Before There Was Carolina There Was

BarbadosThe History of the Early

Settlement of Barbados and Carolina

Indicators 8-1.3 and 8-1.6

The First Inhabitants of Barbados

• The peaceful Arawak Indians were the first inhabitants of Barbados.

• They were driven away by the lack of fresh water on the surface and the arrival of the more warlike Carib Indians.

• Some sources say the Caribs were driven away because the Spanish arrived and took many of them as slaves in the early 1500s.

The Spanish changed from welcome visitors to feared

enemies.

Barbados Seen by Portuguese

• It was a Portuguese sailor who gave the island its name – “Los Barbudos” – meaning the bearded ones after the banyan tree’s strange root systems.

• Barbados lay within Spanish territory so the Portuguese did not land.

The English Arrive

• Captain John Powell landed on Barbados in 1625 and claimed the uninhabited island for England.

• Two years later, his brother, Captain Henry Powell, landed with a party of 80 settlers and 10 enslaved Africans.

Arrival on the West – the Unfriendly Side

• The group established the island's first European settlement, Jamestown, on the western coast at what is now Holetown. More settlers followed in their wake and by the end of 1628 the colony's population had grown to 2000.

Celebrating Deliverance

• The first settlers arrived quite by accident. They were probably bound for St. Kitts but were blown off course.

• When they arrived they were so grateful to have survived that they quickly built eleven churches, one for each parish they developed.

Immediately after the

settlers landed they divided it

into eleven parishes based on

the British style. They

were so thankful for

having landed

safely after their

arduous journey, that they

built a church in

every parish.

The Island Produced Crops

• Within a few years the colonists had cleared much of the native forest and planted tobacco and cotton. They found huge aquifers underground from which to get fresh water.

Plantations Required Hard Labor

• They replanted their fields with sugar in the 1640s. To meet the labor demands of the new crop, planters, who had previously relied upon indentured servants, began to import large numbers of enslaved Africans .

• The demand for sugar cane grew because of the production of rum.

Enslaved Africans Do The Work

• Their estates, the first large sugar plantations in the Caribbean, proved immensely profitable, and by the mid-17th century the planters and merchants were thriving .

Eight Lord Proprietors…

When Charles II of England was restored to the throne he repaid his supporters with a huge land grant in the New World. That grant was called Carolina because Carolus is the Latin form of Charles.

Receive a Land Grant….Sir William Berkeley,

Lord John Berkeley, Baron of Stratton,

George Monck, Duke of Albemarle,

Sir George Carteret,

Edward Hyde, Earl of Claredon,

William, Lord Craven,

Sir John Colleton, and

Anthony Ashley Cooper, the Earl of Shaftsbury,

Shown receiving their land grant - Carolina

These were the Lord Proprietors who would finance the project and reap the profits. They would rule as they chose, using their agents to help them in local affairs. The only person more powerful in this endeavor was King Charles II. These eight men would direct the affairs for the Crown in Carolina during the early days of settlement and colonization.

Eight Influential and Powerful Men

They Never Saw The Land

• Oddly, none of the Lord Proprietors ever saw Carolina. Only the Earl of Shaftesbury had any real and lasting interest in the project. Two of South Carolina’s great rivers are named in his honor – the Ashley and the Cooper both enter the sea at Charleston..

Proprietors Sent Their Agents

• The Lord Proprietors did not travel to Carolina themselves but they sent their agents from Barbados to oversee the settlement of Carolina.

• Since land was scarce in Barbados, many were willing to go to Carolina.

• Even Jews who had come to Barbados to escape persecution in Spanish territories moved to Carolina to make a new start.

A New Start in a New Land

• Those agents carried on the business of the King and the Lords, but Carolina was made up of free thinking men and women who had wills and minds of their own.

• It wasn’t long before they were Carolinians more than Englishmen.

A Constitution for Carolina

• John Locke, personal friend and physician of Anthony Ashley Cooper wrote a constitution for the proprietors of the Carolina Colony in North America, but it was never put into effect.

George Washington Visited Barbados

The only trip that George Washington made outside the American colonies was to Barbados, where he took his older brother Lawrence when that man fell ill and could not be cured by colonial doctors. They told the Washingtons that the climate of Barbados and the care available there would be beneficial.

Washington as a young man before Lawrence died in

1753.

Washington’s New Home

While in Barbados, Washington grew to love the island’s peaceful existence. He contracted smallpox and had scars that stayed with him all his life. Washington was a little vain about his appearance. Lawrence died of tuberculosis and the 20-year-old George Washington returned to Virginia.

The Connection Continued

• The plantation system that was established in Barbados was transplanted to Carolina.

• The need for enslaved Africans was also transplanted.

• Even the parish system of governing was transplanted. Old Carolina maps show the names of the same parishes that had existed in Barbados.

Notice how many parish names are also on Carolina maps. Also notice how many of the names of the Lord Proprietors are also found on Carolina maps.

Parishes of Barbados

A Monument to the British Settlers

This monument in Holetown tells the story of the first British settlers. Today Barbados calls itself “Little England” because of its strong attachment to the Mother Country.

“Little Carolina” Activities

• One could make the argument that Barbados is a little bit of Carolina and Carolina is a little bit of Barbados. List your reasons.

• Extend your learning by using graphic organizers to show how they are alike and different as well as the connections.

• Research Barbados to learn more about the culture there that was transplanted to Carolina.

• Pretend that you are someone who left Barbados for Carolina. Write a letter to your friend who stayed behind about what Carolina is like.

Before There was Carolina There was Barbados

Created by Carol Poole September 2006