More than three centuries after English settlers arrived and turned the island into a wealthy sugar colony supported by slave labour, Barbados has officially become a republic.
At a glittering event with fireworks, an orchestra of more than 100 steel pan players played to a live audience that included Prince Charles and Barbadian superstar singer Rihanna, the island nation said goodbye to another vestige of its colonial past.
Barbados became independent from the United Kingdom in November 1966, but the British monarch remained the titular head of state. An event like this hasn't been seen in the Caribbean since the 1970s, when Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Dominica all became republics.
The island's Parliament elected its first ever president last month in a two-thirds majority vote. Barbados Governor General Sandra Mason was sworn in Tuesday as the island marked its 55th anniversary of independence from Britain.
Mason, 72, is an attorney and judge who has also served as an ambassador in several countries. She will work with Prime Minister Mia Mottley to lead the nation of 300,000 people.
"As cautioned by our first prime minister, we ought no longer to be found loitering on colonial premises," Mason said during the event. "We must seek to redefine our definition of self, of state, and the Barbados brand, in a more complex, fractured and turbulent world. Our country and people must dream big dreams and fight to realize them."
A movement to separate the tourism-dependent country from its colonial past has been building over the past few decades, culminating last year in a plan to stop being a constitutional monarchy.
An invited guest, Prince Charles offered gracious words as an era came to an end.
"From the darkest days of our past and the appalling atrocity of slavery, which forever stains our history, the people of this island forged their path with extraordinary fortitude," said Prince Charles.
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