1536 - Portuguese explorer Pedro a Campos visits the island.

1627 - Captain Henry Powell lands a party of English settlers who establish a colony, which they then develop as a sugar plantation economy using slaves brought in from Africa.

1639 - Barbados's first parliament, the House of Assembly, holds its first meeting.

1663 - Barbados is made into a British crown possession.

1816 - Slaves stage a revolt.

1834 - Slavery abolished.

1876 - British proposal for a confederation of Barbados and the Windward Islands triggers bloody riots in Barbados.