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Latest News from
Barbados

CaribNation Shows Featuring
Barbados

#107 Island profile with
Ambassador Courtney Blackman

#128 Examining the ’97 US/
Caribbean Summit in Barbados

#144 Caribbean Artist Series:
Folklorist Irvin Burgess

#304 Caribbean Novelist:
Glenville Lowell – “Songs of Night”

#307 Caribbean Statesman/Author:
Sir Courtney Blackman – “Central
Bank Theory and Practice”

#308 Caribbean Artist Series:
Karl Broodhagen

#312 Caribbean Profile: Civil
Servant Olga Lopez Seale

#314 Caribbean Journalist Speaks:
Ricky Singh

#319 The Caribbean Broadcasting
Union with Patrick Cozier

#328 Barbados Foreign Policy
Agenda with Minister Billie Miller

#330 The Education and
Development of Youth in
Barbados with Minister Mia Motley

#332 The Caribbean News Agency

#348 Cultural Specialist,
Allison Leacock

#412 Caribbean Gospel Artist
Wintley Phipps

#439 The Caribbean Examination
Council with Sir Keith Hunt

#352 West Indies Cricket Greats
Sir Conrad Hunte and
Rev. Wesley Hall

National Flag of Barbados.

The national flag of Barbados is comprised of three equal vertical panels - the centre panel of gold and the outer panels of ultramarine. A broken trident in black is located in the centre of the flag. Blue represents the sea and sky of Barbados, while gold represents the sand of the island's beaches. The symbol at the centre of the flag represents the Trident of the mythical sea god, Neptune - the shaft of the trident is broken symbolising Barbados' break from Britain. Map of Barbados

Barbados Coat Of Arms.

The Grant of Arms conveyed by royal warrant was presented to the President of the Senate by Her Majesty the Queen in 1966 - the year Barbados gained independence from Britain.

The Golden Shield carries two Pride of Barbados flowers (the National Flower) and the Bearded Fig Tree (after which Barbados is named). The shield is supported by a dolphin (symbolic of the fishing industry) and by a pelican (after a small island called Pelican Island which existed off Barbados).

Above the shield is a helmet and mantling and above is a hand of a Barbadian holding two crossed pieces of sugarcane (symbolic of the Barbados sugar industry). The cross formed by the cane is a reference to the cross on which St.Andrew was crucified - Barbados' Independence Day is celebrated on November 30th, Saint Andrews Day.

History

Barbados is a history buff’s heaven. From its grand old Jacobean style ‘great houses’ (rare in the western hemisphere) and churchyards of the 1600s to the Museum and Archives with their vast records and research base, Barbados is truly an historical treasure.

In February, 1627 a group of English settlers landed near Holetown on the west coast and claimed the uninhabited island for their country. Unlike the majority of other territories, Barbados remained safely in the hands of the British until the island’s Independence on November 30, 1966.

That 350-year period forms the crux of the island’s modern history, but long long before, various other persons passed through the island, some settling along its coasts, and today Barbados is not just an historian’s paradise, but an archaeologist’s as well. Recent finds have virtually changed the course of this island’s pre-history.

Barbados was once thought to be a south coast stop-over and settlement site for Amerindians (Arawaks then Caribs) from around 300 AD spanning to just beyond 1200 AD, when by the early 1500s, all signs of Amerindian life vanished.

However, recent excavation work conducted on the northwest coast of the island now shows Barbados was actually a permanent settlement from as early as 1630 BC, pre-dating the Amerindians by up to 2 000 years. A major discovery was several stacks of ‘pots’ with the bottoms broken out, which turned out to be a very primitive form of a water well. This find is now considered the largest collection of ‘stacks’ ever found in the West Indies and Central America. Top archaeologists from such institutions as London University are now studying this and other sites.

Returning to modern history, Barbados became a veritable gold mine for the British as the island’s sugar industry grew and prospered. The ‘landed gentry’ came in their numbers from England, all eager to make their fortunes off sugar. Lifestyle was lavish and extravagant, and the residue of this is evident in the many ‘great houses’ peppered across the island, several of which are open for public viewing.

The slave trade peaked in the 1700s and continued until 1834 when the Emancipation Act launched an apprenticeship system leading to freedom. In 1838 slavery was abolished completely. It is not surprising the next events of historical significance involved mass labour, poor working conditions and the advent of labour unions. The infamous 1937 riots kicked off this period of democratic growth, and within a year the first labour union was launched.

In 1954 the leader of the trade union movement, (Sir) Grantley Adams, becomes the island’s first Premier and in 1961, the man known to Barbadians as the "Father of Independence", Errol Barrow, was elected to lead the country and ultimately pave the way to the island’s Independence in 1966.

Although tourism dates back to the 1700s when such visitors as George Washington came to the island for its healthful environment, it was not until the 1950s it became truly popular as a long-stay destination for the wealthy British, whose lavish lifestyle is still visible primarily along the west coast.

By the 1970s Barbados was gaining wider popularity and by the early 1990s visitors not only came in their numbers during the traditional ‘high’ or winter season, but also during the summer period, July through August, for the island’s biggest national festival, Crop Over.

Today, over a million visitors come to Barbados each year, half of whom are cruise ship visitors.

Barbados has enjoyed more than 350 years of unbroken parliamentary rule and is a democratic society, with a Prime Minister as head of the country.

Island Culture

Barbados' distinction of having remained under British rule from its first settlement in 1627 to its Independence on November 30, 1966, profoundly affected the culture. Because of this unbroken dominion, the stoic British influence courses through every day life and the infrastructure of the island.

Yet the more flamboyant African sway pervades local life as well, and the blend of the two makes for an unmatched cultural disposition. This fusion ripples through all facets of daily living, from the foods and music to the house styles and street names. Even the language is affected, with Queen's English being the official 'language' while the colourful local dialect remains in common usage.

More than 70 per cent of the island's 260 000 people are direct descendents from the forced mass Africa migration of the late 1600s and 1700s-the slave trade. The island also has a peaceful blend of European (primarily British) settler blood with the Afro descendents, as well as small but vibrant Hindu (India), Arab (Lebanese and Syrian) and Jewish communities.

African influence is readily seen in the art, craft and literary works produced on the island, as well as many of the foods and figures of speech. Bajans are a quick-witted, fun-loving people and their gift for the double entendre or turn of phrase is most visible through calypso and literature. Local festivals, particularly the island's biggest national festival, Crop Over, reflect specific elements of Bajan life. The primary driving force of the economy and lifestyle was the sugar crop. It was the island's largest income-earner from the late 1600s until the late 1980s, and remains a powerful influence in both the lifestyle and the economy. Crop Over is a celebration of this agricultural mainstay. The other prime economic influence is, of course, the fishing industry and festivals hailing this trade are also held.

The chattel house, a unique feature of Barbados, is one such product of the cultural side of sugar. Of necessity, plantation workers needed houses that were easily assembled and taken down so they could move from plantation to plantation. The chattel house is, in fact, perhaps the world's first true mobile home. Yet other architectural elements are distinctly British, such as the Jacobean style homes built here in the late 1600s. Barbados is the site of two of the three remaining examples of the house style in the Western Hemisphere.

The island's creative community is a vibrant one, with many artists producing work in all media, as well as a strong contingent of clothing designers and craftspeople. Drawing from the Africa, Caribbean and Anglo experience, much of the work here is distinctive and of high quality.