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1625 until 1966
- The island was briefly claimed by the Spanish Empire who saw trees with a beard like feature (hence the name Barbados), and then by Portugal from 1532 to 1620. The island was an English and later a British colony from 1625 until 1966.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Barbados
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From 1966 to 2021, Barbados was a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, modelled on the Westminster system, with Elizabeth II, Queen of Barbados, as head of state. Barbados became a republic on November 30, 2021, under Mia Mottley, thus removing the queen as its head of state.
In 1627, the first permanent settlers arrived from England, and Barbados became an English and later British colony. [8] During this period, the colony operated on a plantation economy , relying on the labour of African slaves who worked on the island's plantations.
Feb 17, 2011 · Barbados was one of England's most popular colonies, with a rich economy based on sugar and slavery. Yet it was also the only colony to support the abolition of the slave trade.
- Overview
- British rule
- Barbados since independence
history of Barbados, history of Barbados from prehistoric times to the present.
Little of the island’s prehistory is known, but archaeological investigation indicates that it may have been settled as early as 1600 bce by people from northern South America who later disappeared from the archaeological record. From about 500 to 1500 ce, Arawak and Carib people probably lived on the island, which they called Ichirouganaim. The first contact with Europeans may have occurred in the early 16th century, when Spaniards visited Barbados. Portuguese explorers also touched on the island, which they named Barbados (“Bearded Ones”), either for bearded fig trees or bearded men on the island. The island was depopulated because of repeated slave raids by the Spanish in the 16th century; it is believed that those Indigenous people who avoided enslavement migrated to elsewhere in the region. By the mid-16th century—largely because of the island’s small size, remoteness, and depopulation—European explorers had practically abandoned their claims to it, and Barbados remained effectively without a population.
An English expedition of 1625 assessed the potential of the island, and on February 17, 1627, the ship William and John landed with 80 Englishmen and about 10 Africans. The early period of English settlement was marked by the insecurity resulting from infrequent provision of supplies from Europe and the difficulty in establishing a profitable export crop. This was complicated by bitter squabbles over the claims of rival lords proprietors and over the question of allegiance to either the British crown or Parliament during the constitutional conflicts of the 1640s that led to the English Civil Wars.
As in the earlier cases of Bermuda and Virginia, an assembly made up of owners of at least 10 acres (4 hectares) of freehold land was established in Barbados in 1639. Elections were held annually. There were also a council and a governor who was appointed first by the lord proprietor and, after the 1660s, by the king.
The economy of the early colonial era was marked by a pattern of family farms and by a diversity of products including aloes, fustic (a dye-producing wood), indigo, and, above all, cotton and tobacco. The search for a profitable export crop ended in the 1640s, when Dutch assistance enabled the colonists to convert to sugar production.
The Sugar Revolution, as it is called, had momentous social, economic, and political consequences. The elite in Barbados chose a form of sugar production that yielded the greatest level of profit—but at great social cost. They decided to establish large sugarcane plantations, cultivated by oppressed labourers from West Africa, who were brought to the island and enslaved in accordance with a series of slave laws enacted from 1636 onward. Society in Barbados was composed of three categories of persons: free, indentured, and enslaved. “Race” was a central determinant of status. There were three “racial,” or ethnic, groups—whites, coloureds (those of part-European and part-African parentage or ancestry), and Blacks. Some whites were free and some were indentured; some coloureds were free and some were enslaved; and some Blacks were free and some were enslaved. No whites were enslaved.
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Barbados became independent on November 30, 1966, after joining the ill-fated West Indies Federation (1958–62). By then the economy was expanding and diversifying, mainly as a result of the policies pursued by the governments formed after the planter-merchant elite lost power.
Barbados is a member of the Commonwealth and continues to play a leading role in the establishment of regional cooperation. In 1968 Errol Barrow, who served as prime minister in 1966–76 and 1986–87, helped form the Caribbean Free Trade Association, which became the Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) in 1973. The island has also established close ties with countries elsewhere in the less-developed world.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Sep 15, 2024 · The island was a British possession without interruption from the 17th century to 1966, when it attained independence. Because of its long association with Britain, the culture of Barbados is probably more British than is that of any other Caribbean island, though elements of the African culture of the majority population have been prominent.
Barbados is a Caribbean island that is part of the British colonial network. It was an actual colony from 1625 to 1966. It is now a self-governing constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as the titular head of state.
Nov 22, 2021 · Barbados will now be the fourth Caribbean country to cut ties with the monarchy, leaving just eight other former British colonies in the region pledging allegiance to the crown.
