Barbados is a sovereign island country in the Lesser Antilles in Central America, being the easternmost country in the Caribbean. It is 34 kilometers long and 23 kilometers wide, covering an area of ​​432 km². It is located in the western region of the North Atlantic, 100 kilometers to the east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea. The closest countries on the island are Trinidad and Tobago, being 400 kilometers to the southwest, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, being 168 kilometers to the west. Barbados is off the main hurricane belt area. The nation was discovered by Spanish navigators in the late fifteenth century, entering the domain of the Spanish Crown. Barbados is first identified in a Spanish map of 1511. The Portuguese came to visit the island from 1536, but did not occupy it. The first English ship to move to the region, the Olive Blossom, arrived in Barbados in 1624. They took possession in the name of King James I. In 1627 the first permanent settlers arrived from England, making Barbados a British colony.