Barbados History and Heritage: Harrison's Cave, Plantation Economy, Westminster Parliament, and the 2021 Republic with Rihanna as National Hero
The history of Barbados encompasses the Harrison's Cave crystal formations, the plantation economy that funded the British industrial revolution, the third-oldest Westminster parliament, and the 2021 transition to republic at which Rihanna was named National Hero.
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Sam Lord's Castle and Plantation Heritage
Sam Lord's Castle, the 1820 plantation great house of the pirate planter Samuel Hall Lord who was reputed to lure passing ships onto the reef with false lights and salvage their cargo, is the most romantic plantation heritage story in Barbados and the finest example of the Regency plantation great house architecture on the island, now incorporated into a resort development at the Atlantic coast.
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Harrison's Cave: The Crystal Cathedral
Harrison's Cave in the central Barbados highlands, the most extensive cave system in the Eastern Caribbean with crystallized limestone chambers, stalactite formations, and underground streams accessible by electric tram, is the most visited natural attraction in Barbados outside the beaches and the most complete showcase of the karst limestone geology that underlies the entire island.
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Barbados History: First Inhabitants and the Plantation Economy
Barbados, uninhabited when the British arrived in 1627 following the departure of the Kalinago indigenous people, became the model for the British plantation economy of enslaved African labor growing sugar cane, with the profits from Barbados sugar financing a significant portion of the British industrial revolution and the colonial development of the wider British Caribbean. The Slavery and Forced Labor Museum at Newton Plantation is the most honest interpretation of this history.
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Parliament Buildings: The Westminster System
The Barbados Parliament, housed in the neo-Gothic Parliament Buildings of Bridgetown built in 1874, is the third oldest parliament in the Commonwealth after Westminster and Bermuda and has operated continuously since its establishment in 1639, making Barbados one of the oldest parliamentary democracies in the world. The Parliament Museum documents the development of Barbadian democracy from the colonial period to the republican transition of November 30, 2021.
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Barbados Republic: 2021 and the Rihanna Honor
Barbados became a republic on November 30, 2021, removing Queen Elizabeth II as head of state and appointing Dame Sandra Mason as the first President of Barbados in a ceremony at Heroes Square in Bridgetown attended by Prince Charles and at which Rihanna was officially declared a National Hero of Barbados in recognition of her contribution to the island's global cultural standing. The transition to republican status was the most significant constitutional change in Barbados since independence in 1966.
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Holetown Festival: The First Settlement
The Holetown Festival in February celebrates the arrival of the first British settlers at Holetown on the west coast in 1627, with the annual festival of cultural programming, street food, and craft exhibitions in the town where the colonization of Barbados began. The Holetown monument to the first settlers stands adjacent to the St. James Church, the oldest church in Barbados built on the site of the first settler landing.