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, , , Barbados

Tree: Our Family Tree

Notes:
Barbados was among the first English settlements in the Americas (1607: Jamestown, 1620:Plymouth, 1623: St. Kitts, 1627: Barbados, 1628: Nevis, 1632: Montserrat and Antigua). In the period 1640–60 the West Indies attracted over two thirds of English emigrants to the New World. By 1650 there were 44,000 English in the Caribbean, 12,000 on the Chesapeake and 23,000 in New England. The population of Barbados was estimated at 30,000. Most emigrants arrived as indentured servants.

From the 1640s the introduction of sugar from Dutch Brazil completely transformed society and the economy. A workable sugar plantation required a large investment and a great deal of heavy labor. By 1680 there were seventeen slaves for every indentured servant. By 1700 there were 15,000 free whites and 50,000 enslaved blacks. So much land was devoted to sugar that most food had to be imported from New England. Some of the displaced farmers moved to other English colonies in the Americas, most notably North and South Carolina, and British Guiana, as well as Panama. To work the plantations, planters imported enslaved West Africans to Barbados and other Caribbean islands.

The British abolished the slave trade in 1807 but not the institution itself. Slavery was finally abolished in the British Empire 18 years later in 1834. However, plantation owners and merchants of British descent still dominated local politics, owing to the high-income qualification required for voting. More than 70% of the population, many of them disenfranchised women, were excluded from the democratic process. It was not until the 1930s that the descendants of emancipated slaves began a movement for political rights.

From 1958 to 1962, Barbados was one of the ten members of the West Indies Federation, an organisation doomed by nationalistic attitudes and by the fact that its members, as British colonies, held limited legislative power. After years of peaceful and democratic progress, Barbados finally became an independent state on 30 November 1966, with Errol Barrow its first Prime Minister, although Queen Elizabeth II remained the monarch.

Barbados is divided into eleven districts called parishes. In the parish of Saint Michael lies Barbados' capital and main city, Bridgetown. Other major towns scattered across the island include Holetown, in the parish of Saint James; Oistins, in the parish of Christ Church; and Speightstown, in the parish of Saint Peter.



The above information is from the Wikipedia article: Barbados.

Residence

Matches 1 to 1 of 1

	Last Name, Given Name(s)	Residence		Person ID	Tree
1	REDDING, Thomas	1638	, , , Barbados	I3488	Our Family Tree

Marriage

Matches 1 to 1 of 1

	Family	Marriage		Family ID	Tree
1	CUTT(S) / HOEL	Abt 1653	, , , Barbados	F831	Our Family Tree