From before the 17th century Britain and other European countries were in constant conflict over the value and the ownership of the natural resources in the Caribbean. The fertile islands, especially Barbados, were said to be ideal for tobacco growing. The production of cotton was also introduced into this island and many others. Eventually the Caribbean became invaluable to the invaders because sugar was cultivated in the area with great success. Like the Spanish, the British grew large amounts of sugar on plantations in the Caribbean for which they used a lot of slave labour. At first they used European slaves, captured in wars or sentenced as criminals. The expanding economy of the plantations resulted in the rapidly alteration of the workforce to the almost entire use of African slaves as labourers. In the 17th century Jamaica was Britain’s largest slave colony and it was also the British Empire’s wealthiest colony. For several centuries the Caribbean was essentially a British settlement.