Editing Barbados (section)

=== 20th century before independence ===

Deep dissatisfaction with the situation on Barbados led many to emigrate.<ref name="Encylopedia Britannica- Barbados"/><ref>[http://countrystudies.us/caribbean-islands/85.htm "Barbados – population"]. {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120129062341/http://countrystudies.us/caribbean-islands/85.htm |date=29 January 2012 }}. [[Library of Congress Country Studies]].</ref> Things came to a head in the 1930s during the [[Great Depression]], as Barbadians [[British West Indian labour unrest of 1934–1939|began demanding]] better conditions for workers, the legalisation of trade unions and a widening of the franchise, which at that point was limited to male property owners.<ref name="Encylopedia Britannica- Barbados"/> As a result of the increasing unrest the British sent a commission, called the [[Report of West India Royal Commission (Moyne Report)|West Indies Royal Commission, or Moyne Commission]], in 1938, which recommended enacting many of the requested reforms on the islands.<ref name="Encylopedia Britannica- Barbados"/> As a result, Afro-Barbadians began to play a much more prominent role in the colony's politics, with universal suffrage being introduced in 1950.<ref name="Encylopedia Britannica- Barbados"/>
[[File:Collectie Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen TM-60062011 De hoofdstraat van Bridgetown Barbados fotograaf niet bekend.jpg|thumb|Broad Street, Bridgetown in 1914]]
Prominent among these early activists was [[Grantley Herbert Adams]], who helped found the [[Barbados Labour Party]] (BLP) in 1938.<ref name=dnation>{{cite news |first=Sanka |last=Price |title='Political giant' passes away |url=http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/political-giant-passes-away/ |work=Daily Nation |publisher=Nation Publishing |date=10 March 2014 |access-date=7 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310110000/http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/political-giant-passes-away/ |archive-date=10 March 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He became the first Premier of Barbados in 1953, followed by fellow BLP-founder [[Hugh Gordon Cummins]] from 1958 to 1961. A group of left-leaning politicians who advocated swifter moves to independence broke off from the BLP and founded the [[Democratic Labour Party (Barbados)|Democratic Labour Party]] (DLP) in 1955.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Party |url=http://www.dlpbarbadoscanada.com/the-party.html |work=Official Web Site |publisher=Democratic Labour Party |access-date=3 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204033621/http://www.dlpbarbadoscanada.com/the-party.html |archive-date=4 February 2012}}</ref><ref name=DN>Nohlen, D. (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p. 85. {{ISBN|978-0-19-928357-6}}</ref> The DLP subsequently won the [[1961 Barbadian general election]] and their leader [[Errol Barrow]] became premier.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

Full internal self-government was enacted in 1961.<ref name="Encylopedia Britannica- Barbados"/> Barbados joined the short-lived British [[West Indies Federation]] from 1958 to 1962, later gaining full independence on 30 November 1966.<ref name="Encylopedia Britannica- Barbados"/> Errol Barrow became the country's first prime minister. Barbados opted to remain within the [[Commonwealth of Nations]].

The effect of political independence meant that the United Kingdom government ceased to having sovereignty over Barbados, [[Elizabeth II]], instead, reigning in the country became the [[Queen of Barbados]]. The [[Monarchy of Barbados|monarch]] then was represented locally by a [[Governor-General of Barbados|governor-general]].<ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010090239/http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchAndCommonwealth/TheQueenandBarbados/Historyandpresentgovernment.aspx |archive-date=10 October 2012 |url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchAndCommonwealth/TheQueenandBarbados/Historyandpresentgovernment.aspx |title=History and present government – Barbados |author=HRM Queen Elizabeth II |year=2010 |publisher=[[Monarchy of Barbados|The Royal Household]] |access-date=10 May 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>