User:RiannaNaraine

Harmony Island
Harmony Island is located just above Barbados in the West Indies. It has a population of 124,873 citizens and is one of the smaller populated Caribbean Islands. It is only 378 sq km or 112 square miles in size also making it one of the smaller islands in the Caribbean. It is not commonly a tourist destination as the island is less developed than the more traditional tourist spots in the Caribbean such as Jamaica and Barbados however Harmony Island is arguably one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean, boasting powder white sand and crystal sapphire coloured waters and large, green forest areas inhabited by 80 percent of the islands wildlife. Harmony Island is famous for its exclusive Triaz Parrots, which are extremely rare and only found on Harmony Island.

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The History of Harmony Island
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From the late 14th century until the early 18th century, the island was used as a hang out for pirates who hid their gold and treasures in the islands many caves. The Caves were extremely tall and allowed the pirates to keep their ships in and allowed the treasure not to wash away as the tops of the caves reached above the highest tide point, so the caves were a safe place to keep their riches. Even today, treasures are still being located and discovered in the islands caves. The last discovery was made by Harmonian citizen and island expert John Paul Clarke in 1995 who found a mahogany chest full of Emeralds stolen from Columbia, scriptures and maps dating back to 1754 showing a map of the island. The discovery can now be found at Harmony Island National Museum located in the capital of the island, Harbour Town. The island was also originally inhabited by the Carribs, the Native Indians of the Carribean who inhabited the islands before discoveries were made by Christopher Columbus and various other explorers. These Indians use to hunt and fish on the islands and highly respected their land and wildlife. They lived in a natural environment and preserved and protected their land from intruders. In 1469, the island was discovered by Enrico Vasquez, a Spanish explorer who was part of Christopher Columbus's expedition to discover the rest of the world. Vasquez arrived at Spanish Port, a city now located on the east of the Island who now annually celebrate the Descubrimiento De La Isla celebration of being discovered by Vasquez who is also a nationally recognised figure all over the island. As the island was also inhabited by Native Carribs, there was a small battle which happened from 1470 - 1471 at Battles Peak, the next town to Spanish port over who will have ownership of the island. Vasquez had ideas to colonise the natives and help to build relations and friendships with them so reasoned with them and gave them work and built them houses on the island with materials sourced from the islands rain forest. The Carribs co-operated after realising they would be provided with food and shelter and became the island's fishermen and farmers and also worked on the plantations for the sugar cane and cotton exportation to the North Americas in the early 1500's. Vasquez also bought in the Spanish from Spain who were set for a new life in the Carribean as farmers and fishermen. The Spanish also came through Spanish Port in the early 1500's which was how the harbour found it's name. The Spanish opened up businesses and built towns such as Harbour Town, Spanish Port, Pueblo de Libertad, Battles Peak, Playa Rico, Aldea de Soldado, Vasquez Town, Marshall Point and Jewel Cove. The Spanish also mixed with the native Carribs, leaving the island with a unique race of people known as Native Latinos. The island was run by a Spanish government and leader called Michael Hernandez who reigned from 1564 until 1628. He died of a heart attack whilst visiting Harbour Town. After this, the island saw many more rulers come and go such as Carlos Guevaria, Fernando Emiliez, Miguel Dos Santos, Edward Corales, Christopher Rodrigues and Don Juan Reyes who was the island's latest leader. Reyes was assassinated in Harbour Town in 1876 for trying to impose a status system on the island, enforcing people from different statuses not to mix and making a divide in the island. Also in the late 1700's to the late 1800's, the slave trade also came into Harmony Island, making it easier for the islander's to run their businesses as they could employ slaves for free labour for small sums to slave traders who made it their business to ship Africans to the Caribbean for business and to help out slave masters with running their businesses, as Africans and blacks were seen as inferior. Luckily this did not last very long in Harmony Island, as slave traders realised there were bigger populations to tend to in the bigger Caribbean island such as Jamaica. However this made Harmony Island even more culturally mixed and slaves were set free in 1912 with the new Freedom Law bought in with the island's new communist government. Harmony Island has remained a communist island to this day.

Today in Harmony Island
The island is now famed for it's famous singer Laura Delorez who put the island on the map with her latest new single 'Dance With Me' featuring Usher. Apart from it's Triaz Parrots, the island is also famous for it's unique tasting coffee and fresh, sweet tasting banana's which are it's main two exports. The main jobs in Harmony island consist of manual work and labour still, with small shops and businesses mainly run in Harbour Town. Harmony island is still extremely diverse and also is now home to many South American immigrants who escaped the war in Columbia, Argentina and Venezuela in the mid 20th century.