The early settlers of Carolina came from Barbados. Barbados was initially settled in the 1600s by the English, who established large sugar plantations that were worked by enslaved Africans. Many settlers and the plantation system were later transported from Barbados to Carolina. Place names, political systems like the parish divisions, and crops like sugar cane that were important in Barbados were also established in Carolina by these early settlers. The connections between the settlements of Barbados and Carolina shaped them both culturally and economically in their early years.

1. Before There Was Carolina
There Was Barbados
The History of the Early Settlement of
Barbados and Carolina
Indicators 8-1.3 and 8-1.6

2. 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.

3. The Spanish changed from
welcome visitors to feared enemies.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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 .

12. 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.

13. 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

14. Eight Influential and Powerful Men
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.

15. 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..

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. George Washington Visited
Barbados
Washington as a young
man before Lawrence
died in 1753.
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.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. Parishes of 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.

23. 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.

24. “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.

25. Before There was Carolina There was Barbados
Created by Carol Poole
September 2006