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Barbados is mentioned only once by Olaudah Equino, and not at all in the other 18th century texts examined here. This seems odd, because Barbados was the first English colony in the Caribbean, immensely successful as a sugar island, and unlike the other British islands which changed hands frequently over the centuries, was always English from its founding in 1639.
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There is also a Jewish synagogue built in 1654 by Jewish settlers who fled from Recife, Brazil when the Inquisition spread to Portugal and its colonies. Jewish synagogues and cemeteries are found
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throughout the Caribbean, built by Jews of the "Second Diaspora," who also built part of the successful sugar and trading culture of the 18th century West Indies.
Jamaica, frequently mentioned in 18th century texts as a destination for British travelers and colonists, was acquired by the British in 1670, conquered from Spain in a series of pirate raids. It was a highly successful sugar colony, and eventually secured its independence in 1962, and joined the Commonwealth of Nations with other former British colonies, as did Barbados and St. Kitts and Nevis.
Despite their very similar histories, Barbados and Jamaica have developed very differently. A superficial comparison is that Jamaica is a much larger country. It has heavily developed urban areas, mining and industry, and tourism. An article from the New York Times in 1862, only 62 years after the end of the 18th century, details the businesses destroyed in a fire in the capital city of Kingston.
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An engraving of that disaster shows a city looking much like London of the day. It is much more similar to "everywhere else" with social problems, drugs, crime, and so forth. Barbados, on the other hand, is much smaller in size and population, though well-developed. Barbadian society is more self-disciplined, almost "old-fashioned." A local news article related that the local police department made sure that high school students celebrating the last day of school in June 2010 "tucked in their shirts," rather than looking sloppy and unkempt -- a move that was heartily supported by the parents. NPR lays some of the differences to economic decisions made during development, resulting in a much higher GDP in Barbados than Jamaica, with a concomitant relationship in the reading skills of sixth graders, and arguably, their success in later life. (Even if one is not interested in economics, one can listen to this recording to hear the West Indian accent.)
Why our texts mention Jamaica much more frequently than Barbados is not clear. Perhaps it is that the authors other than Equiano had no personal knowledge of the West Indies, and therefore parroted the names most heard in the coffee houses and literary salons. We can speculate that the colonies most mentioned were those most on the tongue of the time in London, but why? This merits further research.
