History 13 (Winter 2020): Planters, Pirates, and Puritans: Seventeenth-Century English America

Lowe III

Chapter XXVL: The first planting of Barbados

This item is a description of early colonization of Barbados by Thomas Slater in his work, "The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captain John Smith." The account begins with a geographic description of the location of Barbados and then writes that the first group of colonists were brought by Captaine Henry Powel and that the group contained "forty english, with seven or eight Negros....thirty Indians, men, women, and children." This is important because it shows that enslaved africans were a part of the original plan for Barbados, unlike in Virginia, where slavery emerged more slowly. Slater then goes on to describe the island as a place of great bounty possessing, "an infinite number of swine, some Turtles, and many sorts of excellent fish ; many great ponds wherein is Duck and Mallard ; excellent clay for pots, wood, and stone for building." It is clear that Slater is using his written works to encourage future colonization of Barbados. -Henry

Thomas Slater

1630

Thomas Slater

The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captain John Smith. Thomas Slater, 1630.