Secession?

There is little evidence to suggest Barbados, during the 18th century, had any inclination toward a break with their mother country. Though the 18th century found Barbados reeling from an economy undermined by competitors and a new series of laws governing the process of importation and exportation, Barbados was still very much a British colony. In fact, it was the British monarchy that saved the island from a calamitous outcome following a series of hurricanes.

Local Conflict...

The borders of Barbados are fixed and as such the colony went through no changes in size. However, the island was not immune to the growing pains that plagued other British colonies of the time. The introduction of sugar technology early on in its settlement created the climate needed for extreme social and economic upheaval.

Before Jamaica had its leap forward in the industry, Barbados was the most lucrative of the British colonies in terms of sugar production. This new found affluence led to a major shift in numbers and types of workers. Specifically, the Irish indentured servants that had come to the island early and in large numbers began to be replaced by cheap slave labor from Africa. This had the effect of diminishing the white population while increasing the black population on Barbados. This shift also brought the fear of slave revolts.

Armed Rebellion?

Though the black population was increasing and there had been "agitation" among slaves against their masters arriving along with Methodist proselytizers, there are no reports of any major slave revolt taking place between 1702 and 1815. The paranoia of a successful revolt led to the creation of large and powerful militia forces tasked with preserving the sovereignty of the wealthy planters on Barbados. This militia, coupled with a decline in importation of slaves and the rise of an indigenous creole culture on the island assured that the planters on Barbados remained relatively safe from harm.

Sources:

http://www.africanaencyclopedia.com/barbados/barbados3.html
http://www.antislavery.org/breakingthesilence/slave_routes/slave_routes_barbados.shtml

Barbadian Economy...

Switch to Sugar:

The greatest change to the economy on the colony of Barbados was the switch to one based almost exclusively on sugar production. Early on in its history settlers in Barbados attempted several different crops to yield a profit from the Barbadian soil. Indigo, cotton, and tobacco were precursors to sugar production, though all proved insufficient for various reasons. Dutch settlers from Brazil were responsible for bringing the technology necessary to produce sugar on a large scale to Barbados. The switch to sugar, while lucrative, would have an undeniable effect on the island.



Changing Demographics:

In the early years of sugar production mainly white indentured servants were used to carry out the work. By 1701 there was a strong push to limit the amount of white immigration to Barbados to strictly those indentured to work sugar plantation. By this time, however, the use of West African slaves had become an attractive option pursued heavily by the planters on Barbados. Where originally there were many thousands of Irish being shipped to the island, soon there were the same numbers and even more West Africans coming to the island to work in the sugar plantations. The effect this had was to create a large number of poor whites on Barbados, existing somewhere in between the wealthy planters and their slaves. Once a colony with one of the largest White populations of any England possessed, Barbados saw its African population rise almost two-fold between the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century.



Works Cited:

Population and Social Patterns in Barbados in the Early Eighteenth CenturyPatricia A. Molen The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Apr., 1971), pp. 287-300

Slavery and Economy in Barbados By Dr Karl Watsonhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/barbados_01.shtml