Barbados

Barbados Ichi-rougan-aim
Flag Coat of arms
Capital and largest city	Bridgetown
Official languages	English
Government	Unitary parliamentary republic
• President	Sandra Mason
• Prime Minister	Mia Mottley
Area
• Total	439 km²
Population
• 2019 estimate	287,025

Barbados is an island country in the Caribbean.

History

Pre-colonization

The oldest human settlement on the island of Barbados is the site of Heywoods, which has been radiocarbon-dated to circa 2530–1750 BC. Archaeologists have uncovered human burials, food remains, and thousands of artifacts, including chipped shell adzes. Pottery, shell artifacts, and house remnants have been collected from these sites for years.

These relics and structures were left behind by the Indigenous Arawak and Kalinago tribes, who migrated from the South American mainland through Trinidad and Tobago and eventually settled in Barbados. These peoples would move seasonally across the island to access different natural resources and to strengthen their social, economic, and political relationships with other tribes.

Archaeological records reveal a culture that engaged in harvest festivals, ball games, and formal events for tribal diplomats, as well as more esoteric activities such as divination, ancestor veneration, fertility rituals, and the creation of Cemi, a spirit given physical form. Like other Caribbean cultures, their worldview was animistic, believing that everything in nature, plants, animals, stones, and water possessed a soul.

Barbadians, like many other Caribbean peoples, participated in Cohoba ceremonies. In these rituals, shamans ground the beans of the cojobana tree into a fine snuff, which was then inhaled through a tube. The shamans guided participants through their spiritual journeys and interpreted their visions. It is believed that the cojobana tree is Anadenanthera peregrina and that its beans contain bufotenin, a derivative of DMT.

The Indigenous Barbadians, who had lived on the island for thousands of years, had abandoned Barbados shortly before the English arrived. To avoid capture by Spanish slavers, they fled to neighboring islands such as St. Vincent and St. Lucia. The recent departure of the Barbadian peoples was evident to the early English colonists, who found abandoned villages, broken pottery, and tools made from conch shells scattered across the land.

Colonization

Establishment & Indentured Servitude

On February 17th, 1627, the British colonist Captain John Powell and his men claimed the newly abandoned island of Barbados. His brother, Henry Powell, soon arrived with 80 colonists and 10 African slaves, establishing the first permanent British settlement near the area now known as Holetown. John Powell and his colonists enslaved 40 Arawaks from Guyana, on the South American mainland. These Arawaks were forced to clear forests, build shelters, and plant crops such as cassava, tobacco, and cotton. Due to overwork, exploitative conditions, and disease, most of the Arawaks died and were subsequently replaced with African slaves.

Before the arrival of more enslaved Africans, the colonists had forcibly brought over Irish, Scottish, and Welsh indentured servants. Many of these Celtic servants were prisoners of war from the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and were shipped to Barbados to work on plantations. Upon arrival, they were sold as property to plantation owners. They were whipped, shackled, and subjected to severe punishments, any act of resistance often resulted in extended indentures or execution.

Celtic women were not spared from abuse: rape, sexual assault and murder by British overseers were common and went unpunished. Although indentured servitude was not permanent like slavery, since it was limited to a set number of years and did not pass on to the servants’ children, the conditions and mistreatment were still brutal and had close resemblance to the abuse suffered by enslaved Africans.

It is estimated that at least half of all Celtic indentured servants died before completing their contracts. In 1657, Richard Ligon wrote that these servants were treated with extreme cruelty and many died under the whip of forced labor. Letters from that era describe shiploads of newly arrived Celtic servants replacing those who had died. Those who survived the horrific conditions often never received their promised payment, remained poor and landless, and many eventually left Barbados after gaining their freedom, seeking better opportunities in Jamaica.

Chattel Slavery & Sugar

175 of the richest British colonists in Barbados each owned, on average, 116 enslaved Africans who worked on their plantations. Collectively, these 175 colonists owned half of the arable land on the island. Within this land, enslaved Africans cultivated sugarcane, sweet potatoes, yams, and plantains, as well as African medicinal plants such as ricin and tamarind. The cultivation of these plants was both an act of resistance and a way of preserving their African heritage.

Because the enslaved population was banned from entering taverns, rum shops, and other public establishments, they created their own fermented alcoholic drinks from sugarcane. These beverages were similar to African palm wine and grain beers traditionally made by their ancestors. In this way, the enslaved sought to preserve elements of their cultural heritage despite their oppression. Drinking in the sights of their masters was considered disrespectful and a challenge to authority, so the enslaved gathered in caves across Barbados to socialize and drink in secret. These caves served as temporary refuges from plantation life and allowed people from neighboring plantations to form social connections and maintain a sense of community.

Every large plantation in Barbados had a designated area for enslaved housing, known as the “Negro Yards.” These areas initially consisted of simple wooden huts, but over time, they evolved into coral stone houses.

During the Sugar Revolution, wealthy English investors poured money into Barbados. The settlers used this capital to build sugar mills and purchase vast numbers of enslaved Africans through the transatlantic slave trade. Many small farms were formed into large plantations, and between the 1600s and 1834, Barbados became Britain’s most profitable settler colony. The immense profits from sugar production helped fuel Britain’s expanding economy.

The shift to sugar cultivation required a massive labor force. While the island already had some African slaves and Celtic indentured servants, demand for labor grew so high that the planters imported enslaved Africans in enormous numbers. By the 1660s, Africans had become the majority population on the island.

Barbados was the first British colony to fully adopt a system of African chattel slavery, setting the model for other colonies in North America and the Caribbean. The Barbados Slave Code of 1661, officially titled “An Act for the Better Ordering and Governing of Negroes,” legally defined enslaved Africans as property rather than human beings. This law provided the colonists with legal justification for the dehumanizing abuse of Africans and became a template for slave codes in other British and American colonies.

The law granted slaveholders the legal right to commit acts of violence, including torture, murder, rape, and severe whipping. Despite these brutal and repressive conditions, enslaved Africans developed new Creole languages, religious practices, and cultural traditions while preserving aspects of their ancestral heritage. Through these struggles and adaptations, they laid the foundation for what would become Bajan (Barbadian) identity.

The Africans brought to Barbados came from various regions across West and Central Africa and spoke many different languages. Over time, as their connections deepened, they developed a shared Creole language as a form of resistance. This language evolved into Bajan Creole, which is still spoken in Barbados today.

Like many other enslaved peoples, the Africans in Barbados used music as a means of building community and expressing resistance. Although drumming was banned by slaveholders, who viewed it as a threat to their authority, the enslaved improvised by using their bodies as instruments. This creativity later gave rise to musical genres such as calypso, spouge, and tuk.

Although many enslaved Africans were Christianized by their masters, they retained aspects of their ancestral spiritual beliefs. The result was a fusion of African rituals and Christian faith. These early Bajan churches served not only religious purposes but also helped the enslaved rebuild fictitious family networks, as many had been torn from their real families. Within these communities, people referred to each other as “sister,” “brother,” “auntie,” and “uncle,” reinforcing a sense of belonging and familial love.

Independence

Barbados became independent from the United Kingdom in 1966, but Queen Elizabeth remained the head of state until a republic was established in 2021.