In 1625 Barbados was claimed by England, and the first settlement in the island was founded in 1627 by Henry Powell, who arrived with 80 settlers and 10 slaves (kidnapped or runaway English or Irish youth). In 1640 was introduced the sugarcane from Dutch Brazil, and this completely transformed the society and the economy, Barbados becoming one of the world's biggest sugar industries (in 1660 it generated more trade than all the other English colonies combined). As the cost of white labour rose in England, more slaves were imported from West Africa, so if in the mid 1600's there was over 5600 black African slaves on island, by early 1800's figure reached 385,000, in the 1700's Barbados being one of the leaders in the slave trade from the European colonies.
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