OPPapers.com

Barbados

Barbados

Separating the Atlantic Ocean from the Caribbean Sea lays a series of islands that are among the most visited in the world. Upon looking at a map of the Caribbean one may take note that the islands are all uniformly placed in what appears to be a horseshoe shape, or more commonly known as an archipelago. A further look at the map may also reveal that sitting just outside this chain of islands to the east is a small island called Barbados. This geographically arrayed island is home to a very historical and important cultural history that still thrives today as a major Caribbean culture. Barbados was formed roughly one million years ago as a result of a volcanic eruption and the collision of the Atlantic and Caribbean crustal plates. It is generally characterized as a flat, low-lying island surrounded by coral reef. The tropical climate, gentle rolling hills, highlands, and lowlands are on average roughly 40% arable, meaning the island has been agriculturally influenced throughout its history.

Barbados was first inhabited around 400 CE by Amerindian nomads who traveled there from Venezuela in nothing more than small dugout canoes. This first group of inhabitants were of the Saladoid-Barrancoid group who were fishermen, ceramists and farmers. The second wave of Amerindian nomads was the Arawak people who arrived around 800 CE. It is believed that Barbados was originally called Ichirouganiam, because the name Barbados comes from the Portuguese in the 1500's. Around the time of the 13th century the third wave of South Americans called the Caribs arrive and upset both the Arawak and Salodiod-Barrancoid inhabitants. From this point forward to the 1500's each of the three groups live in complete isolation on the island. Around the 1500's the Spanish arrive in Barbados overtaking the Carib Indians and forcing them into slave labor. It wasn't soon after this that the rest of the Europeans arrived in the Caribbean and changed everything that the inhabitants...