describes what this change means. i think it can be difficult for people who maybe haven t been to barbados before to appreciate how many parts of the island look and feel british we are talking about red letterboxes, people driving on the same side of the road, on the road, we are talking about school names, hospital names. i remember there being this very, very long street where you d look left and right, and almost every street seemed to be named after a previous royal. barbados was one of england s first slave colonies. between 1627 and 1807, approximately 387,000 enslaved africans were sent to the island. in the guardian this week, the barbadian historian prof hilary beckles describes how the island was most ruthlessly colonised by britain s ruling elites. he goes on. they made their fortunes from sugar produced by an enslaved, disposable workforce, and this great wealth