Barbados Travel Guide

History
The earliest settlers in Barbados were Amerindians, who came to the island in dug-out canoes from the Guianas in South America. Christopher Columbus, the first European visitor to the West Indies, never stopped at Barbados, but in the early sixteenth century, Spanish slave-traders arrived to collect Amerindians to work in the gold and silver mines of New Spain.

In 1625, a party of British sailors landed in Barbados, claiming the island for their king, and in February 1627 eighty colonists landed at present-day Holetown. They quickly found that sugar grew well in the island soil, and the industry brought almost instantaneous prosperity; by the 1650s, Barbados was considered the wealthiest place in the New World.

As Barbados developed, a workforce was needed for the sugar plantations. At first, the main source of workers was indentured labourers, escaping poverty in England and Scotland. In return for their passage to Barbados, these men and women signed contracts to work on the plantations without wages for up to seven years. Later, large numbers of West African slaves were brought to Barbados, and the island slowly began to take on its present-day ethnic composition.

By 1700, the glory days of Barbados sugar had passed. Huge fortunes had been made, but increased competition from Jamaica and the Leeward Islands had reduced profits. Many of the small planters were squeezed out of business, handing even more economic power to the large plantation owners. In 1807, the British government abolished the slave trade, yet far more threatening to the planters was the movement for the abolition of slavery itself.

In April 1816, Barbados faced its only serious slave uprising. Named after its alleged leader, Bussa's Rebellion began in the southeast with attacks on property and widespread burning of the sugar fields, and quickly spread to all of the island's southern and central parishes. Within three days, however, the rebellion was crushed; just a handful of whites were killed, but over a thousand slaves were either killed in battle or executed afterwards.

Nonetheless, by the early 1830s the reformers in London had won the argument for the abolition of slavery and full emancipation took place on August 1, 1838. Some former slaves headed to the towns, particularly Bridgetown, but most had little choice but to continue work on the sugar estates. The white planters still ran Barbados; they owned almost all of the farmland, and controlled the Assembly that made the island's laws.

The US digging of the Panama Canal in 1904 had a huge impact on the island, which supplied at least 20,000 workers by the outbreak of World War I. Many of this huge percentage of the local workforce – which was virtually all black – returned to Barbados with sizeable savings, which they were able to invest in new businesses and in land. The white planters, who had previously refused to sell land to blacks, were now obliged to do so by economic circumstances. Even if much of the land bought by blacks was marginal, by the 1930s the pattern of land ownership had changed dramatically.

Alongside economic change, the island saw significant political development. Black political parties were formed in the 1930s and 1940s to fight elections and, although executive power remained with the British-appointed governor, black politicians were appointed to the highly influential Executive Committee.

During the 1960s, foreign investment and tourism were actively encouraged to reduce the island's dependence on sugar. The British government finally recognized the capability of the Bajans to govern themselves and, in 1966, Barbados attained independence.

Development has been fast since independence and the economy has boomed. Tourism remains the main money-earner, but success in manufacturing and other service industries means that not all of the island's eggs are in the tourism basket.
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