Remains indicate that there was once a considerable population of Arawak indians on the island of Barbados. In 1518 the Spanish landed to seek slaves for their colony of Hispanola and by the mid-16th century no more indians remained.
English colonists landed in the early 17th century and started tobacco and sugar-plantations, bringing in slaves from West Africa for labour. Slavery was abolished in 1834.
Barbados became an independent state within the British Commonwealth on 30 November 1963, with the British monarch as chief of state, represented by a governor-general.
The parliament consists of two chambers, the Senate and the House of Assembly.
The island is divided into 11 parishes, which do not have separate administrative centres.
