Figure 1.-- The indigenous Amerindian poulation in the Caribbean is a matter of consideable scholarly debate. The most important was the Caribs which is of course why the Spanish Main sea is called the Caribbean. Europoeans blackened the name of the Caribs with charges of barvarity, foircness, and canibalism. As a result, there is a mkovement todau to describe the Caribs as Allinago. There was a small Carin pooukation on the islands with the British and French arrived which looked on the newcomers with concerm. The Eurooeans did not move to enskave them as was often the case, but theur subsistence agriculture invoved some of the best farm land. The Engkish claimed that the Caribs were plamming an attack. Apparently a Carib woman warned the English. (The Caribs were know to adopt outsiders like other Anerindians and runaway slaves into the tribe, bur they were commonly treared as inferiors. Apparently, a Carib woman warned Thomas Warner of an impending attack. The English and French joined forces and struck first at Bloody Point. Tegreman, the Carib chief was killed and the surviving Caribs driven from the islands.

St. Kitts and Nevis are small Caribbean Islands that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. They are located in the morthern Lesser Antilles. Because they are located so close together they have experienced the same historical experience and have been grouped together as a single colony and modern state. The islands were originally populated ny Amerindians migrating north from the Orionoco Basin (Guinas and Venezuela). This was the same migratory wave that populatd most of the Caribbean. The islands were sighted by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage (1493. The Spanish did not settle many of the smaller islands like St Kitts because their attention was focused on the larger islands (Santo Domingo and Cuba) and in short order the Anerican mainland where they encontered wealthy Amerindian empires. Englishman Sir Thomas Warner led the first European group to settle St Kitts (1623). The French also settled on the island at about the same time (1624). Conflict with narive Carib popularuin was inevitabkle. They were using inportant areas of the limited agiculrural land for subsistence agriculture. After an armed confrontation, they were driven from the island (1626) (Fugure 1). The English settled Nevis (1628). The Spanish launched a major attack (1629). Spain did nor want thevislands, but sought to prevent foreign encrochments in the Caribbean--the Spanish Main. For the next two centuries, these two great powers fought over the two tiny islands (17th and 18th centuries). As Spanish power declined, it became a cinrst between Engkand and France. The first important crop was tobacco, but was soon replaced by sugar. While small, the islands were suitable for growing sugar, a fabulously proftable crop making St Kitts and other small Caribbean islands a target of great power rivalry. Sugar plantations were established by the English and French using enslaved Africans who labored under horific, brutal conditions. These settlements were subject to attack by the English, French, and Spanish, mostly on St Kitts with condiderable damage to the economy, meaning the sugar operations. English and French planters made great fortunes, One example was the English Marsham family. The ownership of St Kitts was not finally determinned until the Treaty of Versailles which settked the American Revolution (1783). The British administered the islands along with nearby Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands, as a single colony (1816). When Britain abolished the slave trade (1807) and then slavery itself (1833-34), sugar became a less valuable commodity. St. Kitts and the Caribbeann in general became colonial backwaters. The British formed the Leeward Islands Federation (1871). ST. Kitts, Nevis, and Anguilla joined and association with Britain (1967). Anguillans opposed the varrangement. Britain and St. Kitts/Nevis accepoted cthe seapartion of Anguilla. Anguilla reamined a British dependency as St. Kitts/Nevis moved toward independence. The Federation of St Christopher and Nevis was granted internal self-government (1976) and independence (1983). Voters decided on a constitutional monarchy with the British momarch as head of state.

Geography

St. Kitts and Nevis are small Caribbean Islands that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. They are located in the morthern Lesser Antilles. Because they are located so close together they have experienced the same historical experience and have been grouped together as a single colony and modern state.

Amerindians

The Caribbean islands including St. Kitts were originally populated by Amerindians migrating north from the Orionoco Basin (Guianas and Venezuela). Vrious waves of Anerindian peoples sometimes called Saladoid were inbolved (500 BC- 500 AD). They traveled up the Lesser Antilles reaching the area of St Kills, Anguillam and Virgin Islands. There was a major erupy=toommof Mount Liamuigat (about 300 AD). There is debate among anthopologists as to wehter different tribes were present, the peaceful Arawaks or the warlike Caribs. Many scholars now think this difference was a Spanish invention. The short distances from island to island made this possible. This was the same migratory wave that populated most of the Caribbean. The Amerindians practiced basic subsistence agriculture. It is unclear just when the Caribs arrived on St. Kitts and Nevis. Sir Franvis Drake stoped at the islands during Chistmas to help sickcrew members revover (1585). He reported that the islands were unpopulated. Loggers also reported that there was no Amnerindian populatoon (1590). Some believe that the Caribs arrived just before European settlement, perhaps involving dispalcemrnt from other islands (about 1600). The Caribs are now called the Kalinago .

Spanish Discovery (1493)

Some claim that the Caribs called the island Liamuiga, meaning 'fertile land'. While this name has been supereded , the central volcanic peak is named Liamuiga. The twin islands were sighted by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage (1493). Columbus appears to have imagined the silhouette of the twin islands mimicked that of St. Christopher carrying the Christ child. So he christened the island St. Christopher. Many nof the names Columbus assigned to the countless caribbean islands were lost. This one for whatever reaspn stuck. The Spanish did not settle many of the smaller islands like St. Kitts because their attention was focused on the larger islands (Santo Domingo and Cuba) and in short order the Anerican mainland where they encontered wealthy Amerindian empires to subgegate and exploit. What was involved was opportunity cost. Befire the develp,ent of plantation suhar cultivation, the potential rewards for the Spanish were far greater on the mainland than on tiny islands with little to exploit. .

Contested European Settlement (1624-1783)

Englishman Sir Thomas Warner led the first European group to settle St Kitts (1623). The French also settled on the island at about the same time (1624). French privateers Pierre D’Esnambuc and Urbain Du Roissey fought the Spanish andin their badly damaged vessel found safe haven in St. Kitts (1625). Conflict with narive Carib popularuin was inevitabkle. They were using inportant areas of the limited agicultural land for subsistence agriculture. After an armed confrontation, they were driven from the island (1626). The English settled Nevis (1628). The Spanish launched a major attack (1629). Spain did nor want the islands, but sought to prevent foreign encrochments in the Caribbeam--the Spamish Main. For the next two centuries, these two great powers fought over the two tiny islands (17th and 18th centuries). Admiral William Penn sailed from Rnglamd with 2.500 troops, recruited 3,000 more in Barbados and then another 1,300 on St. Kitts (1655). These were mostly landless and impoverished men. They attacked Hispaniola inagurating a war with Spain. They failred disastrously om Hispamiola.. but succeded in seizing Jamaica hiving England a major Caribbean holding. A mnajor earthquake rocked St.itts (1690). As Spanish power declined, the conflict over St. Kitts and other Caribbean islands narrowed. England fought naval wars with the Dutch, but control of the Caribbean became orimarily a conflict between England and France. Mahor naval battles were fought around St. Kitts. During the American Revolution, because of the value of the sugar islands, the French were more interested in deploying their fleet in the Caribbean than off the coast of North America. After the Frebch naval vuctory at the Battle of the Cape which insured the American victory of Yorktown (1781), the Fench fleet fought the Battle of Saint Kitts/Battle of Frigate Bay (1782). A British fleet under Rear-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood engaged a larger French fleet commabded by the Comte de Grasse.

Slavery and Sugar (1625-1834)

The first important crop grown by the settkers was tobacco, but was soon replaced by sugar. French Govenor Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy introduced sugar as a more profitable crop than tobacco (1640). This was in part a result of the Dutch Portuguese War (1601-63). The Dutch invaded Brazil and develoed expertise in sugar cultivation and production. It was the Dutch that introduced plantation sugar agriculture based on slave labor to the Caribbean. While small, St. Kitts and Nevis were ideal for growing sugar, a fabulously proftable crop making St Kitts and other small Caribbean islands a target of great power rivalry. Sugar plantations were established by the English and French using enslaved Africans. The first group of enslaved Africans was arrived on St. Kitts almost immeduiately after English and French settlement began. It is believed that they came from a Spanish vessel involved in the slave trade (1625). The Spanish had found on Hispaniola (their first Caribbean colony) that enslaved Amerindians rapidly perished. They turned to captive Africans for labor, launching the Atltaniic slave trade. The enslaved Africans on St. Kitts and other Caribbean sugar islands labored under horific, brutal conditions. Sugar cultivation at the time was only possible with slabe lanor. It was labor intensive and required very difficult work which is why slave labor was required. The Act for the Better Government of Negroes and Other Slaves was passed (1711). It was designed to discourage slaves running away and ro prevent free persons did not aid them or hiring them. Similar acts were promulgated on other islands. These settlements were subject to attack by the English, French, and Spanish, mostly on St Kitts with condiderable damage to the economy, meaning the sugar operations. Tiny Nevis became increadably for a short time the most valuable possession in the British Empire. English and French planters made great fortunes, One example was the English Marsham family. The British Abolitionist Movement began to grow in the late-18th century. Another slave act was passed on the Islands -- the Act to Prevent Mutilatiomn of Enslaved (1783). The Act prohibited the mutilation of enslaved workers. Violations could be punished by fines of £500 and 6 months imprisonment. Planters who could not pay the fine were liable to 12 months imprisonment. The mutilated slaves were to be forfieted. They were used by Island authorities and publicly sold at auction. One Abolitionist activist reports that this was the first law in the British West Indies that afforded enslved people a measure of legal protection against their ownerss. [Stephen] And there were actual procecutions. Jordan Burke was indicted for wounding a slave named Clarissa. He was fined £50. Wadham Strode was fined £100 for injuring another slave named Peter. Notice that this did not mean terriblepounishment like whipping were orohibited--only mutalations. The British Abolitionist movement finally achieved the end of the Slave Trade (1807). This meant that planters could no longer import captive Africans. The Act immediately affected British colonies like St Kitts, but it would take years for the British Royal Navy aided at times by the fledling United States Navy to actually end the international slave trade. The first register (census) of slaves on the islands was conducted (1817). The free coloureds (term at the time for peoole of African ancestry) of St. Kitts petitioned the Island authoriies for the end of the legal 'disabilities' to which they were subject. Act 524 granted the free coloureds the right to civil rights, privileges and immunities of other free citizens (1830). The British Parlimment at long last passed the Emancipation Act (1833). Emancipation was declared on the Islands (1834). The gradual nature of the Act resulted in disturbances on St. Kitts. Plantation workers refused to work in pprotest against Apprenticeship schemes. Rhe Apprecteships were unwirkabke and ebded (1838). The Masters and Servants Acts was passed (1849). This finally ended slavery on St. Kitts.

British Colonial Control (1783-1983)

The ownership of St Kitts was not finally determinned until the Treaty of Versailles which settked the American Revolution (1783). The British administered the islands along with nearby Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands, as a single colony (1816). When Britain abloished the slave trade (1807) and then slavery itself (1833-34), sugar became a less valuable commodity. St. Kitts and the Caribbeann in general became colonial backwaters. The British formed the Leeward Islands Federation (1871). ST. Kitts, Nevis, and Anguilla joined and association with Britain (1967). Anguillans opposed the varrangement. Britain and St. Kitts/Nevis accepoted cthe seapartion of Anguilla. Anguilla reamined a British dependency as St. Kitts/Nevis moved toward independence.

Independence (1983- )

The Federation of St Christopher and Nevis was granted internal self-government (1976) and independence (1983). Voters decided on a constitutional monarchy with the British momarch as head of state.

Sources

Stephen, James.

Created: 6:20 PM 4/24/2020
Last updated: 6:20 PM 4/24/2020