Antigua and Barbuda together make up a single independent state. The union is an uneasy one, for their relationship has always been ambiguous and their differences in history and economy greater than their similarities. Barbuda is a flat, dry limestone island. Its inhabitants raised food and livestock for their own use and after the end of slavery resisted attempts to introduce commercial agriculture and stock-rearing. Antigua, by contrast, was dominated by a sugar plantation economy and its goals are now shaped by high-impact tourist development. This is the only comprehensive reference available for locating information about Antigua and Barbuda.