of provisions. From the circumstances already mention ed, it is difficult to furnish an average return of the crops, which vary so much, that the quantity of sugar exported from this island in some years, is four times greater than in others ; and indeed, in some years there have been no crops of any kind, in consequence of the want of rain for many months together. According to the abbe Raynal, this island, in a good season, produces eighteen or twenty millions weight of raw sugar, and a proportional quantity of rum ; but the late historian of the West Indies, Mr Edwards, states, that 17,000 hogs heads of sugar, of sixteen cwt. is considered as a good saving crop.