Barbados 10-CENTS (KM21)¶
-
Reverse LAUGHING GULL
-
Obverse Coat of Arms
- Composition
- Copper-Nickel
- Country
- Barbados
- Approx. Size
- 18mm
- Area
- Caribbean
- Animal Class
- Birds
- Species
- Laughing Gull
- KM#
- 21
The Laughing Gull has appeared on Barbado's 10-cent coin continuously since it was first minted in 1973. Many coin collectors mistakenly call this bird "Bonaparte's Tern." As far as I can tell, there is no such thing. There is a 'Bonaparte's Gull', but it is not known in Barbados beyond rare 'accidental' sightings.
Barbados¶
- Area
- Caribbean
Barbados is a small (430 sq.km) coral island in the Caribbean that exports sugar and rum, and imports tourists. Although people are known to have lived there from 350 CE on, the island was uninhabited when British sailors landed in the 1620s. Settlers followed a few years later, and the island was under continuous British rule until it gained independence in 1966. Today, close to 90% of Barbadians are of African descent, mostly descended from slaves on sugar plantations. Barbados currently has one of the highest standards of living and literacy rates in the world.
