Your Ultimate Guide To Barbados

Cholera Epidemic in Barbados

Cholera is an infectious disease that causes inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Its presence was known in Jamaica since 1851 and in the Caribbean since 1853. Despite this information Barbados was unprepared for what was considered its worst disaster.

Unsanitary conditions in Bridgetown proved conducive to such an outbreak and as such cholera claimed the lives of more than 20,000 people in Barbados. In some instances, victims were buried even before they were dead.

One of the first set of people in Barbados to die of this outbreak was a plantation owner and merchant by the name of John Castello Montefiore. In memory of Montefiore, his son erected a drinking fountain called The Montefiore Fountain that can be found near the synagogue in Bridgetown.

Cholera Ground in St. Peter is one of the many special burial grounds for those people in Barbados who were victims of this agressive outbreak.