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.