Barbados is furthest east in the Caribbean and was not discovered by Europeans until 1518. The original inhabitants, the Arawak -indianerne, was quickly exterminated or deported. Barbados is excellent for growing sugar cane, and a successful British plantation economy has developed.
The island was the British Crown Colony from 1652 to 1966. By 1666, 50,000 slaves were working in Barbados, and 8,000 British had settled there. Already in 1639 a parliament was established on the island, the third oldest in the British Commonwealth.
A strong white upper class of plantation owners has left their mark on Barbados, and sugar production continued even after many Caribbean islands encountered difficulties from the 1930s. It is also invested in industry and tourism.
Political history
The leading political parties in Barbados have been the Barbados Labor Party (BLP) and the Democratic Labor Party (DLP), both with social democratic roots. To see more information other than history, please visit Abbreviationfinder to learn more about climate, population, government, and economy for the country of Barbados. The BLP had the government in 1946-61 with Grantley Adams as prime minister and 1976-86 with son Tom Adams as prime minister. DLP had the government in 1962–76 with Errol Barrow as prime minister. When the United States invaded neighboring Grenada in 1983, Tom Adams was an avid supporter. It testified to strong opposition to the invasion among voters when the DLP won a constituency in 1986. Barrow became prime minister again, but only ruled for one year before he died. Lloyd Erskine Sandiford succeeded him as prime minister until the 1994 elections, when the BLP came back strongly.
- Countryaah: Check to see the location of Barbados on the world map. Also covers major mountains, rivers and lakes in Barbados.
The BLP strengthened its position in the 1999 elections, when it won 26 out of 28 seats in the National Assembly. At the 2003 elections, the result was 23 of the now 30 seats. Owen Arthur was thus able to embark on his third term as prime minister, and continue his program to create a modern, more technology-based economy as a basis for new growth, more jobs and for greater economic smoothing. Here there were great challenges at the beginning of the new centenary. The tensions between the white political and economic elite and the colored majority also explain much of the increase in crime Barbados is struggling with.
History. – On the eve of the January 2008 elections, Barbados showed up with an unemployment rate at the lowest levels (7.4% in 2007) and improved safety conditions; However, after 14 years in government, the Barbados Labor Party (BLP) won only 10 of the 30 seats and was defeated by the Democratic Labor Party (DLP). The new executive, chaired by David Thompson, intervened in 2009 on immigration, announcing an amnesty procedure for irregular immigrants from the Caribbean community (CARIbbean COMmunity, CARICOM) who had regularized their position by December and the expulsion of the others. On Thompson’s death in October 2010, Deputy Prime Minister Freundel Stuart assumed the post of prime minister, leading the country through the period of the global economic crisis until the elections in February 2013. Despite the reduction in tourist flows, rising unemployment and a debt / GDP ratio over 85%, the DLP managed to confirm itself in the consultations, winning 16 seats against the 14 of the BLP. For fiscal consolidation, the government drew up a plan in 2013 that included a two-year freeze of nominal public wages and a cut of about 3,000 state employees.