The Haitian Revolution's Effect on Barbados

        The Haitian Revolution had a huge impact on the island of Barbados. While topographically, the island of Barbados was the most unsuitable for rebellion (Hart, 36), the psychological effect that the Haitian Revolution had on the slaves in Barbados cannot be overstated. These people had been enslaved for over a century and had an enslaved and entrenched state of mind. When the news reached them that slaves had successfully raised up against their masters and gained their freedom, it was like a whole new world had opened up in front of them.

        The white slave owners were worried about a similar event happening on Barbados and took legislative actions to further control the lives of the enslaved people. The first such action the Assembly took was the Registry Bill which “mandated a count and documentation of the entire enslaved population” (Beckles, Great House Rules, 24). The new restrictions made it harder for enslaved people to meet in large numbers which is exactly what the masters wanted. If the enslaved people could not meet in large numbers, it was harder to foment rebellion. The effect on the slaves was most obvious in the enslaved peoples’ behavior. The slaves had begun to act more aggressively and were beginning to refuse to cooperate. This aggressiveness as read by the owners was most likely a new assertiveness they had never seen in their slaves. Since 1804 when the Haitian revolutionaries declared independence from France, “Assembly debates [in Barbados] focused increasingly upon this apparent insolent attitude among slaves” (Beckles, 79) which brought even more restrictive measures to the slaves lives. The non-slave holding whites sided with the slave owners to preserve the life and society they knew. Most wanted to maintain the life they were accustomed to and were not concerned with the effect that slavery had on the whole society, much less the enslaved people.

The Haitian Revolution also influenced Britain’s abolitionist to become more active. Abolitionist began to step up their activities in Barbados and other British colonies trying to get the slaves involved in securing their own freedom. The abolitionist saw what could happen if the slaves took the initiative but they did not want the emancipation to happen in the same way it did in Saint Domingue. The abolitionist dreamed of an orderly emancipation instead of the violent rebellion that took place in Saint Domingue. Abolitionists in England were gaining ground in Parliament after the Haitian Revolution as evidenced by the 1807 Slave Trade Abolition Act (Beckles, 78). They had hoped that this removal of slave trading would reduce the amount of slaves present in the colonies over time which would lead to the eventual emancipation of all slaves.

The enslaved people of Barbados took heart upon hearing the news of the successful revolt of the slaves on Saint Domingue. The restrictions the white owners put on the enslaved people made it hard for them to congregate in large numbers, so it took longer for the slaves to get a well planned revolt together. In 1816, the long feared revolt occurred. It was called Bussa’s Rebellion and it was the first and only slave revolt to take place on the island of Barbados. The revolt started in the south-eastern parish of St. Philip and spread throughout most of the central and southern parishes on the island (Beckles, 79). The revolt only lasted three days but the inspiration for it was clear.

The Haitian Revolution’s impact on the island of Barbados was more psychological than anything else. For the masters, the Haitian Revolution inspired fear of imminent revolt and constant plotting by their slaves. For the abolitionist, it was proof that there work had a purpose. It proved that the slaves wanted to be free and the abolitionist could help facilitate a peaceful transition to avoid the violence and bloodshed of the Haitian Revolution. The biggest impact by far was on the slaves. The successful revolt of the slaves on Saint Domingue showed the slaves that emancipation was possible. They believed that if they took their destinies in their own hands that freedom could be obtained in the near future. This led to more aggressiveness (or assertiveness, depending on which perspective you were looking at it from) and less cooperation with the masters. Although emancipation was not obtained until 1838, the Haitian Revolution inspired the slaves and encouraged them to look to a brighter future for themselves and their children.

Bibliography

Hart, Richard. From Occupation to Independence: A Short History of the Peoples of the English-Speaking Caribbean Region. (London: Pluto Press, 1998) 36.

Beckles, Hilary. A History of Barbados: From Amerindian Settlement to Nation-State (New York: Cambridge, 1990), 78-80.

Beckles, Hilary. Great House Rules: Landless Emancipation and Workers’ Protest in Barbados. (Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers, 2004) 24-28.

Life of an Enslaved Woman in Barbados

        An enslaved woman in Barbados had a very difficult life. Whether she was working as a domestic servant or a field hand, she worked hard in horrible conditions. The work would have consisted of long hours, back breaking labor, and long stretches away from her family, all the while with the knowledge that the slightest transgression, real or not, could result in excruciating punishments. Slavery was not easy for anyone but the woman had the added problems of being worked hard when she was pregnant, right up to the moment of labor, being separated from her children either by doing her own work or having them sold to another owner, and the possibility of sexual assault by men in positions of authority.

        As a domestic servant, a woman would constantly be under the thumb of their master or mistress but she would have a higher prestige among the other slaves. The day would start early when she got up to go milk the cows or get eggs from the chicken coop for her master’s breakfast. After cooking breakfast and feeding the family, she MIGHT have time to eat her own breakfast before having to clear the dishes from the table and washing them. If children were her responsibility, between milking the cow and fixing breakfast, she would have to help them get ready for the day; if nursing, she would feed the baby while she ate her own breakfast if not before then. After cleaning the breakfast dishes, she would start on doing the laundry for the family and cleaning the house: sweeping, mopping, dusting, and the like. Around midday, she would start fixing the families’ lunch. After clearing the table and doing those dishes, she would continue to do her chores which could include feeding the animals, killing an animal to feed the family that night, and changing bedding. All the while trying to incorporate into her daily routine anything her master or mistress wanted her to do, no matter how nonsensical it may have been. Any slight or perceived transgression would result in corporal punishment, often disproportionately out of sync with the misstep. As a domestic servant, she would be under greater danger of possible sexual assault from her master, his friends, or anyone else who came to the house. Although the domestic servant had a rough life, most of the enslaved women (and men) Barbados worked as field hands.

        As a field hand, the woman would have been held to the same set of standards as male field hands. She would have been expected to keep up the same pace and pull their own weight in their team. If she messed up, she would face the same punishment as the men, with no regard for her state, whether pregnant, old, or feeble. The sugar cane fields were particularly brutal. It was back breaking labor underneath the heat of the sun or in the pouring rain, whatever the weather was like.  When it was planting season, the work involved following the men, as they dug trenches, and dropping the shoots in. At harvest time, the work involved going into the sugar cane fields with shoots about five feet tall and razor sharp leaf-like structures that could tear their skin in moments. Some women were put in charge the children and were forced to work the kids in whatever way the master or overseer saw fit. If the woman worked in the processing part of the industry, the work was even more dangerous. Depending on the job, she faced the threat of maiming or loss of life, especially when she was working the long hours to get the sugar cane processed within forty-eight hours of harvesting. While the domestic servants might have been held a higher esteem by the field hands, the field hands had more autonomy from their masters. While they may see the master from time to time, the women in the field were not constantly under scrutiny. They were also not as vulnerable to sexual assault although they were still vulnerable to it from other men in positions of authority.

        The enslaved woman had a difficult life no matter if she worked in the house or the field. Both involved back breaking labor, long hours, the possibility of sexual assault, and the constant threat of corporal punishment. She also faced forced separation from her family which was especially difficult if she had children. The children were born into slavery and could be sold to another owner without the slightest thought of or consultation with the mother. There is no light that can be shed on the subject that would make the enslaved life tolerable or rosy. 

The Demography of Labor

        The sugar cane industry in Barbados took off in 1645 when the planters discovered it could be used for more than feeding livestock. They realized that it could be a “truly profitable staple” (Beckles, 21). The main source of labor used to maintain the sugar cane in the beginning was indentured servants but that changed to enslaved Africans near the end of the seventeenth century. The white European indentured servants were the preferred laborers because they were Christian and deemed morally superior. The amount of work done by the indentured servants was equal to that of enslaved Africans. The Scottish laborers were preferred over all other white Europeans and the Catholic Irish were seen as a last resort. These indentured servants were preferred because of a cost benefit analysis comparing them with enslaved Africans. England was seen as overcrowded and this was seen as the basis for the decline of social order. Therefore, the surplus of servants and laborers were encouraged to immigrate to the English colonies in the Caribbean; specifically Barbados before Jamaica became prominent. This allowed for the price of indentured servants to remain relatively low because of the subsidies offered by the English government. The price was dependent upon the sex, skills, and nationality of the servant but it was relatively uniform for men and women if two of the three traits were the same. The demand for the white servants was so great that the price was driven up. The government intervened and limited the price the intermediaries could charge. Unfortunately, England was soon deemed under populated and laws were enacted to prevent the immigration of servants to the Caribbean. Merchants were soon charged with kidnapping and coercion for enticing servants to immigrate to the Caribbean. The indentured servants were not treated as badly as the enslaved Africans. There was a time limit on their servitude which made it easier to mentally and physically survive their contract. The plantations owners treated them better because they were white Christian laborers. The enslaved Africans did not have it as easy.

Ashford Plantation, Barbados, 1830s-1840s

The white planter class believed that the Africans were more suited to working in the tropical climate than white, Christian laborers. Another reason that the planters preferred African workers is that they could never find an adequate supply of white European laborers. Once laws were enacted to prevent the immigration of indentured servants to the Caribbean, the African slaves became cheaper which drove up the profit the planters could potentially reap. The enslaved Africans were bought from rival chiefs who had captured or kidnapped them from the continent. At the end of the seventeenth century, the slave trade had been streamlined. The slave traders were more efficient, and arrived more regularly at the Caribbean ports. This allowed for a cheaper market for the planters to buy the enslaved Africans. The planters would then get the same amount of work that they did from the indentured servants for less expense. Another perk from using enslaved Africans is that there was no time limit on their servitude. This meant that the plantation owners’ labor costs were significantly lower. The plantation owners had racial prejudices that meant that they did not hold themselves responsible for treating the enslaved Africans very well. The planters were supported in their efforts at keeping the slaves subdued by militia regiments, imperial troops and navy (Beckles, 33). Special legal codes were also used to restrict slave movement and social behavior. The slaves were restricted from owning land which prevented their upward mobility. The enslaved Africans were treated as less than human and underwent inhuman punishments.

     The labor used to work the sugar cane fields were indentured servants and slaves who were bought and traded like commodities. There was a certain amount of kidnapping and coercion used on the indentured servants near the end of the seventeenth century due to the laws preventing their immigration to the Caribbean. The enslaved Africans were to a certain extent kidnapped from Africa or bought from the rival chiefs who captured them. However they got there, the treatment they underwent was radically different. The indentured servants got treated better because they were white Christians. The enslaved Africans were treated brutally because they were seen as heathens. Voluntary labor did not really play a part in the sugar cane industry in Barbados. 

Bibliography

Hilary Beckles, A History of Barbados: From Amerindian Settlement to Nation-State (New York: Cambridge, 1990), 20-33.

“Ashford Plantation” via The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas.http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Slavery/details.php?categorynum=8&categoryName=Plantation%20Scenes,%20Slave%20Settlements%20and%20Houses&theRecord=42&recordCount=83

Classifications of Race in Barbados

      Barbados was unique in the way they classified people by race in comparison with the French and Spanish colonies but identical to the other British colonies. The British wanted everything to be black and white, literally. The British censuses only provided columns for the enslaved black people and the white people on the island. Nowhere in the census is there a column for people of mixed race, such as people with one white parent and one black parent. Another interesting facet of the Barbados censuses was that the free people of color were not counted in them either. They did not fit into either of the categories used so they were simply left out all together. Although this was by no means an inclusive process, it fit into the way the British wanted to see the world, in black and white.

1680 Census

        The example of John Peers illustrates this fact very well. John Peers was a prominent white planter on the island of Barbados in the seventeenth century. The church on the island had records of Peers baptizing six children by two different enslaved women. In the 1680 census, there is no mention of the women or the children unless they were counted under the black column. Another example is the Daily family. The Daily family was a free family of color in Barbados in the seventeenth century, roughly the same time period as the John Peers example. There are baptismal records from the 1670’s and early 1680’s. Again, the census taken in 1680 held no mention of the Daily family. The bureaucrats in England made occasional mentions of the people excluded from the censuses in their written reports but it was not nearly as detailed as the statistics kept for the white and the enslaved black populations of Barbados.

There was a small group of people of European and African descent on the island. This is verifiable through the baptismal records that were kept for the churches on the island. Beckles believes that the group remained small because the white women on the island anchored the white men on the island in the domestic sphere (Beckles, 42). The same phenomenon took place amongst the white and black population of the island. As the island was still being settled, the population was predominantly men. As time went on, the population of women, both white and black, increased as the island transformed from settlement to colony. The seventeenth century was a time of immense population growth in Barbados. In 1645, the population of Barbados consisted of 11,000 white people and 5,000 enslaved Africans. In 1660, the population was evenly split with 20,000 white people and 20,000 enslaved Africans. By 1679, there were 20,000 white people and 82,000 enslaved Africans. In a thirty-five year span, the enslaved African population multiplied sixteen times as the sugar cane industry expanded by leaps and bounds.

The British were not concerned with the distinction between enslaved Africans and free people of color. They were also not concerned with the occurrence of people of mixed racial identity. The census takers wanted an account of their own, read white, people and the ‘servants’, read enslaved Africans. They wanted their records the way they viewed the world, with white people superior to the black people. Anyone who did not fit into the framework they had designed, they completely ignored. Luckily, the churches did not make any such distinction and through them, we are able to get a clearer picture of the demography of Barbados.

Bibliography:

Hilary Beckles, A History of Barbados: From Amerindian Settlement to Nation-State (New York: Cambridge, 1990), 40-48.

 National Archives London, CO1/44 no. 47xii

Religion on Barbados

Obeah on Barbados

        Religion on Barbados developed in different ways to those described by Sensbach in Rebecca’s Revival. English missionaries journeyed across the Atlantic to convert the ‘heathen’ hordes to Christianity. According to John C. Appleby, “English interest…was mobilized by a crude combination of profit, patriotism, and Protestantism” (Paquette and Engerman, 87). The missionaries’ religion of choice was Protestantism in the form of the Church of England. The missionaries were overjoyed by the conversions they achieved. Much like Rebecca’s Revival, the missionaries were wary that the slaves were converting to take advantage of the reading and writing the missionaries offered or to cover for their continued practice of their native religion. Unlike Rebecca’s Revival, the planters saw Christianity as a way to civilize the African slaves.

The African slaves brought their religions with them across the Atlantic. The English masters did not like this and tried to stamp it out at every opportunity. One in particular proved extremely resilient, it was called Obeah (Beckles, 52). Obeah is defined by Udal as “a  kind  of  pretended  sorcery  or  witchcraft practiced  by the  negroes in  Africa” (Udal, 255). Udal also said that Obeah sometimes masked itself as Voodoo. Despite legislation outlawing it, it survived in underground social movements for years. Thousands of miles away from their homeland, the African slaves still held allegiance to their tribes and tribal religion. It was not uncommon to see people from the same tribe gathering after the work day was finished to participate in sacred rituals that were part of their religious life. The masters did not like this one bit. They saw this as a continuation of the savage life they led back in Africa. The planters did everything they could to wipe any form of African religion off of the island. The slave codes explicitly outlawed the practice of any non-Christian religion by the African slaves on Barbados. The legislation and threatened punishment did nothing to deter the practice, they simply drove them underground.

After the slave codes failed to have the desired effect, the planters welcomed the missionaries with open arms. They thought that by exposing the ‘heathens’ to Christianity, their ‘savage’ instincts could be suppressed. The planters wanted the slaves of African descent to act more like their Creole brethren. So the slaves obliged to achieve their own ends: “by openly assimilating European-derived elements of the Creole so as to achieve social and material betterment” (Beckles, 52). Their public expressions of faith and their private ones were by no means identical. By appearing to adhere to the Christian faith, slaves were able to mask and hide their African religion. There is no way of knowing who took their conversion seriously and who did it simply as a means to an end.

The differences between Rebecca’s Revival and the development of religions on Barbados are marked. The planters on Barbados encouraged their slaves to convert to Christianity so that it would hopefully quell the ‘savage’ instincts in them. In Rebecca’s Revival, the planters threatened, intimidated, and beat slaves trying to discourage them from converting and attending religious services. The planters on Barbados thought that Christianity would prevent the slaves from rebelling against their masters, in Rebecca’s Revival the planters thought that the religious education would encourage the slaves to rebel. The only similarity between the book and real life was that the missionaries could not be sure that the conversions were genuine. As in real life, the only people who could know that are the person undergoing the conversion and God.

Bibliography:

Hilary Beckles, A History of Barbados: From Amerindian Settlement to Nation-State (New York: Cambridge, 1990), 52-57.

Robert L. Paquette and Stanley L. Engerman, editors, The Lesser Antilles in the Age of European Expansion (Gainesville: University Press of Flordia, 1996), 87.

J.S. Udal, “Obeah in the West Indies,” Folklore Vol. 26, No. 3 (September 30, 1915): 255-295. 

Conflicts in Barbados

        The seventeenth century was not an easy one for the people on Barbados. There was a struggle for ownership of the island and power on the island as well as a fight for the profits made on the island. These struggles took place among the plantation owners on the island and the peerage back in England. This left the everyday farmer, their family, slaves, and their indentured servants caught in the middle of a vicious power struggle. It took roughly twelve years, from 1627 when the first settlers arrived to 1639 when Henry Hawley established the first effective parliament on the island, for stability to be established on Barbados (Beckles, 9-12).

        The dispute over the ownership of the island was the first conflict to have an effect on the island and people of Barbados. The first person to claim ownership of the island, through Letters of Patent, was a London merchant named Ralph Merrifield who took a “noble patron, the Earl of Carlisle” as protection (Hart, 5).  Merrifield put up the money for the Earl of Carlisle to apply for a royal grant from Charles I, King of England. The application was successful and the Earl of Carlisle soon claimed ownership of Barbados. At the same time, Sir Peter and Sir William Courteen, brother merchants from London, had financed the first exploratory mission led by Captain John Powell as well as the first settlement expedition and claimed the title of the island through those efforts. Because the brothers never got a Royal Patent for the island, the settlers that had been financed by the Courteens were portrayed as squatters on an island owned by the Earl of Carlisle. Unfortunately for Carlisle, the settlers and the representatives of the Courteens were actually on the island. Another claimant to the island was the Earl of Pembroke who had received an “erroneous subsequent issue of a royal patent” from Charles I (Beckles, 8).

For a while, ownership of Barbados bounced back and forth between the Earls of Carlisle and Pembroke. Supporters of those two skirmished back and forth across the island until Carlisle received a second Royal Patent that was meant to revoke the one given to Pembroke (Beckles, 8). While they were settling that issue, the Powell faction, who represented the interests of the Courteen brothers, still controlled the island. However, after the dispute between Carlisle and Pembroke was settled in Carlisle’s favor, he dispatched Charles Wolverston to administer the island on his behalf. Wolverston “landed in Barbados in June 1628, and by August had brought the entire island under his authority. On 4^th September he was selected Governor of Barbados” (Beckles, 8).

The struggle continued. Wolverston set up a government and excluded everyone but those who supported Carlisle. The colonist disliked him and accused him of keeping them as “tenants-at-will” by enforcing the Courteen’s unpopular land management policies. After there was a short lived uprising led by the Powell faction, Wolverston was deposed and deported. Carlisle then sent Sir William Tufton to Barbados to act as the new Governor. Tufton had strict instructions to set up a loyalist government. Among his other aims, Tufton aimed to help the indentured servants and poor people while ignoring the elite planter class. This made him unpopular and the planters wrote to Carlisle complaining about Tufton’s autocratic rule. Tufton was recalled and Carlisle sent Henry Hawley to replace him. Tufton was still on the island and tried to overthrow Hawley but was unsuccessful and was executed for sedition. Hawley was considered ruthless but ultimately managed to stabilize Barbados and started the Parliament system that they still use today.

Profit and politics are the issues that sparked and drove the conflicts on the island of Barbados. Each person claiming to own Barbados wanted the political power and profits that came along with the title of the island. The governors on the island were representative of the political struggle. They also got overcome with their own political aspirations and some turned into small time despots. No matter which way they turned, the colonist on the island found themselves caught between rival factions that put their life and property in jeopardy. Both Wolverston and Hawley can be credited with bringing about the stability the colonist found themselves living in.

Bibliography:

Hilary Beckles, A History of Barbados: From Amerindian Settlement to Nation-State (New York: Cambridge, 1990), 7-12.

Richard Hart, From Occupation to Independence: A Short History of the Peoples of the English-Speaking Caribbean Region (London: Pluto Press, 1998), 5.

Colonization in Barbados

         The European country that colonized Barbados was England. The first English explorers landed on the island on May 14, 1625. The first settlers arrived on February 17, 1627. Barbados was picked to settle on because it was believed to be unoccupied by Amerindians. It was also believed to be highly suitable for agricultural pursuits. While the location and topography of Barbados made it ideal for agricultural, it was a hindrance in the defense arena. The Amerindians had discovered this decades before the Europeans arrived. While Barbados was still in their environment and sphere of influence, it was not regularly inhabited. According to Beckles, “Barbados was settled prior to English colonization by a succession of Amerindian migrants from South America” (Beckles, 6). These Amerindian settlers had to contend with Spanish slave raiders who would sweep through every so often and snatch the unsuspecting and undefended. This accounts for the lack of indigenous people on the island when the English arrived.

As a result of these Spanish slave raiding missions and the indefensibleness of the island, the English settlers on Barbados did not have to contend with unhappy natives and were able to get down to the business of farming almost immediately. In true English fashion, the plantations were built up in a matter of years. This allowed Barbados to become the most prosperous islands in the West Indies in the seventeenth century. Because the settlers on Barbados were able to get to work immediately, it was seen as one of England’s biggest colonization success stories. By the mid-seventeenth century, Barbados had rushed to the fore of world sugar production (Paquette and Engerman, 5). Barbados was also one of the most ‘civilized’ islands of the Caribbean because it did not have the skirmishes with indigenous people like most of the other islands in the area did.

While the Amerindians did not trouble the settlers, the proprietors of the island caused enough grief for everyone. The monarchs changed over time as did the title to the island. At various times, Barbados belonged to the Earl of Carlisle, Earl of Pembroke and Sir Peter and Sir William Courteen. The very first settlers on Barbados were actually employees of the people who financed the venture. Although the settlers worked the land and helped Barbados to prosper into one of the most successful Caribbean islands, they did not see any of the profit their employers were bringing in. The settlers made roughly £100 a year which was supposed to be their wages as well as provide supplies for their laborers (Beckles, 8). The proprietor of the island implemented unpopular land management rules and techniques which made the settlers extremely unhappy. This made it easy for the various factions to drum up support among the settlers and lead to control of the island changing several times in a handful of years. The island of Barbados was also used as a political chip to be passed back and forth between the various owners to try and get as much out of the title as they could. Finally, the crown claimed the island and the profits from it.

Bibliography:

Hilary Beckles, A History of Barbados: From Amerindian Settlement to Nation-State (New York: Cambridge, 1990), 6-19.

Robert L. Paquette and Stanley L. Engerman, editors, The Lesser Antilles in the Age of European Expansion (Gainesville: University Press of Flordia, 1996), 5.

Settling in Barbados

Barbados has an interesting history. It is believed that the first people to pass through Barbados were Amerindians known as Arawaks from Venezuela. They had large canoes that could operate in the ocean and were able to navigate through currents that baffle sailors and ships today. The Arawaks originally called the island of Barbados Ichirouganaim. Ichirouganaim can be translated in several ways, the most popular version is “Red land with white teeth”, possibly referring to the red stone on the island and the coral reef that surround the island. Archaeologists have only recently discovered evidence to support this. The Arawaks were unable to hold on to their dominance of their island home because they were soon conquered by the fearsome Caribs who were another Amerindian people. The Carib had more modern weapons than the Arawak. They dominated the island until the Europeans began to arrive.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive on the island. They did not want to settle there but thought it could be a nice place to visit. In anticipation of future visits, the Portuguese let loose some wild hogs to ensure that there was plenty of meat. The Portuguese and Pedro a Campos in particular, are the ones who gave the island the name Barbados which means the bearded ones, possibly referring to the fig trees that looked like they had beards or the water foaming around the reefs. The Spaniards, who were the next to arrive, changed the composition of the island inhabitants. The Caribs were unable to resist the might of the Spanish. The indigenous people were either enslaved or fled to other islands in the Caribbean. The population of the island was so decimated by the Spanish that it could be classified as uninhabited by 1541. The Spanish, like the Portuguese, chose not to settle on the island and soon moved on to other places and opportunities.

The British were the first people to settle on the island. The first ship arrived and claimed the island for King James I on May 14, 1625.  The first group of settlers did not arrive until February 17, 1627. These first settlers were not actually occupants but tenants. The title for the island of Barbados was owned by a London merchant named Sir William Courten and he received the profits from the settlers’ labors. In the “Great Barbados Robbery”, Courten lost the title to James Hay who was the 1^st Earl of Carlisle. Carlisle is the one who appointed the first governor and created the House of Assembly as a governing body for the planters on the island. Pieter Blower introduced the sugar cane industry in 1637. This led to the importing of African slaves in large numbers. The slave’s life expectancy was extremely short and the plantation owners ordered replacements like any other commodity, as if they were ordering a new pair of shoes.

In the story of the settlement of Barbados, the Spanish and the British have equal stakes in the villain category. The Spaniards are the ones who decimated the indigenous population and either enslaved or ran off the few who remained. While the Spanish enslaved the indigenous people, it was in small numbers and they took them on to other destinations. Their biggest sin was the almost complete destruction of a people and a culture. The British are the ones who introduced slavery in large numbers to the island. In the beginning, the British brought over English and Irish kids they used as indentured servants. When the sugar cane industry got into its full swing, the African slaves were brought over en masse. One quote was that there were three slaves for every one planter. Both the Spanish and the British are shown in unflattering lights in the history of Barbados.

The heroes of the story are the Amerindians, the Arawaks and the Caribs. They managed to survive on the island for centuries. Near the end of their dominance, they did so while dealing with the first waves of European sailors. The Arawaks were able to hold their own until the Caribs arrived and attained dominance. The Caribs were able to survive until the Spanish arrived. Even after the Spanish arrived, the Caribs and the Arawaks who were not killed or enslaved escaped to more defensible, mountainous islands. Hints of their culture, now known as Kalinago, can still be found on Dominica, the Grenadines, and Saint Vincent.

The most interesting part of the story is the British and their indentured servants, the young English and Irish kids that were runaways or kidnapped and then the persecuted Irish Catholics who came to the island later. I would like to find out more about their circumstances and the history behind their move or removal, whichever the case may be, to Barbados. I am also interested in finding out whether or not there are descendants of these people on the island and how they feel about their ancestor’s arrival on the island and the way it came about.

Sources:

Barbados History http://barbados.org/history1.htm

Barbados Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbados

History of Barbados Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Barbados