The Civil War in Barbados

Page 1 of 8

• 1. Location
• 2. Good families
• 3. Tensions
• 4. The political situation
• 5. Declaration to England
• 6. Imperial control
• 7. Suppression
• 8. Find out more
• Print entire article

Location

It may excite some surprise that I should have selected so small a portion of the globe as the island of Barbados as the field of my researches, and filled so many pages with their result...the history of Barbados is by no means barren of events which have materially affected the British Empire. If the navigation laws led to England's supremacy on the seas, that small island was the cause which led to the navigation laws...it was here that many of those attached to the royal cause, during England's civil wars and the interregnum which ensued, sought and found an asylum, until the chivalric opposition of that small spot to the mandates of Cromwell roused his ire and vengeance. - Robert Schomburgk, The History of Barbados, 1848.

Schomburgk's views expressed over one hundred and fifty years ago echo those of other analysts of Barbadian history. It is indeed surprising that this small island of 166 square miles should have impacted to the degree which it did, not only on British imperial policies, but to a larger extent, as a vibrant component of the Atlantic system. The answer lies mainly in two factors, the island's geographic location and its economic success in the mid seventeenth century, as an unrivalled producer and innovator in the sugar industry.

'The economic promise of sugar financed the large scale importation of labour from Europe and ultimately Africa ...'

Barbados' easterly location and position at 13 degrees latitude gave it comparative advantages for the growing and production of sugar cane. Among the factors which helped were an alkaline soil, sufficient, but not excessive rainfall at the correct growing time, and the reliable trade winds which allowed planters on the island to use energy efficient windmills for the processing of sugar cane stalks. Wind and sea currents permitted fast and reliable access to Europe, Africa and North America. This relative ease of communications enabled the island to become a hub in the early stages of its development. The economic promise of sugar financed the large scale importation of labour from Europe and ultimately Africa, which was a necessity if the sugar industry was to grow and proper. Good facilitators or middlemen were also needed, and at a critical phase, Dutch and Jewish Sephardic merchants provided shipping, capital, technological transfers from North Eastern Brazil, logistical support, labour, market information and access to European markets.

Next 

Published: 2001-04-01