Caribbean History Timeline

Our History. Our Stories. Our Caribbean.

The Caribbean History Timeline is created and curated by Ursula Petula Barzey, Founder of Caribbean & Co. It is an evolving project, with new entries researched and added regularly, offering an inclusive exploration of the region’s rich and multifaceted past. Organized around 20 subject areas, the Caribbean History Timeline highlights the people, places, events, ideas, and movements that have shaped the Caribbean. It brings together stories, milestones and historical figures from 34 Caribbean islands and countries, alongside selected entries from Africa and Europe that provide essential historical context. From Indigenous societies and migrations before European colonization to the present day, the Timeline traces the cultural, political and social developments, movements and turning points that have shaped the region.

King Afonso I of Kongo Protests Slave Trade in Letters to Portuguese Monarch

King Afonso I. Photo Credit: © Affricoll9 via Wikimedia Commons.

1526

Date: 1526
Location: Kingdom of Kongo (present-day Angola and the Republic of the Congo), Africa
Category: Slavery, Colonization & Empire

In 1526, King Nzinga Mbemba, known as Afonso I of Kongo, wrote urgent letters to King João III of Portugal condemning the kidnapping and sale of free Kongolese people, including nobles, vassals, and members of his own family. He warned that Portuguese traders and local intermediaries were depopulating his kingdom to supply the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Afonso sought to stop the illegal export of free people and strengthen Kongo’s control over slave trading. Although his appeals did not halt Portuguese involvement, his letters remain an early surviving African critique of the trade’s destructive impact on African communities.

Jobabó Slave Revolt, First Recorded Slave Uprising in Cuba

1533

Date: October 31, 1533
Location: La Caobilla Gold Mine, near Jobabo, Cuba
Category: Slavery

At the La Caobilla gold mine near Jobabo, a small group of enslaved Africans staged what is considered the first recorded slave revolt in Cuba. Working at an extremely slow pace, described as the “paso de la jicotea” (tortoise’s pace), they sabotaged production and challenged the brutal conditions imposed by Spanish overseers. Colonial authorities quickly crushed the uprising. The rebels were executed, and their severed heads were displayed on stakes in Bayamo as a warning to other enslaved people. Though suppressed, the Jobabó revolt marked an early, documented act of collective resistance that foreshadowed later, larger slave rebellions across the island.

John Hawkins Initiates English Participation in Slave Trade

1562

Date: October 1562 to August 1563
Location: United Kingdom, Africa, Dominican Republic
Category: Slavery, Colonization & Empire

In October 1562, John Hawkins departed Plymouth, England, with the Salomon, Jonas, and Swallow on his first slave-trading voyage. After reaching the Upper Guinea coast, including the Sierra Leone region, Hawkins and his crew captured and forcibly transported at least 300 Africans into slavery. He arrived at Hispaniola in April 1563 and traded at smaller northern ports, including Isabela, Puerto Plata, and Monte Cristi, avoiding Santo Domingo. Local Spanish officials accepted customs duties and allowed the illegal trade to proceed despite Spanish restrictions. Hawkins exchanged enslaved people and English goods for commodities including hides, ginger, sugar, and pearls. The profitable voyage helped establish a model for later English slave-trading expeditions.

John Powell Claims Barbados for England

1625

Date: May 14, 1625
Location: Barbados
Category: Colonization & Empire

While returning to England from Brazil, Captain John Powell brought the Olive Blossom to Barbados and claimed the island for King James I. Powell was employed by London merchant Sir William Courteen. The crew erected a cross at the place later called Jamestown, now Holetown, and marked England’s claim on a tree. They did not establish a settlement, and there was no treaty, legislation, or decree with the island’s Indigenous inhabitants. The act set in motion English efforts to occupy Barbados, despite the fact that James I had died six weeks earlier.

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Queen Nzinga Mbandi Led Resistance Against Portuguese Colonial Forces

Colored lithograph of Queen Nzinga Mbandi. Photo Credit: © Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

1626

Date: 1626 to 1663
Location: Angola, Africa
Category: Slavery

From 1626 to 1663, Queen Nzinga Ana de Sousa Mbande ruled Ndongo and later Matamba in present-day Angola, spearheading opposition to Portuguese colonial expansion. After becoming queen of Ndongo in 1626, she refused to accept Portuguese suzerainty. Nzinga formed alliances with rival African states and later the Dutch. She provided sanctuary to runaway slaves, challenging Portuguese economic interests. Her resistance continued for decades, employing various military and diplomatic strategies. In 1656, Nzinga signed a peace treaty with the Portuguese, though she maintained her rule until her death in 1663. Her long-standing defiance was a symbol of African resistance to colonialism.

English Settlers Establish Jamestown

1627

Date: February 17, 1627
Location: Barbados
Category: Colonization & Empire

Sir William Courteen financed an expedition under Captain Henry Powell that established England’s first lasting settlement in Barbados, at Jamestown, now Holetown. The William and John ship arrived with about 80 English settlers and ten Africans seized during the voyage. Settlers began clearing land for tobacco, cotton, and food crops. For Courteen and his backers, the settlement promised Atlantic profits; for the Africans brought there by force, it marked an early stage in Barbados’s developing system of racial slavery. Rival claims by James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle, soon destabilized Courteen’s enterprise.

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English Settlers Establish Bridgetown

1628

Date: 1628
Location: Barbados
Category: Colonization & Empire

English settlers under Charles Wolverstone arrived near the Careenage and founded the settlement that became Bridgetown. The expedition acted for London merchants connected to James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle, who claimed Barbados under a royal grant. Wolverstone and 64 settlers reportedly received land along the waterway. The port attracted merchants and indentured Europeans, while enslaved Africans were later forced to power its growing economy. For colonists, it offered trade and opportunity; for enslaved people, it formed part of a brutal plantation society. Bridgetown became Barbados’s commercial and political center and a major port in Britain’s Caribbean trade network.

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Irish and English Colonists Establish Montserrat Settlement

Montserrat Batik Shamrock by Shan Murrell. Photo Credit: © Ursula Petula Barzey.

1632

Date: 1632
Location: Montserrat
Category: Colonization & Empire

Irish and English colonists from nearby Saint Christopher, now Saint Kitts, began settling Montserrat in 1632. Sir Thomas Warner, governor of Saint Christopher, sent Irish Catholics to the island as tensions between Catholics and Protestants intensified in the British Caribbean. Captain Anthony Brisket became Montserrat’s first English governor. The new settlement grew tobacco, indigo, and cotton for export to England. For some Irish arrivals, Montserrat offered land and a measure of refuge; for England, it extended colonial control in the Leeward Islands. The settlement laid the foundation for plantation rule and Montserrat’s complex Irish-Caribbean legacy.

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Establishment of the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa

Charter for the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading into Africa. Photo Credit: © British Library.

1660

Date: December 18, 1660
Location: United Kingdom
Category: Slavery, Colonization & Empire

On December 18, 1660, King Charles II of England granted a charter to the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa, marking the beginning of organized English trade along the West African coast. Initially focused on gold trade, the company received a new charter on January 10, 1663, explicitly expanding its operations to include the slave trade. Led by the Duke of York (later King James II), it established trading posts on the West African coast. By 1665, the company reported annual revenues of £200,000 from gold, £100,000 from ivory, hides, and pepper, and £100,000 from slave trading. However, the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1667 led to significant losses, resulting in the company’s effective bankruptcy. It was subsequently reorganized as the Royal African Company in 1672.

Antigua’s Legislature Establishes St. John’s Harbour Town

1668

Date: April 1668
Location: Antigua & Barbuda
Category: Colonization & Empire

Antigua’s colonial legislature passed an act in April 1668 proposing that a town be built at St. John’s Harbour. The decision followed the French invasion and short occupation of Antigua in 1666. The new town developed beside the sheltered harbor, drawing merchants, planters, sailors, and colonial officials. It gradually surpassed Parham, Antigua’s earlier capital and port, as the island’s commercial and administrative center. A major fire swept through St. John’s in August 1769, but the town recovered. Today, St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda, is a historic capital city, a major tourist destination, and a cruise port.

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