The Origin and Development of the English Language in Barbados

Authors Avatar

(Word count: 1240)

Why English?

The Origin and Development of the English Language in Barbados

This essay will focus on the origin and evolution of the English language in Barbados. As an introduction, it will account for the chief events and tendencies that impacted on the development of the English language in Barbados today. Furthermore, the essay will describe the role of the English language in current Barbadian society.

Compared to their equivalent of the present United States and Canada, very little is known about the natives of Barbados. The Amerindians on Barbados have left no written records; thus, the most plausible reconstruction of their lifestyle relies on archaeological records and ethnographic data from Venezuela, Brazil and nearby islands similar in size and geographic parameters. In Barbados today, the Amerindian natives are almost extinct and knowledge of their role in post-sixteenth-century history is almost non-existent. In fact, it seems that the first English settlers encountered no significant number of natives. Different historians propose the valid suggestion that throughout the sixteenth century, Spanish and Portuguese vessels used Barbados as a source of slave labour and, consequently, drained the population to an extent where it could no longer reproduce itself. 

Though Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese conquerors reported their finding of and disembarking on Barbados in the early sixteenth century, it was a party of English mariners, led by Captain John Powell, who were the first to claim possession of the island upon their arrival on 14 May 1625. Two years later, on 17 February 1627, John Powell’s younger brother, Henry Powell, arrived with four vessels containing some eighty colonists and a smaller number of slaves. The slaves were primarily youngsters from England and Ireland, but approximately a dozen had been captured in Africa.,  The party was organised and financed by two British brothers, Sir Peter and Sir William Courteen. The immediate purpose of colonising Barbados was to make profit. John Powell was confident that the location contained both the climate and soil suitable for an agricultural settlement. The Courteen brothers had invested £10,000 to make large-scale agriculture possible, thus consolidating their role as the first actual proprietors of Barbados. The Courteen’s governorship under John Powell was brief. On 22 July 1627, King Charles I of England commissioned James Hay, Earl of Carlisle, as Lord Proprietor. Consequently, Hay took on responsibilities for administration and full jurisdiction over all inhabitants, and, therefore, had the opportunity to launch duties and create a hierarchy in colony society.

Join now!

In 1629, following a struggle for power between Hay-appointed Governor Charles Wolverstone and the Courteen brothers’ proprietor, John Powell, Sir William Tufton was appointed governor. Sir Tufton was instructed by Hay to establish a firm and loyalist administration. Though Sir Tufton’s governorship was short-lived, his appointment marks the beginning of the formation of what is commonly known as ‘Little England’. Sir Tufton’s successor, Henry Hawley, brought stability and order to Barbados. Via an advisory council of twelve men, Hawley implemented a legal and administrative system that looked very similar to that in England. All laws and rules, every paragraph and footnote, ...

This is a preview of the whole essay