Editing Barbados (section)

==== The sugar revolution ====
[[File:Mercado de los domingos, donde lo esclavos eran intercambiados por otros bienes y necesidades (Barbados Museum, Bridgetown).jpg|thumb|Sunday market in Barbados during the colonial era]]
The introduction of [[sugar cane]] from [[Dutch Brazil]] in 1640 completely transformed society, the economy and the physical landscape. Barbados eventually had one of the world's biggest sugar industries.<ref name=beyond>{{Cite book |author-link=Arif Ali |author=Ali, Arif |title=Barbados: Just Beyond Your Imagination |pages=46, 48 |year=1997 |publisher=Hansib Publishing (Caribbean) Ltd |isbn=1-870518-54-3}}</ref> One group instrumental in ensuring the early success of the industry was the [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic Jews]], who had originally been expelled from the [[Iberian peninsula]], to end up in [[Dutch Brazil]].<ref name="beyond"/> As the effects of the new crop increased, so did the shift in the ethnic composition of Barbados and surrounding islands.<ref name="Slavery and Economy in Barbados"/> The workable sugar plantation required a large investment and a great deal of heavy labour. At first, Dutch traders supplied the equipment, financing, and African slaves, in addition to transporting most of the sugar to Europe.<ref name="Slavery and Economy in Barbados"/><ref name="Encylopedia Britannica- Barbados"/> In 1644 the population of Barbados was estimated at 30,000, of which about 800 were of African ancestry, with the remainder mainly of English ancestry. These English smallholders were eventually bought out and the island filled up with large sugar plantations worked by African slaves.<ref name="Encylopedia Britannica- Barbados"/> By 1660 there was near parity with 27,000 Black people and 26,000 White people. By 1666 at least 12,000 white smallholders had been bought out, died, or left the island, many choosing to emigrate to [[Jamaica]] or the [[Thirteen Colonies|American Colonies]] (notably the Carolinas).<ref name="Encylopedia Britannica- Barbados"/> As a result, Barbados enacted a [[Barbados Slave Code|slave code]] as a way of legislatively controlling its enslaved Black population.<ref>Jerome Handler, ''New West Indian Guide'' 91 (2017) 30–55</ref> The law's text was influential in laws in other colonies.<ref name=menard>[https://books.google.com/books?id=FyB24GZrJxAC&pg=PA112 ''Sweet Negotiations: Sugar, Slavery, and Plantation Agriculture in Early Barbados''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125230814/https://books.google.com/books?id=FyB24GZrJxAC&pg=PA112 |date=25 January 2021 }}, Chapter 6 "The Expansion of Barbados", p. 112</ref>

By 1680 there were 20,000 free whites and 46,000 enslaved Africans;<ref name="Encylopedia Britannica- Barbados"/> by 1724, there were 18,000 free whites and 55,000 enslaved Africans.<ref name="Slavery and Economy in Barbados"/>