After the British settled the island in the 1600s, it was for centuries little more than a giant sugar factory that produced sugar and rum to send home. Around Antigua, the tall brick chimneys of a hundred deserted and decaying sugar mills bear witness to that long colonial era. Today, though, it is tourism that drives the country's economy; dozens of hotels and restaurants have sprung up around the coastline, there's a smart airport, and a number of outfits run boat and catamaran cruises and scuba-diving and snorkelling trips to the island's fabulous coral reefs.