Barbados

Barbados is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and is the southernmost and easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American and Caribbean tectonic plates. Its capital and largest city is Bridgetown.

Inhabited by Kalinago people since the 13th century, and prior to that by other Indigenous peoples, the island was originally named Ichirouganaim. It was claimed for the Crown of Castile by Spanish navigators in the late 15th century, who named it Barbudos, and it first appeared on a Spanish map in 1511. The Portuguese Empire claimed the island between 1532 and 1536, but abandoned it in 1620; their only traces were the introduction of wild boars intended as a supply of meat whenever the island was visited. The indigenous population had mostly been sold into slavery, killed, or died of disease by that time.

An English ship, the Olive Blossom, arrived in Barbados on 14 May 1625; its men took possession of the island in the name of King James I. In 1627, the first permanent settlers arrived from England, and Barbados became an English and later British colony. During this period, the colony operated on a plantation economy, relying initially on the labour of Irish indentured servants and subsequently African slaves, who worked on the island's plantations. Slavery continued until it was phased out through most of the British Empire by the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. The descendants of these enslaved Africans now account for over 90% of the island's population.