The earliest inhabitants of Barbados were Native Americans. Barbados was first visited by the Spanish around the late 1400s to early 1500s. It first was on a Spanish map in 1511. The native Arawaks may have fled or been enslaved. The Portuguese visited in 1536. They brought wild hogs for a good supply of meat whenever the island was visited. The first English ship, the "Olive Blossom", came in 1624. They said the island belonged to the British king James I. Two years later in 1627 the first permanent settlers arrived from England. Slaves from Africa were sent to Barbados to work on sugar plantations.