1780 Juan Lopez Map of Barbados

This is a 1780 map of Barbados by Juan Lopez, who later became the 'geographer to the king' of Spain. It provides considerable detail, particularly coastal features and defenses, which would be of greatest importance in any potential Spanish effort to seize the island, the most profitable of Britain's Caribbean colonies.

A Closer Look

This map shows the island's parishes, towns (including the capital of Bridgetown in the island's southwest), forts, roads, and churches, along with geographical features like mountains, forests, and marshlands. Although soundings are not included, coastal features are noted extensively, including hazards. The left-hand margin includes both latitude and leagues, while the top and bottom margin measure longitude using the Ferro Meridian.

One notable feature is the inclusion of many coastal forts (fuerte, mostly abbreviated as 'f.'), reflecting the ongoing contestation of the Caribbean between major European powers, particularly the British, French, and Spanish. This would be especially important for the Spanish king and his ministers (though the hand-colored border, almost certainly added later by someone other than Lopez, obscures the forts' locations somewhat). Although their relations waxed and waned, the British and Spanish were generally at war over the Caribbean for most of the 18th century.

Historical Context

The history of Barbados is in many ways typical of the Caribbean, with disease and slave-raiding drastically reducing the indigenous population soon after contact with Europeans, principally the Spanish. However, the English in 1625 were the first Europeans to settle Barbados permanently. Soon afterwards, sugar cane was introduced from Dutch Brazil, and though Barbados was an English colony, Dutch managers (many of whom were in fact descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled from Iberia) directed the plantation economy. Slave labore was brought from Africa in increasing numbers and nearly the entire island was switched over to a brutal system of sugar production, whereby absentee landlords living in England consolidated lands into a shrinking number of large plantations overseen by hired managers.

In the mid-17th century, Barbados quickly replaced Hispaniola as the largest sugar-producing colony in the Caribbean and became the most profitable English colony in the Americas by a wide margin. In 1661, the Parliament of Barbados passed the Barbados Slave Code, the first such Slave Act, which became a model throughout the Americas. Though ostensibly meant to prevent especially cruel treatment of slaves, such as wanton killing, the Barbados Slave Code and its imitators codified the status of slaves as chattel property and permitted a range of brutal reprisals for acts of disobedience.

As with the British Empire as a whole, the slave trade was outlawed in Barbados in 1807 but the institution of slavery continued for nearly thirty years afterwards. The intervening years were tense and uncertain, as public opinion and the law were clearly moving towards emancipation, but at a snail's pace. In April 1816, a large slave rebellion broke out in Barbados, led by an African-born man named Bussa. The rebels caught wind of debates over abolition in Britain and were distraught at the slow pace of progress. The revolt failed, but, along with uprisings in Guyana and Jamaica, likely accelerated the pace of abolition in the British Empire. Bussa is still honored as a national hero and a large statue dedicated to him was built in the capital, Bridgetown, in 1985. Barbados became independent in 1966 and joined the Commonwealth of Nations. On New Year's Day, 2022, Barbados severed ties with the British monarchy and became a republic, though it remains in the British Commonwealth.

Publication History and Census

This map was made by the cartographer Juan Lopez in conjunction with his father Tomás Lopez, also a cartographer, in 1780. There is debate about whether Juan Lopez was in fact the son of Tomás Lopez, but the text on this map appear to definitively show that he was. As noted at bottom-right, this map drew on Emanuel Bowen's 1747 map of Barbados, as well as Jacques Nicholas Bellin's chart of 1758 (https://www.geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/Barbados-bellin-1758), among other influences. It most closely resembles Bellin's map but is significantly more elaborated in some respects, especially the naming of bays and other coastal features. This map is quite rare; we note only three institutions that hold it (Harvard University, Michigan University, and the Biblioteca Nacional de España) and it is scarce to the market.