50 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.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Antigua and Barbuda's low-lying shape comes mainly from which kind of rock rather than volcanic activity?
Limestone
Both have irregular coastlines dotted with beaches, lagoons and natural harbours.
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
'Bearded' may refer to the islanders or to the island'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
The Arawaks had called Antigua Waladli; 'Wadadli' comes from a 1970s song's misspelling.
Q 06The Arawak-speaking Saladoid people introduced which prized fruit to Antigua?
The black pineapple
It is said to be the sweetest variety of pineapple in the world.
Q 07In which year did Edward Warner's party establish the first successful British colony on Antigua?
1632
A Spanish attempt in 1520 had failed.
Q 08Guano mining on Redonda ended in which year, after which the island was left uninhabited?
1929
The rock was annexed to the parish of Saint John in 1872.
Q 09Betty's Hope, established in 1650, was Antigua's first large-scale plantation growing what?
Sugar
The Codringtons owned it from 1674 to 1944.
Q 10Which enslaved leader planned a 1736 revolt and had proposed making Antigua an independent kingdom?
Prince Klaas
The plot was discovered before it began and the ringleaders were executed.
Q 11Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbour is the world's only continuously working dockyard from which era?
Georgian
Horatio Nelson lived there from 1784 to 1787; it became a UNESCO site in 2016.
Q 12Antigua and Barbuda gained full independence on which date?
1 November 1981
Vere Bird became the first prime minister and the country stayed a Commonwealth realm.
Q 13Which dynasty dominated the country's politics from 1960 to 2004 with only one interruption?
The Birds
Vere Bird ruled 1981-94 and his son Lester 1994-2004; the airport is named V. C. Bird.
Q 21Codrington Lagoon on Barbuda hosts the world's largest colony of which bird?
Magnificent frigatebird
It is the largest saltwater lagoon in the Eastern Caribbean.
Q 22The Antigua and Barbuda flag, adopted in 1967, was chosen from a competition with how many entries?
More than 600
Sir Reginald Samuel's design shows a rising sun for the dawn of a new era.
Q 23The successive colours on the flag from the sun downwards represent soil, sun, sea and what?
Sand
Black also stands for African ancestry, blue for hope and red for energy.
Q 14Vere Bird Jr. left Antigua's cabinet in 1990 over smuggling weapons from which country to Colombian traffickers?
Israel
His brother Ivor was convicted of cocaine possession in 1995.
Q 15Who became prime minister after leading the Labour Party to victory in 2014?
Gaston Browne
He describes his foreign policy as 'friends of all; enemies of none'.
Q 16Which Texan financier's Antigua-based bank was accused in 2009 of an $8 billion fraud?
Allen Stanford
He had also bankrolled the Stanford 20/20 cricket tournaments.
Q 17Hurricane Irma in September 2017 damaged or destroyed roughly what share of Barbuda's buildings?
95%
The entire population was evacuated to Antigua for the first time in 300 years.
Q 18After Irma, the government moved to revoke Barbuda's century-old law on what?
Communal land ownership
Critics called the plan to let residents buy land 'disaster capitalism'.
Q 19Boggy Peak, the country's highest point at 402 metres, was known by what name from 2008 to 2016?
Mount Obama
It is the remnant of a volcanic crater in Antigua's south-west.
Q 20Redonda, the country's uninhabited third island, was mined until 1929 for what?
Guano
The rock is nearer Montserrat than Antigua and is the setting for the mythical 'Kingdom of Redonda'.
Q 24Antigua and Barbuda's currency has been pegged since 1976 at what rate to one US dollar?
EC$2.70
Six independent states and two British territories share the Eastern Caribbean dollar.
Q 25What are the two national dishes of Antigua and Barbuda?
Fungee and pepperpot
Fungee is a cornmeal dish like polenta; ducana is a sweet-potato-and-coconut dumpling.
Q 26Antigua Sunday bread differs from most breads because it is made with what instead of butter?
Lard
'Bun and cheese' raisin buns are the Easter favourite.
Q 27Sir Viv Richards scored a 56-ball Test century in Antigua in 1986 against which team?
England
It stayed the fastest ever until Brendon McCullum's 54-ball ton in 2016.
Q 28Wisden named Viv Richards one of its five Cricketers of the Century in which year?
2000
He captained the West Indies to 27 wins in 50 Tests, losing only 8.
Q 29Curtly Ambrose took a famous 7 wickets for 1 run against which side in 1993?
Australia
He finished with 405 Test wickets at under 21 apiece.
Q 30Brian Lara set the record Test score of 400 not out at which Antiguan venue in 2004?
The Recreation Ground
He had scored 375 there ten years earlier, both times against England.