Island Hopping St. Barth's History

ISLAND HPPING

A Brief History of St. Barth's

St. Barth’s was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1493 and was named after Columbus’ younger brother, Bartholomew. The inhabitants at this time were a group of Carib Indians who usually only visited to fish as the island had no fresh water. The Caribs called the island Ouanalao, which means bird sanctuary. It would be a long time before St. Barth’s would be colonized even though the island appeared on Spanish charts as early as 1523. The Spanish, who were awarded the entire New World by the Pope in 1494, considered St. Barth’s worthless and left it for the British and French to squabble over.

In 1634, Pierre d’Esnambuc, who helped to colonize Martinique a year later, was sponsored by the French on St. Kitts and landed on St. Barth’s and found it appealing. D’Esnambuc gathered together a band of some 500 settlers, mostly peasants from Normandy and Brittany, and set off for the Antilles. Only about 60 of these colonists settled on St. Barth’s under the direction of Jacques Legendre in 1648.

The Governor of the French Colonies, Longvilliers de Poincy, was also a commander in the Knights of Malta, an order founded during the Crusades to assist soldiers and pilgrims making their way to the Holy Land. As the colony of St. Barth’s was established and began to grow, the Spanish threat grew and in order to protect the colonists de Poincy sold St. Barth’s to the Knights of Malta hoping to gain protection while he continued in his position as governor. What the French failed to realize was that the true threat to the colony on St. Barth’s was not from the Spanish, the had completely ignored the Caribs who wiped out the colonists and scared away potential settlers for almost a decade. However, due to its fine harbor and strategic position amidst several British colonies, St. Barth’s was still valuable though it was not until 1659 that a successful French colony firmly established a foothold on the island when the Governor of St. Kitts convinced 100 hardy Huguenots from Normandy and Brittany to resettle the St. Barth’s.

So St. Barth’s began to prosper, solely due to its harbor as the island had no fresh water and little arable land. Unlike most of the other islands of the Caribbean there were no plantations on the St. Bart’s so there was no need for slaves, the only labor force required was shipyard workers. As St. Barth’s grew it attracted pirates of all nationalities to have their ships restocked and repaired. One pirate, Montbars the Exterminator, even made St. Barth’s his home. French born Montbars had a deep hatred for the Spanish and was so successful in his attacks upon Spanish vessels he earned the name “the Exterminator.” Montbars was later lost at sea in a hurricane and legend has it that he buried his pirate booty at Grand Pointe near Anse du Gouverneur on the southern coast of St. Barth’s.

Although the island’s population was growing, as was the island’s economy, St. Barth’s was ceded by King Louis XVI to his friend King Gustav III of Sweden in 1784. Some reports say that the price was a warehouse full of merchandise sitting in a Swedish port, while other accounts state that the exchange was actually for free-port rights in Gothenburg. The Swedish had no other possessions in the New World (St. Barth’s is the only Caribbean island with a Swedish heritage) and they took their responsibilities on St. Barth’s very, very seriously. Under the Swedes St. Barth’s flourished, roads were built on the island, a town hall was built, the entire island was made a free port, and streets were laid out around the harbor that was then called Carenage and quickly renamed Gustavia in honor of their King, and the slaves were freed long befoe abolition came to the other islands of the Eastern Caribbean and by the mid-1800s most of the freed slaves left St. Barth’s for other islands. For defense, three forts were constructed, Fort Gustav (atop the hill in Gustavia), Fort Octave, and Fort Karl. Although the Swedish influence was strong (and is still very apparent today), the Swedes allowed the previous French culture and traditions to continue…when you visit Gustavia you’ll notice streets with French and Swedish names.

By the beginning of the 19th century over 6,000 people lived on St. Barth’s and as the island prospered and grew so did many of the other islands of the Eastern Caribbean. As other islands expanded their port facilities the shipping trade moved north to the Danish Virgin Islands, today know as the United States Virgin Islands. Many of the inhabitants of St. Barth’s followed the shipping and moved to St. Thomas where they formed a community called Carenage, which still exists today. As if this movement and loss of revenue was not enough of a blow to St. Barth’s, several hurricanes and a large fire in 1852 decimated Gustavia and the town was not rebuilt for almost a century, in 1967 only 400 people lived in Gustavia.

France purchased St. Barth’s from the Swedish in 1878 and the island remains French to this day, the residents even vote in French Presidential elections. Although the government is administered by Guadeloupe, the people of St. Barth’s still elect their own mayor and municipal council. And today, although the island enjoys a thriving tourist business, the residents have limited the number of cruise ships visiting St. Barth’s so as not to be overrun with tourists.