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West Indies

Sugarcane being planted on a hillside in Barbados in 1955.
Sugarcane being planted on a hillside in Barbados in 1955.
©The National Archives

During the 17th century the British established colonies in the islands of the Caribbean. The colonies became important for sugar and oil production, bauxite mining and exporting bananas. The most important colonies were Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and British Guiana.

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Search using Jamaica Barbados Trinidad & Tobago British Guiana

Further reading

  • Johnson, H., The British Caribbean From Demobilization to Constitutional Decolonization In Brown, J.M. and Louis, W.R. ed., The Oxford History of the British Empire, Vol. IV The Twentieth Century (Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press, 1999)

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