Location, Size and Language
Barbados is an island located in the Atlantic. It is approximately 200 miles north east of Trinidad and about 2.5 times the area of Washington D.C. (Barbados, 2011).The capital, Bridgetown is on the southwestern coast of the island. The official language of Barbados is English. Barbados population was estimated at 285,653 by the United Nations (UN) in 2010 (Barbados, 2007). The people of Barbados are referred to as Bajans. Approximately 90% of the residents is of African descent, 4% is of European decent and 6% is of Asian or mixed decent. The dominant religion in Barbados is Christianity; with 67% Protestant, 4% Roman Catholic, 17% Atheist, and 12% is not active members of a particular denomination (Background Note: Barbados, 2011).
History
There was a belief that Barbados was initially colonized by Arawak Indians. When the Europeans discovered the island, it was un-colonized. The first Europeans to enter Barbados were the Portuguese, but in 1627 the British were the first to establish a colony there (Barbados, 2011). Tobacco and cotton was cultivated first by the colonists, however, they were replaced by sugar in the 1640’s. “Slaves were brought in from Africa to work sugar plantations, and eventually the population was about 90% black” (Barbados, 2011). In 1816 a slave revolution occurred and slavery was finally terminated in 1834 throughout the British Empire.
Political System and Government
Barbados was granted independence November 30, 1966 by Britain. Within the Commonwealth it became a parliamentary democracy. Barbados has been politically stable since its independence (Barbados, 2011). The legal system of Barbados is established by British common law. It has a crown appointed governor...
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Barbados. (2011). Retrieved October 20, 2011, from The Heritage Foundation: http://www.heritage.org/index/country/barbados
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After Virginia, Maryland was the second plantation colony formed in 1634 and it also prospered economically from growing tobacco. In the West Indies, they flourished by growing sugar, and the Carolinas with rice. Countless African slaves were brought over in large numbers to provide labor in the growing plantations since the demand for cash crops rose. Slavery was used in all the plantation colonies.
The Web. The Web. 16 Feb. 2014. " U.S. Department of Labor - Wage and Hour Division (WHD) - Minimum Wage."
...nd the development of sugar cane in the Caribbean. Their wealth began with rice production and sales to England. Georgia, a colony founded by James Oglethorpe and named in honor of King George II. The land between Atlanta and Savannah rivers was considered to be the headquarters to the “south seas” and served as a border to Spanish Florida. It was settled in 1732 and slavery along with alcohol was banned until 1750.
Jamaica's government is based on the British model of democracy. Even though Jamaica is independent place, it’s part of the commonwealth of Nations and saw Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom as its head of state. She is represented in Jamaica by a governor-general. The governor-general names the leader of the majority party as prime minister, who is the head of government. Representatives are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms. Elections must be held around every five years. Arawak Indians lived in Jamaica when the explorer Christopher Columbus got there in 1494 and claimed the island for Spain. The Spaniards enslaved the Arawak and later brought Africans to the island as slaves. Disease killed almost all the Arawak. British invaded Jamaica in 1655, and they gained possession in 1670. They continued to fight African slaves called Maroons, who had escaped into the hills when the British arrived. The British and the Maroons signed a peace treaty in 1738. Fun Fact: Jamaica’s agricultural products are sugar, bananas, coffee, coconut, cocoa, citrus, pimento,
In 1627 the first Englishmen landed on the uninhabited Caribbean island of Barbados. Twenty years later, Richard Ligon, a royalist fleeing political turmoil during the English Revolution of 1647-1649, arrived on the island and purchased half of a functioning sugar plantation with several colleagues. He remained on the island for three years, writing A True & Exact History after his return to
During the Atlantic Slave Trade there were 1.7 million Africans from the Bight of Biafra enslaved and brought to the New World. Of those 1.7 million, nearly 1.3 million were Igbo. From the 16th to the 19th centuries European and American slave traders were kidnapping and enslaving a large number of Africans to the New World and as a result of the influx of Africans there were many great cultural influences that came from the African populations. Jamaica was home to two major trading ports where the Igbo slaves would arrive, Bonny and Calabar. The majority of Biafran slaves were brought to the coasts of Jamaica and made up a large portion of slaves in Jamaica.
The Slave Revolution in the Caribbean Colonists in the eighteenth century created plantations that produced goods such as tobacco, cotton, indigo, and more importantly, sugar. These plantations required forced labor, and thus slaves were shipped from Africa to the new world. “The Caribbean was a major plantation that was a big source of Europe’s sugar, and increasing economic expansion. The French had many colonies, including its most prized possession Saint- Domingue (Haiti). ”
Spain never really developed the land, however, and thus when British forces invaded in 1655, Spain chose not to focus much energy on defending the island. The British found Jamaica to be much more profitable than the Spanish had. It eventually became one of the most lucrative colonies in the British empire due to its dominance in sugar exports: from the mid 1700’s until the close of the slave trade in Jamaica in the 1830’s, Jamaica accounted for 42 percent of sugar imported into Britain (Burnard and Morgan 3). Unfortunately, these benefits for the British empire came at a significant cost to the hundreds of thousands of Africans who became unwillingly caught up in the trade triangle between England, Africa and the Caribbean. In their essay "The Dynamics of the Slave Market and Slave Purchasing Patterns in Jamaica, 1655-1788," Trevor Burnard and Kenneth Morgan say: "Jamaica had the largest demand for slaves of any British colony in the Americas" (2).
The history of Jamaica is crucial to understanding the country’s current situation. Many of the problems today are results of neocolonial forces. The roots of such concerns can be found within the country’s long legacy of colonialism extending 300 years in length before reaching independence. “Jamaica was the meeting place of two expropriate populations: the Britisher uprooting himself in search of quick wealth through sugar; and the African uprooted by force from his environment to supply slave labor upon which his owner’s dream of wealth depended” (Manley, 1975: 12).
Was slavery really stopped in the 19th century? After doing a little research on American businesses you can clearly com to the conclusion that U.S didn't abolish slavery, they just outsourced it. If you look inside the Kingston Free Zone you'll see the slaves still at work. Also if you see a Jamaican banana plantation you will learn about how the economy of a foreign nation was taken over in the
Bahamas Government Online. 2012. Population by Sex and Age - All Bahamas. Bahamas Government Online. Available at: [Accessed Jan 13th, 2014]
Colonialism in Jamaica established a lasting social and economic hierarchy that benefited the white minority at the expense of the black majority. The colonization of Jamaica began with the Spanish occupation of the island in the early 1500’s. The Spanish set up small-scale plantations on the island, while focusing on piracy as the key to profit. The Spanish effectively committed genocide upon the native Arawak population by the time English gunboats won the rule of Jamaica from the Spanish armada in 1655. The British immediately increased the slave trade in order to establish a thriving plantation economy (Lake, p.
Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers: 2012. N.p.: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013. Print. BLS Reports.
When one thinks of Barbados, one thinks of luscious, turquoise blue waters; soft white sand beaches; blue, white clouded skies; fresh fruits; exotic, delicious dishes and honeymoons. One, however, tends to forget the formation of this land. This Caribbean luxury Island has much history and great heritage. In this report, I will detail Barbados’s location, history, labor relations, population size and structure, industries, plus add a little zest with the beauty of the Island.
Currency Fluctuation, What is Currency Fluctuation, 2014. Available at: http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-currency-fluctuations.htm Retrieved at 6th April 2014