The first indigenous people of Barbados were the Arawaks (Amerindians) who arrived there from Venezuela. Paddling long dugout canoes they crossed oceans and currents that challenge modern sailing vessels. On the north end of Venezuela a narrow sea channel called the Dragon's mouth acts as a funnel to the Caribbean Sea and the nearest Island of Trinidad.
In 1200, the Caribs conquered the Arawaks. The Caribs were a taller and stronger Amerindian tribe than the Arawaks. They were incredibly accurate bowmen and used a powerful poison to paralyze their prey.
Despite the Caribs' ruthless warlike abilities, the island was taken over by the Spanish in 1492. The Spanish imposed slavery on the Caribs. Slavery and the contagious European small pox and tuberculosis ended the Caribs' existence. Spain, however, passed Barbados over in favor of the larger Caribbean islands, which left the island open for anyone who wanted to colonize it.
In 1625, under the command of Captain John Powell, the first English ship touched the island and claimed it on behalf of King James I. On February 17th 1627, Captain Henry Powell returned with a party of 80 settlers and 10 slaves to occupy and settle the island. This expedition landed in Holetown. The colonists established a House of Assembly in 1639, which was the 3rd ever Parliamentary Democracy in the world. People with good financial backgrounds and social connections with England were allocated land. Within a few years much of the land had been deforested to make way for tobacco and cotton plantations.
During the 1630s, sugar cane was introduced to the agriculture. The production of sugar, tobacco and cotton was heavily reliant on the indenture of servants. White civilians who wanted to emigrate overseas could do so by signing an agreement to serve a planter in Barbados for a period of 5 or 7 years. To meet the labor demands, servants were also derived from kidnapping, and convicted criminals were shipped to Barbados. Descendants of the white slaves and indentured labor (referred to as Red Legs) still live in Barbados, amongst the black population in St. Martin's River and other east coast regions. At one time they lived in caves in this region.
Slavery was ended in 1834. Barbados remained a British colony until internal autonomy was granted in 1961. The Island gained full independence in 1966, and maintains ties to the Britain monarch represented in Barbados by the Governor General.
