Islands of the Caribbean

Modern Barbados (Lesser Antilles)
AD 1953 - Present Day
Incorporating Heads of State (1953-2022), British Colony (1953-1966), Independent Constitutional Monarchy (1966-2020), & Independent Republic (2020-On)

The island republic of Barbados is the easternmost of the Windward Islands, part of the Lesser Antilles chain in the Caribbean Sea. It sits to the east of St Vincent and the Grenadines, and to the south-east of St Lucia, on the eastern edge of the Caribbean region in the Americas. The island is otherwise fully surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean.

Barbados is a one million year-old coral island which was formed during the clash between the Atlantic crustal plate and the Caribbean tectonic plate, with associated volcanic activity. Today it is notable for its white sand beaches, while its name is derived from Bearded Fig Trees which once were abundant on the island.

Recent archaeology indicates that Native Americans from what is now Venezuela arrived around 1623 BC. They crossed the sea in dugout canoes to settle along the coast. They left very little evidence of their presence however, other than utensils and other tools which had been crafted from shells, along with the usual refuse and burial sites. They departed for unknown reasons around AD 600, with the Arawaks filling the gap around AD 800. The stronger and more aggressive Caribs arrived around 1200 to take control.

During his fourth and final voyage to the West Indies, Christopher Columbus reached Barbados in 1502 for the growing Spanish empire before progressing to Martinique. Spaniards took control for their Spanish Colonies but soon left for larger Caribbean islands, leaving Barbados uninhabited. In 1536, Portuguese arrived on their way to Brazil, and Pedro Campos named the island. Portugal claimed it until 1620 but did not settle it. Instead wild hogs were left there to breed and multiply, and provide a source of meat during stops at the island.

In 1627, England took Barbados, having already staked its own claim. By this time the Carib population had entirely disappeared. Barbados founded a parliament, the 'House of Assembly', in 1639 and has enjoyed uninterrupted parliamentary governance ever since, giving it the third oldest parliament in the world.

Initial attempts at growing tobacco and cotton proved economically insufficient, so the colonists began planting sugarcane. This required large-scale farming which forced out smaller farmers, although indentured service by Europeans disappeared, and the white population was drastically reduced. Imported African slave numbers mushroomed, thanks to arrivals from what are now Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Cameroon.

After the British empire abolished slavery in 1834, emancipation was granted in Barbados in 1838. A host of factors contributed towards economic suffering and reduced income from sugarcane. Britain was engaged in a series of wars, during which protectionism gave way to free trade, with competition from beet sugar reducing prices for sugarcane sales. A royal commission in 1896 investigated the distress, but nothing was done until violence erupted in 1937. Only then did financial aid begin to arrive.

Queen Victoria's United Kingdom organised its Windward islands into a federated colony in 1822, with the governor of Barbados also serving as the governor of the Windward Islands. Barbados was removed from the federation in 1885, and was formed into a separate colony. Britain created a 'Federation of the West Indies' in 1958 which included all of the British West Indian islands, in the hope that the federation would become an independent state. When Jamaica withdrew in 1962, though, the federation collapsed. Barbados became an 'Independent Constitutional Monarchy' in 1966, and a presidential 'Independent Republic' in 2020.

The island retained its bicameral parliament which consists of an elected assembly and a senate which is partially appointed by the president and partially by the prime minister and the leader of the opposition. The prime minister also heads the island's elected government, with the candidate for the post being selected from the assembly or senate by the president. Barbados remains a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

The island's estimated population (as of 2014) is 286,100. Some ninety-two percent are black, about three percent mixed, and the rest are white, South Asian, East Asian, and Middle Eastern. While English is the official language, most Barbadians speak Bajan, a dialect which has been influenced by other English-speaking islands but which can be very difficult for English speakers to understand. About seventy-five percent of the population belongs to a wide variety of Christian denominations, with Anglican and Pentecostalists representing the two largest. About twenty percent profess to have no religion.

The full list of islands which make up the Lesser Antilles chain includes Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Redonda, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago.

The Americas

Caribbean Islands

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