- published: 08 Aug 2015
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Coordinates: 13°10′N 59°33′W / 13.167°N 59.550°W / 13.167; -59.550
Barbados (i/bɑːrˈbeɪdɒs/ or /bɑːrˈbeɪdoʊs/) is a sovereign island country in the Lesser Antilles, in the Americas. It is 34 kilometres (21 mi) in length and up to 23 kilometres (14 mi) in width, covering an area of 432 square kilometres (167 sq mi). It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about 168 kilometres (104 mi) east of the islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and 400 kilometres (250 mi) north-east of Trinidad and Tobago. Barbados is outside of the principal Atlantic hurricane belt. Its capital is Bridgetown.
Inhabited by Kalingo people since the 13th century, and prior to that by other Amerindians, Barbados was visited by Spanish navigators in the late 15th century and claimed for the Spanish Crown. It first appears on a Spanish map from 1511. The Portuguese visited the island in 1536, but they left it unclaimed, with their only remnants being an introduction of wild hogs for a good supply of meat whenever the island was visited. An English ship, the Olive Blossom, arrived in Barbados in 1625; its men took possession of it in the name of King James I. In 1627, the first permanent settlers arrived from England, and it became an English and later British colony.
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Alison Amanda Hinds (born 1 June 1970) is a British born female soca artist based in the Caribbean island of Barbados. She is one of the most popular soca singers in the world and has been given the nickname the "Queen of Soca".
Alison Hinds was born in London on 1 June 1970 and grew up in Plaistow. Both of her parents were from the island of Barbados, her father a worker at Ford's Dagenham plant. When she was aged 11 her parents split up and she migrated to Barbados with her mother. She competed in the Richard Stoute teen talent contest in 1987, finishing third. She was a lead vocalist in the popular band Square One, joining in 1987 and recording several albums with the band before leaving in 2004 after her daughter Saharan was born. She won the Barbados Song Contest in 1992 with the duet with John King "Hold You in a Song", and the Road March in 1996 and 1997 and Party Monarch competition in Barbados in 1997. She is known as the "Queen of Soca".