Holidays » Holiday Guides » Caribbean Islands » Barbados » Here is all you need to know about Barbados
Barbados - Popular West Indies Tourist Destination
By : James HuntBarbados is a pear-shaped island in the Caribbean and is a
popular tourist destination. The people of Barbados are West
Indian and call themselves "Bajans". The island has an area of
430 square miles with a population of 240,000. Ninety percent
of the population is of African descent but the main language
spoken is English and the people are mostly of the Protestant
religious denomination.
The Arawak Indians are believed to have been the first
inhabitants of Barbados, and were driven off the island in the
1200's by the Carib Indians who came there from Venezuela. It
is known that a Portuguese explorer named Pedro a Campos
was the one who named the
island Los Barbados. The name means "bearded ones". It refers to the fig trees on
the island. Captain John Powell claimed the island for England
in 1625. The island was a British colony for many years, but now
it is an independent state within the British Commonwealth. The
first settlement was established at Jamestown in 1627.
These settlers established tobacco and cotton fields and later
began a flourishing sugar industry and continued to boom until a
sugar crop failure in the middle of the nineteenth century. Much
of the field work was done by slaves, even after slavery was abolished in Britain.
The land was owned by the large estates and in order to survive
the black population had to stay on the plantations.
The island freeholders formed a legislative assembly on Barbados
in 1639, only the second British colony to have such a form of
government at that time. In 1651, the island received its own
charter that guaranteed the island its own governor, a freely
elected assembly, and no taxes without the inhabitants' consent.
In the Depression, there was a severe problem with unemployment in Barbados, so the British government set up the office of British Colonial Welfare and Development. This move gave large sums of money to the island and provided for representation by the black people of the population in the political process. One of the black residents pressing for these reforms actually became a Prime Minister of the island and received a knighthood from the queen. In 1961, Barbados was granted self-government and in 1966, it became an independent nation.
West Indian culture
predominates on Barbados, except in sports where cricket is the
most popular game. In terms of family life, music and food, the
West Indian influences are stronger than any remaining British
influences.
Many people travel to Barbados on holiday. There are international flights from all over the
world to the Barbados Grantley International Airport. There are
approximately 500,00 cruise ships that make Barbados a stop on
their travel itinerary each year. The main mode of travel on the
island is by bus, but visitors can rent a car from one of the
many rental agencies. The currency used is the Barbados dollar,
but all the hotels take US currency and credit cards.
About the author:
James Hunt has spent 15 years as a professional writer and
researcher covering stories that cover a whole spectrum of
interest. Read more at
www.best-of-barbados.info
