BRIDGETOWN, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Barbados removed the statue of British Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson from the capital Bridgetowns main square on Monday, two months after announcing plans to replace Britains Queen Elizabeth as its head of state and move on from its colonial past.

The bronze statue was unveiled in 1813 to commemorate Nelson and the British Royal Navys victory over the French and Spanish in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

The Caribbean, then largely colonized by Britain, France and Spain, was also an important battleground in the Napoleonic Wars and the ruling-classes and plantation elite had the statue erected to mark his role in the campaigns.

But the statue has been targeted for removal by various administrations since 1990 as a vestige of colonial rule, made even more controversial because of Nelsons defense of the slave trade upon which Barbados plantation economy was based.