Barbados - An Island With History

Barbados is best known as a tourist vacation spot.  The island is less than one million years old. The island was formed by the collision of the Atlantic crust and Caribbean plates, and a volcanic eruption. The later formation of coral accumulated to approximately 300 feet.  It is geologically distinctive, being actually two land masses that merged together over the years. To the east of the island is the torrent deep blue-green Atlantic Ocean. To the west is the calm, serene aquamarine water of the Caribbean Sea.

Five hundred years ago, this island that stands apart with its smoothly rounded with softly undulating hills, was still covered with luxuriant primeval forests of bearded fig, whitewood and West Indian cedar. The Amerindian inhabitants used conch axes to clear small areas for huts and fields of cassava, maize peanuts, guavas, papaws (papaya), cotton and sweet potato.  According to accounts by descendants of the indigenous aboriginal Arawak tribes in other regional areas, the original name for Barbados was Ichirouganaim, with possible translations including: "Red Land with White Teeth"[i] The Island was renamed by Europeans traveling to Brazil. It was named after the Ficus citrifolia, also known as the Shortleaf Fig, Giant Bearded Fig or Wild Banyantree, is a species of banyan native to southern Florida, the Caribbean, Central America, and northern South America.[ii]

Barbados is 250 miles northeast of Venezuela. The first indigenous people were Amerindians who arrived here from Venezuela in dugout canoes approximately 350-400 BC. It is thought that the Arawaks were killed off by the more ferocious Carib tribe. They were the second indigenous arrived about 800 BC. The Carib arrived last from South America 1200.

[i] Barbados the Red Land with White Teeth: Home of the Amerindians Barbados Museum & Historical Society 1998 http://www.barbmuse.org.bb/. Retrieved 04 June 2010 "A temporary exhibit which examined some of the preliminary excavations conducted at the dig site at Heywoods, St. Peter."

[ii] Britannica Encyclopaedia: History of Barbados

The Europeans arrived during the mid-1500’s.  The Portuguese were followed by the Spanish and then the British in 1625. Barbados was under British rule continuously from 1627-1966. Redlegs was a name used to refer to the class of poor whites that lived on colonial Barbados, St. Vincent, Grenada and a few other Caribbean islands. Several of these populations were English, Irish, or Scottish. They originally arrived on Barbados in the early to mid 17th century as slaves, indentured servants, or as transported prisoners. Small cluster of Germans and Portuguese were also imported as plantation laborers, described as "white slaves". 

In due course Barbados has one of the world's leading sugar industries after starting sugar cane cultivation in 1640.[i] One faction which was influential in ensuring the early success of the sugar cane industry was the SephardicJews.  They describe themselves in terminology of the Jewish customs and traditions which originated in the Iberian Peninsula. They were kicked out from that area in the late 15th century after Islam was replaced by Christianity as the governing religion.  As the sugar industry evolved into its main commercial venture, Barbados was redistributed into large plantation estates replacing the smallholdings of the early English settlers.[ii] There has been a Jewish presence in the country of Barbados almost continually since 1654. They were refugees from Dutch Brazil. The Jews who had been enslaved for centuries had no problem enslaving Africans on the island.[iii] [iv]

The Nidhei Israel Synagogue was rededicated in a new location in 1987. The Old Jewish cemetery in Bridgetown was restored. The earlier Nidhei Israel building, which operated as the synagogue, is now used for a library. The Jewish cemetery in Barbados is considered to be the oldest graveyard in the Western Hemisphere. A few of the graves date back to the 1660s and include Samuel Hart, son of Moses Hart, and Moses Nehemiah, the first Jew to live in Virginia.[v]

Nidhei Israel Synagogue
Synagogue Lane
Services are held Friday evenings at 7pm at ‘True Blue’, Rockley New Road, Christ Church, during the summer, and at the synagogue in winter.

Synagogue Restoration Project
P.O. Box 256
Bridgetown
Tel. 809-432-0840

[i] Barbados – Just Beyond Your Imagination . Hansib Publishing (Caribbean) Ltd. 1997. p. 46, 48. ISBN 1870518543.

[ii] Assis, Yom Tov, The Jews of Spain: From Settlement to Expulsion , Jerusalem: Hebrew University of Jerusalem|The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1988)

[iii] JewishJournal.com - Barbados' Nidhe Israel: Torah on a tropical isle

[iv] About some of the Dutch Brazilian Jews which came to Barbados - The History of Rum

[v] http://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/11/travel/a-barbados-synagogue-is-reborn.html?pagewanted=2

A document dated 1651from Barbados stated a drink made of sugar canes distilled, hot, hellish, and terrible liquor. The first distillation of rum took place on the sugarcane plantations of the Barbados in the 17th century. Plantation slaves first revealed that molasses, a by-product of the sugar refining process, can be fermented into alcohol. Soon after, distillation of these alcoholic by-products concentrated the alcohol and removed impurities, producing the first true rums. The process was similar to making palm wine in Ghana. It is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree such as the Palmyra, and coconut palms.

Smith, Frederick (2005). Caribbean Rum: A Social and Economic History . University Press of Florida.

Toddy and Palm Wine - Practical Answers on the Practical Action website. Retrieved 2010-06-04

Mount Gay Rum is produced by Mount Gay Distilleries Ltd. of Barbados. The rum was first produced in 1703, making it one of "The Oldest" rums in the World. Mount Gay was named for Sir John Gay Alleyne, a very close friend of John Sober, owner of the distillery. Visitors can take a 45 minute tours from 9am to 3:45pm, Monday to Friday

MOUNT GAY RUM VISITORS CENTER
Spring Garden Highway, Bridgetown, Barbados
Tel: (246) 425-9066

More information:

Barbados Museum and Historical Society

Smith, Frederick (2005). Caribbean Rum: A Social and Economic History . University Press of Florida.

Toddy and Palm Wine - Practical Answers on the Practical Action website. Retrieved 2010-06-04