Barbados Trivia
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49 free Barbados trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Barbados is a small coral island with an outsized story. It is where grapefruit was born, where the world's oldest rum distillery still operates, where George Washington made his only trip abroad, and where the greatest all-rounder in cricket history learned the game. It became independent in 1966 and dropped the monarchy for a republic in 2021, naming Rihanna a National Hero on the same night. This quiz covers the whole island: geography (why is it flatter than its neighbours?), history (the sugar revolution, the 1661 slave code, Bussa's rebellion, independence), symbols (the broken trident on the flag, the pegged dollar), culture and food (Crop Over, cou-cou and flying fish, Bajan Creole, the Landship) and sport (Sobers, Worrell, Marshall, Kensington Oval). Questions start easy and get hard. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and other reference pages before publishing.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital and largest city of Barbados?
Bridgetown
Bridgetown, in the parish of Saint Michael, holds roughly a third of all Barbadians and sits on Carlisle Bay on the island's south-west coast.
Q 02Within the Caribbean region, Barbados holds which geographic distinction?
It is the easternmost island
Barbados is the easternmost island of the Caribbean, lying alone in the Atlantic about 160 km east of Saint Vincent.
Q 03Barbados became a republic, replacing the Queen with a ceremonial president, on 30 November of which year?
2021
Barbados became a republic on 30 November 2021, when its last governor-general was sworn in as the first president at a midnight ceremony attended by the Prince of Wales.
Q 04Which Barbadian singer was declared a National Hero on the night Barbados became a republic?
Rihanna
Rihanna, born in Saint Michael in 1988, became the island's eleventh National Hero at the republic ceremony, having served as an official ambassador since 2018.
Q 05Barbados gained independence from Britain on 30 November of which year?
1966
Barbados became independent from Britain on 30 November 1966; the anniversary is kept as the Independence Day public holiday.
Q 06Who was Barbados's first prime minister, known as the "Father of Independence"?
Errol Barrow
Errol Barrow, the island's first prime minister, led it to independence and was named a National Hero in 1998; his birthday, 21 January, is a public holiday.
Q 07Who became Barbados's first female prime minister in 2018?
Mia Mottley
Mia Mottley became the island's first female prime minister in May 2018 after her Barbados Labour Party swept all 30 House of Assembly seats.
Q 08Who served as the first president of Barbados?
Sandra Mason
Sandra Mason, the island's last governor-general, was jointly nominated by the prime minister and the opposition leader and sworn in as the first president at the republic ceremony.
Q 09The trident on the flag of Barbados is missing its shaft to symbolise what?
The break from colonial rule
The broken trident stands for the break from colonial rule: the colonial badge showed Britannia holding a whole trident, and the new flag kept only its snapped-off head.
Q 10What do the two ultramarine bands on the flag of Barbados represent?
The sea and the sky
The two ultramarine bands represent the sea and the sky, and the gold band between them stands for the sand of the island's beaches.
Q 11Since 1975 the Barbadian dollar has been fixed to the US dollar at roughly what rate?
2 to 1
The Barbadian dollar has been pegged at 2 to 1 since 1975, so US$1 equals BBD$2; banks quote about 1.98 when buying US cash.
Q 12What is the national dish of Barbados?
Cou-cou and flying fish
Cou-cou and flying fish is the national dish: cou-cou is cornmeal cooked with okra to a soft polenta, served with steamed or fried flying fish in gravy.
Q 13Mount Gay, with a deed dating to 1703, claims to be the world's oldest what?
Commercial rum distillery
Mount Gay calls itself the world's oldest commercial rum distillery on the strength of a 1703 deed; it is named for Sir John Gay Alleyne, who managed the estate.
Q 21Barbadian fast bowler Malcolm Marshall retired as the West Indies' leading Test wicket-taker with how many?
376
Malcolm Marshall took 376 wickets in 81 Tests at an average under 21, a West Indies record when he retired in 1991 and later passed by Courtney Walsh.
Q 22Barbados hosted the final of the Cricket World Cup in which year?
2007
The 2007 World Cup final, Australia beating Sri Lanka, was played at a rebuilt Kensington Oval, which later staged the 2024 T20 World Cup final too.
Q 23Kensington Oval, the island's Test ground, staged its first Test match in which year?
1930
Kensington Oval staged its first Test in January 1930, a draw between West Indies and England, and has been called the 'Mecca' of West Indian cricket.
Q 14Which citrus arose in 18th-century Barbados as an accidental sweet orange–pomelo cross?
Grapefruit
The grapefruit is a natural hybrid of sweet orange and pomelo first recorded in Barbados in the 1700s, where it was nicknamed the 'forbidden fruit'.
Q 15Which crop, introduced from Dutch Brazil in 1640, made Barbados a major plantation economy?
Sugar cane
Sugar cane, brought from Dutch Brazil around 1640, replaced tobacco after prices collapsed in the 1630s and soon made Barbados England's wealthiest colony.
Q 16Barbados's 1661 slave code, the first comprehensive one in an English colony, was a model for which mainland colony?
Carolina
Carolina, founded partly by Barbadian planters, copied the 1661 Barbados code in its own 1696 slave law; Jamaica and Antigua adopted versions too.
Q 17Where does the famous statue commemorating Bussa's 1816 rebellion in Barbados stand?
On a roundabout east of Bridgetown
It was the first of three big slave rebellions in the British West Indies before abolition in 1833.
Q 18Which future US president made his only trip outside what is now the United States to Barbados in 1751?
George Washington
George Washington, aged 19, sailed to Barbados in 1751 with his tubercular half-brother Lawrence and caught smallpox there, his only journey abroad.
Q 19Which Barbadian cricketer scored a then-record 365 not out in 1958 and is called the greatest all-rounder ever?
Garfield Sobers
Garfield Sobers made 365 not out against Pakistan in 1958, a Test record for 36 years; he was knighted in 1975 and named a National Hero in 1998.
Q 20Which Barbadian was the first black cricketer appointed West Indies captain for a full series?
Frank Worrell
Frank Worrell led West Indies throughout the 1960–61 tour of Australia, the first black captain for a full series; the Australia–West Indies trophy bears his name.
Q 24Barbados's carnival-style Crop Over festival originally began in the plantation era to mark what?
The end of the sugar harvest
Crop Over marked the end of the sugar harvest, when the last canes were brought in; it lapsed in the 1940s and was revived in 1974.
Q 25Crop Over ends each year with the Grand Kadooment parade on which day?
First Monday in August
Kadooment Day, a public holiday on the first Monday in August, closes Crop Over with costume bands parading from the National Stadium to Spring Garden.
Q 26Barbadians colloquially call themselves what?
Bajans
'Bajan' is a local contraction of 'Barbadian'; Barbadians call themselves Bajans and nickname the island 'Bim'.
Q 27Bajan Creole is notable among Caribbean creoles for what?
Its grammar most resembles standard English
Emigration to the American South means it left traces in the Gullah language.
Q 28Barbados's name most likely comes from a Portuguese or Spanish word meaning what?
The bearded ones
'Barbados' means 'the bearded ones' in Portuguese and Spanish, possibly after the bearded fig tree's hanging aerial roots or the supposedly bearded Kalinago people.
Q 29Barbados is much flatter than its neighbours because it is geologically made of what?
Coral limestone
A cap of coral limestone up to about 90 m thick covers most of Barbados, raised above the sea as sediment scraped off the South American plate piled up beneath it.
Q 30Mount Hillaby, the highest point of Barbados, rises to only about how high?
340 m
Mount Hillaby reaches only about 340 m, 336 m on survey maps, in the parish of Saint Andrew in the island's hilly north-east.