caribbean+cg

= Colonizing the Caribbean =

The nations of Europe also colonized the Caribbean during the 1600s. The English settled Barbados and Jamaica. In 1634, the Dutch captured what are now the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba from Spain. On the islands, the Europeans built huge cotton and sugar plantations. These products, although profitable, demand a large and steady supply of labor. Enslaved Africans would supply this labor.