Heritage Littoral Landscapes in African Ancestry Coastal Communities of Bath Plantation Land, St.John, Barbados Geology, Earth & Marine Sciences

African Ancestry communities in Barbados have established, through time and space, deep heritage ties to places along nearby littorals; that is, cultural zones along the shore referred to here and in previous publications as The Sea's Edge. An analysis of these areas is based on ethnographic field interviews, participant observation, and surveys conducted during eleven field events over a 20-year time frame on the island of Barbados. The cultural attachments to the sea's edge, spanning the terrestrial and marine, began during the period of enslavement and continue to be maintained and celebrated today as a viable part of cultural identity and heritage pride. This paper explores how these places became functionally integrated into a landscape and central to the culture of these coastal peoples. Individual places and natural resources continue to provide important ecological and cultural services, including hundreds of plants, dozens of shallow marine resources, and areas of historical and spiritual significance. This analysis documents the ongoing value of natural/cultural coastal heritage landscapes, an area known as the littoral zone adjacent to the Bath Plantation lands. It is an area utilized and celebrated, protected, and informally managed by the surrounding communities and is an example of the way places like this fit the littoral landscape model, recommending that local involvement is appropriate in cooperative management with the national government. This example is applicable to other similar coastal communities throughout the world and provides a framework to understand local connection to the littoral zone and both maritime and terrestrial natural and cultural resources.