1640s: Barbados underwent a revolutionary economic transfer by shifting its primary agricultural focus from tobacco to sugarcane cultivation.

1640s: Barbados underwent a revolutionary economic transfer by shifting its primary agricultural focus from tobacco to sugarcane cultivation. This transition was largely facilitated by the availability of enslaved African labor and the expertise of Dutch and Sephardic merchants. The success of the Barbadian sugar model served as a blueprint for other Caribbean colonies, including Saint-Domingue, which would eventually surpass it in production. This shift marked the beginning of the “sugar revolution” that fundamentally reshaped the demographics and politics of the West Indies.