History of the Barbados
Barbados August 13th, 2008
It is so believed that the early settlers in Barbados had been the fishermen and farmers who originally hailed from South America. They landed in Barbados through the use of the canoe by 350 AD. There is also the concept concerning the history of the Barbados that there were two groups of migrants. First were the Arawak people who traversed the lands of Barbados in 800 AD and the group of the Caribs who came by 1200 AD. They basically came long before the Europeans arrived.
The history of Barbados also says that the first troop of Europeans to set foot in the place were the Portuguese, to whom the naming of the island is credited. The term “Barbados” generally means to be “the island of the bearded ones”. Later on, conclusions surfaced as to whether the name “bearded” was supposed to refer to the natural landscapes of the island or its settlers. As what is most familiar with the histories of the islands, the Portuguese people then invaded Barbados, enslaved the natives, and then forced them to work in the plantations in the rest of the conquerors’ colonies.
The year 1620 marked the first landing of the English people in Barbados. It happened when Captain Cataline reportedly fetched water. The second English landing took place in 1625 when the ship named Olive Blossom under the command of Captain Henry Powell docked in what is now called as Holetown. When the English people came, not even a single native dweller was at sight. The only proof that Barbados had once been inhabited was the wooden bridge or what is now famously known as the “Indian Bridge” in what is known as Bridgetown.
The history of Barbados evidently speaks about its being a British colony for a period of 350 years. It then became free on November 30, 1966.
