Barbados is a coral island, which was already known to the Spanish by 1500. A Portuguese mariner named Pedro Campos landed on the island in 1536, but the first English colonist to land on the island was Captain Simon Gordon, in 1620. The island would not be claimed for the English crown until five years later, by Captain John Powell. Barbados began as a slave colony, but slavery in this English settlement began its existence completely by accident. The number of African slaves remained minimal, until the success of sugarcane cultivation caused the demand for field workers to drastically increase.
- This indicator was written to promote inquiry into the unique development of ethnic, political, and religious identities in the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern colonies.
- This indicator was designed to encourage inquiry into the geographic and human factors that contributed to the development of South Carolina’s economic system. This indicator was also written to encourage inquiry into South Carolina’s distinct social and economic system as influenced by British Barbados.