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 The beauty of the island of
St. Kitts masks a turbulent history.
The natural beauty of St.
Christopher (commonly called St. Kitts) no doubt attracted the
first settlers from South America nearly 5000 years ago and continues to
attract settlers and visitors ever since. Christopher Columbus
sailed by on his second voyage in 1493. Although he did not land
on either St. Kitts or Nevis, he bestowed his name on the islands: St. Christopher
after his own patron saint, and Nieves or "Snows" suggested by
the cloud-capped cone on Nevis.
Permanent European
settlement was not made until the early 1600s when French Hugenots lived
among the original Arawakan people and cultivated tobacco and food
crops. In 1623, Sir. Thomas Warner arrived with the
British to St. Kitts at a town which is now known as Old Road. In 1625, the British were joined on the island by the crew
of a French ship, which was seeking refuge after a fight with a Spanish
galleon. In 1629, the two groups totally wiped out the
Carib Indians on
the island in a massacre at a river on the island known as Stone Fort
River. That river town was
then named Bloody Point; because for weeks after the attack on the
Indians, the river ran red with their blood.
The two groups repulsed a Spanish attack in
1629, and turned their attentions to colonizing the islands themselves.
The islands changed hands a number of times after that. It wasn't until
1783 that the islands were finally restored to the British with the
Treaty of Versailles. After St. Kitts, the British settled and colonized
Antigua, Barbuda, Tortuga, and Montserrat. The French claimed Martinique
and Guadeloupe. Intermittent warfare between the French and British
became the norm as the French exiled the British from St. Kitts in 1664.
But, the British reclaimed it in 1689.
African people were brought
to the islands as slaves from the 1630s to toil on the tobacco, cotton
and then sugar plantations. This infamous trade and exploitation
of humans continued well into the 19th century.
France recaptured the island again in 1706
and lost it once again after that. But the French returned to lay siege
to the British fort on Brimstone
Hill in 1782. The British eventually fell after a heroic defence.
St. Kitts was returned permanently to the British in 1783 after the
Treaty of Versailles.
The history of the islands, then, like
the history of all people everywhere, was at times violent and brutal.
Nevertheless despite, and even as a result of the tensions created by
slavery, colonialism and economic hardships, a rich culture combining
elements from Africa, Europe and native America has evolved.
Today, many historical sites including the fort at Brimstone Hill, which
is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, remains as a reminder of the
history of these islands.
The Federation of St. Kitts & Nevis was established as an
independent nation within the British Commonwealth on September 19, 1983.
It is democratically ruled with an economic focus on tourism, sugarcane,
and light industries.
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