Bridgetown

Bridgetown

Understand The river bridge at Bridgetown The first English colony on the island was established in 1625 at St James Town seven miles north. The settlement here, from 1628, was initially called Indian Bridge for the structure found crossing the swamp at the river estuary. The colonists set about draining the swamp and found themselves with a better harbour, cultivation land and inland routes than St James Town, so the centre of island affairs shifted here. In 1667 Sir Tobias Bridge arrived as military commander, and it was thought a real smart idea to name the place Bridgetown. At the centre it has remained, but only for a brief spell 1958-1967 was Bridgetown incorporated as a city. For the rest of its history it has simply been a constituency within the government of Barbados, though with the parliament, political base and big money concentrated here, many islanders might suspect that Bridgetown governs Barbados not the other way round.

Source: Wikivoyage · CC BY-SA 4.0.