Barbados People
"A Polite, Friendly Bunch of Caribbean People"

• What are people from Barbados called?
• What language do people in Barbados speak?
• What is the history of the people from Barbados?
• What are the ethnicities of Barbados people?
• Who are some famous people from Barbados?
• Want to learn more about Barbados culture?

What are people from Barbados called?

The official name for a person from Barbados is a "Barbadian".  However we usually refer to ourselves as "Bajans".

What language do people from Barbados speak?

The official language of the Barbados people is English.  On the island you will also here people speaking a form of Barbadian dialect or Bajan dialect.  Locals call this "Speaking Bajan". Bajan is a fusion between African words, words unique to the people of Barbados and standard British English.

A Brief History of Barbados People

The Amerindians 

Evidence has been found that the island was first inhabited in 1620 B.C. by Arawak Indians, a tribe of Amerindians that came to the island from nearby Venezuela.  It is not clear how these people managed to travel to the island considering that they were paddling man-made canoes but they made it!  Another tribe of Amerindians called Caribs killed these Arawaks and took over the island in the 1200s.

The Portuguese

The Amerindians were then followed by the Portuguese explorer Pedro a Campos, who landed on Barbados while he was sailing to Brazil.  This Portuguese explorer is believed to have given us our first name...”Los Barbados”..which means The Bearded Ones. You may be wondering why he would call the island this.  Well there are many possible reasons but it is commonly believed that it was because of the many fig trees throughout the island.  These fig trees, Ficus citrifolia, have long hanging roots giving the trees the appearance of having long beards.

The British Land Owners, African Slaves and European Servants

The British then arrived in 1625 lead by Captain John Powell, settling in the town of Holetown along the island’s west coast.  The British began cultivating many crops throughout the island with the most valuable being sugar cane.  In order to do this the British built many sugar plantations throughout the island to allow for mass production of this cash crop.  African slaves were brought to the island in large ships to work on these sugar cane fields.  Many persecuted Europeans, such as Irish Catholics, also came to the island as indentured servants to work on these sugar fields and sugar plantation homes.

The Ethnic Diversity of the Barbados People of Today

The Black Barbadians of African Descent

Due to this array of ancestry there are Barbados people of various ethnic backgrounds.  However you will notice that about 90% of the people in Barbados are black and are referred to as Afro Bajans.

This may seem like a very high percentage considering the fact that that many white Europeans had settled on the island in the earlier days. However between the 1700s and 1800s the African population of Barbados greatly increased as by the early 1800s almost 400,000 African slaves had been imported to the island.  Black African slave workers therefore outnumbered the white plantation owners and slave drivers.  This caused much racial tension throughout the island and fear of there being a slave rebellion.  

The White Barbadians of European Descent

Many slave rebellions did occur with the most notable in 1816.  In 1834 slavery in Barbados had been abolished but by then many white European indenture servants and British plantation owners left the island due to fear and uncertainty.

There are still many people in Barbados of European descent, commonly from British plantation owners or Irish and Scottish indentured servants.  The white population in Barbados today makes up approximately 4% of the population. These Barbadians are often referred to as Euro Bajans or White Bajans.

The Chinese, East Indians and The Arabs of Barbados Today

The remaining 6% of Barbadians are made up of Asians, Indians, Lebanese and Syrians.  
Chinese Barbados people, or Bajan Chineys, are believed to have settled in Barbados from Hong Kong during the 2nd World War in the 1940s. On the other hand much of the Indian population in Barbados orginated from East Indians migrating from the neighbouring countries of Trinidad, as well as from India. There is also a rising population of Guyanese migrating from nearby Guyana. 

The Lebanese and Syrians of Barbados first came to the island as refugees fleeing the turmoil and conflict of the Middle East.  It is believe that these Barbados people migrated to the island during the wars between the Arab Nations and Israel of the 1960s and 1970s.

Famous People From Barbados