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49 free Antigua and Barbuda trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Antigua and Barbuda is two very different islands and a rock: Antigua with its 365 beaches, English Harbour and cricket, Barbuda with its lagoon, pink sand and the world's largest colony of magnificent frigatebirds, and uninhabited Redonda with its guano miners and its literary kings. This quiz covers the country from the Arawaks and Columbus's naming in 1493 through sugar, slavery and Prince Klaas's plot, the Codrington family's 200-year lease of Barbuda, Nelson's years in the dockyard, independence on 1 November 1981 and the four decades of the Bird family. The modern questions take in Gaston Browne, the Allen Stanford fraud, citizenship by investment, Hurricane Irma's evacuation of every Barbudan in 2017 and the fight over communal land. Sport and culture are here too: Viv Richards's 56-ball century, Curtly Ambrose's 7 for 1, Brian Lara's 400 at the Recreation Ground, Sailing Week, Carnival, fungee and pepperpot, the black pineapple and the flag with its rising sun. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the country, its islands, sites and people, so the dates and figures will hold up.
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Q 01Antigua and Barbuda's low-lying shape comes mainly from which kind of rock rather than volcanic activity?
Limestone
Limestone: northern and eastern Antigua and the whole of Barbuda are low coral limestone, which keeps the islands mostly flat; only Antigua's southwest is volcanic.
Q 02What is the capital and most populous city of Antigua and Barbuda?
St. John's
Around a quarter of the country lives in the city and most of the rest along the All Saints Road.
Q 03Barbuda's sole settlement is named after which family, who leased the whole island from 1685?
The Codringtons
The single land grant is why Barbudans have held land communally ever since.
Q 04The names Antigua and Barbuda are Spanish for what?
Ancient and bearded
Ancient and bearded: antigua means 'ancient' or 'old' and barbuda means 'bearded', a reference either to the islanders' beards or to Barbuda's bearded fig trees.
Q 05Which explorer sighted the islands in 1493 and may have named Antigua after an icon in Seville Cathedral?
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus sighted Antigua on his second voyage in 1493 and is credited with naming it after Santa María la Antigua, an image venerated in Seville Cathedral.
Q 06The Arawak-speaking Saladoid people introduced which prized fruit to Antigua?
The black pineapple
The black pineapple, Antigua's national fruit, is credited to the island's early Arawak farmers; the small, very sweet variety is grown mainly around Cades Bay in the southwest.
Q 07In which year did Edward Warner's party establish the first successful British colony on Antigua?
1632
In 1632 Edward Warner, son of St Kitts colonist Sir Thomas Warner, led the party that founded Antigua's first lasting British settlement.
Q 08In which year did mining on Redonda end, leaving the island uninhabited?
1929
Redonda's mines, worked since the 1860s, dwindled during the First World War and closed for good in 1929; the island has had no permanent residents since.
Q 09Betty's Hope, established in 1650, was Antigua's first large-scale plantation growing what?
Sugar
Sugar: Betty's Hope, founded in 1650, was Antigua's first large sugar plantation; its twin windmill towers, one restored to working order, survive as an open-air museum.
Q 10Which enslaved leader planned a 1736 revolt and had proposed making Antigua an independent kingdom?
Prince Klaas
Prince Klaas, also recorded as Court or Kwaku Takyi, planned the 1736 uprising; the plot was uncovered and he was broken on the wheel, and Antigua and Barbuda now honours him as a national hero.
Q 11Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbour is the world's only continuously working dockyard from which era?
Georgian
Georgian: the Royal Navy built the English Harbour dockyard in the 18th century and it is billed as the only working Georgian-era dockyard left; Nelson served there from 1784 to 1787.
Q 12Antigua and Barbuda gained full independence on which date?
1 November 1981
Antigua and Barbuda became independent from Britain on 1 November 1981, remaining a Commonwealth realm with the British monarch as head of state.
Q 13Which dynasty dominated the country's politics from 1960 to 2004 with only one interruption?
The Birds
Q 21Codrington Lagoon on Barbuda is famous for its huge breeding colony of which bird?
Magnificent frigatebird
Magnificent frigatebird: thousands nest in the mangroves of Codrington Lagoon, a colony often called the largest in the Western Hemisphere; courting males inflate a scarlet throat pouch.
Q 22The Antigua and Barbuda flag, adopted in 1967, was chosen from a competition with how many entries?
More than 600
More than 600 designs were entered in the national competition to choose the flag; the winner shows a rising sun for the dawn of a new era, with black for African heritage.
Q 23The flag's yellow, blue and white bands stand for the sun, the sea and what?
Sand
Vere Bird ruled 1981-94 and his son Lester 1994-2004; the airport is named V. C. Bird.
Q 14Vere Bird Jr. left Antigua's cabinet in 1990 over smuggling weapons from which country to Colombian traffickers?
Israel
Israel: a 1990 inquiry found Vere Bird Jr. had helped route Israeli-made arms through Antigua to the Medellín cartel, and he was barred from holding public office.
Q 15Who became prime minister after leading the Labour Party to victory in 2014?
Gaston Browne
Gaston Browne led the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party to victory in June 2014 and was sworn in as prime minister, succeeding Baldwin Spencer.
Q 16Which Texan financier's Antigua-based bank was accused in 2009 of an $8 billion fraud?
Allen Stanford
Allen Stanford's Stanford International Bank in Antigua was charged by the SEC in February 2009 with running an $8 billion Ponzi scheme; in 2012 he was sentenced to 110 years.
Q 17Hurricane Irma in September 2017 damaged or destroyed roughly what share of Barbuda's buildings?
95%
About 95% of Barbuda's buildings were damaged or destroyed when Hurricane Irma struck on 6 September 2017, and the island's entire population was evacuated to Antigua.
Q 18After Irma, the government moved to end Barbuda's long-standing system of what?
Communal land ownership
Communal land ownership: the government amended the Barbuda Land Act 2007 so residents could buy freehold plots, ending the island's communal tenure; critics called the move 'disaster capitalism'.
Q 19Boggy Peak, the country's highest point at 402 metres, bore what name from 2009 to 2016?
Mount Obama
Mount Obama: Boggy Peak was renamed in 2009, the ceremony falling on Barack Obama's birthday, and reverted to its old name in 2016.
Q 20Redonda, the country's uninhabited third island, was once mined for what?
Guano
Guano: seabird droppings rich in phosphate were dug from Redonda from the 1860s for fertiliser; the rock later became the setting for the whimsical 'Kingdom of Redonda'.
Sand: the yellow, blue and white bands beneath the flag's rising sun stand for sun, sea and sand; black is for the soil and African heritage, red for energy.
Q 24Antigua and Barbuda's currency has been pegged since 1976 at what rate to one US dollar?
EC$2.70
EC$2.70: the Eastern Caribbean dollar has been fixed at 2.70 to the US dollar since July 1976 and is shared by eight members, independent states and British territories alike.
Q 25What are the two national dishes of Antigua and Barbuda?
Fungee and pepperpot
Fungee and pepperpot: fungee is a cornmeal-and-okra dough similar to polenta, and pepperpot is a thick stew of salted meat with greens such as spinach, eggplant and okra.
Q 26Which beer, named after Antigua's Amerindian name, is brewed on the island?
Wadadli
Wadadli, brewed by Antigua Brewery, takes its name from the Arawak name for Antigua; the rival Caribbean lagers come from Trinidad, St Lucia and Dominica.
Q 27Sir Viv Richards scored a 56-ball Test century in Antigua in 1986 against which team?
England
England: Richards hammered 110 not out from 56 balls in Antigua in April 1986, the fastest Test century until Brendon McCullum's 54-ball hundred in 2016.
Q 28Wisden named Viv Richards one of its five Cricketers of the Century in which year?
2000
In 2000 Wisden named Viv Richards one of its five Cricketers of the Century alongside Bradman, Sobers, Hobbs and Warne; he never lost a Test series as captain.
Q 29Curtly Ambrose took a famous 7 wickets for 1 run against which side in 1993?
Australia
Australia: at Perth in February 1993 Ambrose took seven wickets for one run in 32 balls, and West Indies won the Test by an innings to take the series 2-1.
Q 30Brian Lara set the record Test score of 400 not out at which Antiguan venue in 2004?
The Recreation Ground
The Recreation Ground in the capital staged Lara's 400 not out in April 2004, a decade after he had made his 375 on the same pitch.