The former British colony of Barbados will abandon Queen Elizabeth’s status as head of state next week, which will break the last empire contact with the United Kingdom in the nearly 400 years since the first British ship arrived on the Caribbean islands.
Barbados regards the resignation of Queen Elizabeth II of Barbados and 15 other countries (including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Jamaica) as a symbol of confidence and a way to finally break with the demons of colonial history.
Barbados historian Professor Hilary Beccles said: “This is the end of the story of colonial exploitation of the body and mind.” He said that this is a historic moment for Barbados, the Caribbean, and all post-colonial societies.
Beccles, the vice president of the University of the West Indies, said: “The people on this island are not only fighting for freedom and justice, but also to get rid of the tyranny of the empire and colonial authorities.”
55 years after Barbados declared its independence, the birth of the Republic finally lifted almost all the colonial ties that linked the Lesser Antilles with England since the declaration of the island by a British ship for King James I in 1625.
This may also herald a broader attempt by other former colonies to sever the connection with the British monarchy, as it prepares for the end of Elizabeth’s nearly 70-year-old rule and the future entry of Charles, who will participate in Bridgetown.
The move by Barbados is the first time in nearly 30 years that a kingdom has cancelled the Queen’s status as head of state: Mauritius is an island in the Indian Ocean, proclaiming itself a republic, but it remains in the British Commonwealth, which is a former British colony. Consortium formed to 2.5 billion people.
Buckingham Palace stated that this issue is a matter for the people of Barbados.
SecondUgar and slave
Initially inhabited by a large number of Saladoid-Barrancoid and Kalinago immigrants, the attacks of Spanish slave traders forced the American Indians to flee. When the British first arrived, Barbados was uninhabited.
The British first used white British indentured servants to work on tobacco, cotton, indigo, and sugar plantations, but in just a few decades Barbados became the first truly profitable slave society in Britain.
Between 1627 and 1833, Barbados received 600,000 enslaved Africans who were arranged to work in sugarcane plantations to earn wealth for the British owners.
“Barbados under British colonial rule became a laboratory for plantation society in the Caribbean,” said Richard Drayton, professor of imperial and global history at King’s College London, who lived in Barbados as a child.
“It became a laboratory for the slave society and then exported to Jamaica, Carolina, and Georgia.”
Between the 15th and 19th centuries, more than 10 million Africans were trapped in the Atlantic slave trade by European countries. Those who survived the frequent cruel voyages ended up working on the plantations.
Although they finally gained complete freedom in 1838, the plantation owners retained considerable economic and political power in the 20th century. The island gained full independence in 1966.
resistanceRepublican seeds
The 73-year-old heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, will travel to Barbados to participate in a ceremony commemorating his 95-year-old mother’s resignation as head of state.
Barbados will remain a republic within the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is composed of 54 countries in Africa, Asia, America, Europe, and the Pacific, and it has always been the priority of leader Elizabeth.
According to Drayton, although its name will still be Barbados, the removal of its queen is likely to further sow the seeds of republicanism in the Caribbean.
“This will have an impact in the English-speaking Caribbean,” Drayton said, referring to Jamaica and the Republic of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
“The queen has a huge personal relationship with many of these countries and demonstrated her commitment to the vision of the Commonwealth, which she inherited from the imperial moments of the 1940s and 1950s, so I do think that after the death of the queen, some of them The problem will become more urgent in places like Canada and Australia.”
The Queen has visited Barbados many times, and according to Buckingham Palace, she “has a unique relationship with this easternmost island in the Caribbean.”
The Republic of Barbados will be announced at a ceremony to be held at the National Heroes Square in Bridgetown late on Monday, November 29.
“The time has come to completely abandon our colonial history,” Prime Minister Mia Motley said in a 2020 speech for Governor Sandra Mason, who will succeed Elizabeth as the country of Barbados when he is elected president. Head of state.
“This is the final statement of confidence in who we are and what we can achieve.”
