Government in Barbados

History of Barbados’ Government Over 300 Years Old

The history of the Barbadian government goes back over 300 years. The first government was formed in 1639 and consisted of elected land owners. These elected officials became the country’s legislature. Six years later, Barbados was divided into 11 parishes. At that point, each of the parishes elected two individuals to serve as governmental representatives. This form of government stayed the same for centuries. One of the reasons it remained unchanged was due to the fact that by law, representatives had to be land owners. Since the majority of people living in Barbados were not land owners, most were not able to participate or vote in any elections. In the 1800s, all adults, no matter if they were land owners or not, as well as people of color became able to vote. Around 1920, the black population began to become more governmentally active and a Democratic League was formed by Charles Duncan O’Neal. In 1937, a more modern form of government came to life partly due to civil conflicts on the island. The political party that came into power at this point was the Barbados Labor Party which stayed in the leadership role until 1961. In 1961, the Democratic Labor Party took control over the government. In 1966, Barbados became an independent nation and was free of all ties to Britain. At this time, the Premier of Barbados was Errol Walton Barrow who was the leader of the Democratic Labor Party. Eventually, Barrow ended up in the role of Barbados’ Prime Minister. In 1976, the Barbados Labor Party defeated the Democratic Labor Party and stayed in power until elections in 1986 when the Democratic Labor Party once again prevailed. The Democratic Labor Party again won the election in 1991, and the Barbados Labor Party won in the1994, 1999, and 2004 elections.

Government Information Service

The Government Information Service (BGIS) in Barbados is in charge of transmitting all communications coming from the Barbadian government. It serves as the public information source for the entire country. When the service originated in 1958, it had a primary responsibility… to enlighten the residents of Barbados on governmental issues. Over the course of almost 50 years, the service has transformed into a much larger entity. Now, the BGIS is more like a public relations agency and when news and information is disseminated via the service, it generally impacts the opinions of all Barbadian residents.

Barbados’ National Flag

The national flag of Barbados was designed by a man named Mr. Grantley W. Prescod and is a rectangular shape with three vertical panels. The outer two are a color called, “ultramarine,” and the middle panel is gold. There is a symbol in the center of the flag that stands for the Trident of the Mythical sea god Neptune.

National Flower of Barbados

The national flower of Barbados is the Dwarf Poinciana. This flower has a historical significance for the island because there are references to it that date back as far as 350 years. The flower is actually part of a shrub and common to many other tropical countries and islands.