Barbados is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most eastern of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of 432 km2 (167 sq mi) and also has a population of regarding 287,000 (2019 quote). Its capital and also biggest city is Bridgetown.

Inhabited by Kalinago individuals because the 13th century, as well as prior to that by other Amerindians, Spanish navigators seized Barbados in the late 15th century, asserting it for the Crown of Castile. It first appeared on a Spanish map in 1511. The Portuguese Empire asserted the island between 1532 and 1536, yet abandoned it in 1620 with their only remnants being an introduction of wild boars for a good supply of meat whenever the island was gone to.

An English ship, the Olive Blossom, arrived in Barbados on 14 Might 1625; its males acquired the island in the name of King James I. In 1627, the first permanent settlers got here from England, and Barbados ended up being an English as well as later British colony. Throughout this period, the colony operated a plantation economic climate, depending on the labour of enslaved Africans who worked on the island’s haciendas. The slave labor to the island continued until it was banned by the Slave labor Act 1807, with last emancipation of the enslaved populace in Barbados happening over a period of five years following the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.

On 30 November 1966, Barbados became an independent state as well as Commonwealth world with Elizabeth II as Queen of Barbados. In October 2021, Sandra Mason was chosen by Parliament to become the very first Head of state of Barbados. On 30 November 2021, Mason changed Queen Elizabeth as president, with Barbados transitioning to a republic within the Republic of Nations.

Barbados is an industrialized as well as peaceful country with a very top quality of life. Barbados’s populace is mostly of African descent. While it is practically an Atlantic island, Barbados is closely associated with the Caribbean and is rated as one of its leading tourist locations.