Barbados
About 90% of Barbados' population is of African descent, 4% European
descent, and 6% Asian or mixed. About 40% of Barbadians are
Anglican, and the rest mostly Roman Catholic, Methodist, Baptist,
and Moravian. There also are small Jewish and Muslim communities.
Barbados' population growth rate has been very low, less than 1%
since the 1960s, largely due to family planning efforts and a high
emigration rate. |
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British sailors who landed on Barbados in the 1620s at the site of
present-day Holetown on the Caribbean coast found the island
uninhabited. As elsewhere in the eastern Caribbean, Arawak Indians
may have been annihilated by invading Caribs, who are believed to
have subsequently abandoned the island.
From the arrival of the first British settlers in 1627-28 until
independence in 1966, Barbados was a self-funding colony under
uninterrupted British rule. Nevertheless, Barbados always enjoyed a
large measure of local autonomy. Its House of Assembly, which began
meeting in 1639, is the third-oldest legislative body in the Western
Hemisphere, preceded only by Bermuda's legislature and the Virginia
House of Burgesses.
As the sugar industry developed into the main commercial enterprise,
Barbados was divided into large plantation estates, which replaced
the small holdings of the early British settlers. Some of the
displaced farmers relocated to British colonies in North America. To
work the plantations, slaves were brought from Africa; the slave
trade ceased a few years before the abolition of slavery throughout
the British empire in 1834.
Plantation owners and merchants of British descent dominated local
politics. It was not until the 1930s that the descendants of
emancipated slaves began a movement for political rights. One of the
leaders of this movement, Sir Grantley Adams, founded the Barbados
Labour Party in 1938. Progress toward more democratic government for
Barbados was made in 1951, when the first general election under
universal adult suffrage occurred. This was followed by steps toward
increased self-government, and in 1961, Barbados achieved the status
of self-governing autonomy.
From 1958 to 1962, Barbados was one of 10 members of the West Indies
Federation, and Sir Grantley Adams served as its first and only
prime minister. When the federation was terminated, Barbados
reverted to its former status as a self-governing colony. Following
several attempts to form another federation composed of Barbados and
the Leeward and Windward Islands, Barbados negotiated its own
independence at a constitutional conference with the United Kingdom
in June 1966. After years of peaceful and democratic progress,
Barbados became an independent state within the British Commonwealth
on November 30, 1966. |
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