It is believed that Barbados was originally inhabited by Arawak Indians, like some other islands in the Caribbeans. By the time the Portuguese came to the island, it was uninhabited and remained so until the British arrived later. The Portuguese did not stay after they arrived; instead it was the British who first established a colony there in 1627. The British colonists grew cotton and tobacco on the land, but switched to sugar when they found it to be far more profitable. Later the land was converted into huge sugar plantations on a commercial scale. This led to the African slave trade to supply labour to the plantations, and eventually 90% of the population were of African descent.
Initially Barbados was grouped together with the other British Windward islands as an administrative unit with the island as the headquarters. In the 19th and 20th centuries, a number of political events occurred in Barbados. Among these was the slave revolt in which occurred in 1816; slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1834. In the mid 20th century, descendents of emancipated slaves in Barbados demanded more political power since up to then politics was in the hands of the land owners and merchants of British descent. In 1961, Barbados achieved self-governing status, and became fully independent in 1966.
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