Island Hopping St. Kitts History

ISLAND HPPING

A Brief History of St. Kitts

The first visitors to the island of St. Christopher, usually just called St. Kitts, were probably the Ciboney Indians, but the first real inhabitants were the Arawaks who arrived somewhere between the 1st and 5th centuries AD. St. Kitts was called Liamuiga in their language and meant “fertile island.” As you probably know by now, wherever the Arawaks landed, it wasn’t long before the Caribs would follow, and that is exactly what happened on St. Kitts so that by time of Columbus’ arrival the Caribs were the only local inhabitants to be found on St. Kitts.

Columbus sighted the island in 1493 on his second voyage to the New World, and named it St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers, although he never landed here. However the British did land here, in 1624, when Thomas Warner arrived with 14 other settlers at Old Road Bay and named the island St. Kitts, a shortened version of St. Christopher. Warner’s settlement at Sandy Point was the first permanent European settlement in the Leeward Islands and at first the settlers were on good terms with the Caribs, which only lasted a few years. The Warner family estate subsisted on its tobacco crops and served as the capital of St. Kitts until 1727 when the capital was moved to Basseterre. Today, in Sandy Point, you can view the remains of large tobacco warehouses that were constructed by the Dutch West India Company in the 17th century. .

In 1625, the French arrived on St. Kitts and the British grudgingly shared the island with the new settlers knowing that there was safety in numbers even if the numbers were French. Early in that year, a Spanish warship attacked a French vessel and the French ship limped into St. Kitts in order to effect repairs. The ship's captain, Pierre Belain d'Esnambue, liked what he saw on St. Kitts and returned shortly afterward with a small group of French colonists. Soon both the British and French settlements began growth spurts, which threatened the existence of the Caribs who joined forces with Caribs from other islands and under the leadership of Chief Tegremare planned an attack on the British and French settlers. However, the two bands of settlers put aside their differences in 1626 when they got wind of the Caribs’ plan and joined forces and attacked the Caribs, massacring over 2,000 Carib Indians at Bloody Point. The legend states that the river ran red for three days after the massacre.

The British and the French divided the island and the two groups of colonists chose the great tamarind tree of Half Way Tree Village to mark the border between the French and British territories on St. Kitts. The northern and southern portions of St. Kitts went to the French and the middle of the island went to the British; the salt ponds were considered shared property. Later the settlers teamed up to fight the Spaniards who cared for neither the British nor the French and destroyed plantations all over the island. When times got hard and they had nobody to fight, the British and the French fought each other, as the British and French were known to do in those years, and continued to do so for over 150 years. As the colonies grew and became increasingly prosperous, this border was tested and outright war was narrowly averted during the early 1700’s, when it was discovered that the tamarind tree had thrown out new roots, which in theory extended to the British authority over many of the village's French houses. Finally, in 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht established St. Kitts as a British Colony.

The next century was prosperous for the plantations and their owners as sugar factories sprang up all over St. Kitts. Many slaves were brought to the island and by the middle of the 18th century the population of St. Kitts was over 25,000, 90% of whom were slaves. Although the slave trade ended in 1807, full emancipation did not come about until 1838. Soon freed slaves realized that their freedom had come at a price; they now had to work for their former owners for little if any wages. The economy of St. Kitts was sorely impacted and the depressed financial conditions of the majority of the populace of St. Kitts lasted until the 20th century.

In the 1900s, the British introduced Cricket to St. Kitts and in no time at all it became the national sport of St. Kitts and is very, very popular today. In 1967, St. Kitts, Nevis, and Anguilla became British Associated States, but Anguilla later broke away from the federation, reverting to a separate British colonial status. St. Kitts and Nevis received their independence on September 19, 1983 forming a constitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth, with Queen Elizabeth II as the Head of State and represented by a Governor General.

As of this writing, St. Kitts and Nevis are one nation, but this may change in the future. In 1998, a vote on Nevis showed that 62% of the populace favored independence from the Federation of St. Kitts/Nevis. Had the outcome been 2/3 favorable the secession would have been successful and St. Kitts and Nevis would have become independent nations. Today, St. Kitts and Nevis have entered a new era of prosperity with a bright future based in no small part on the bourgeoning tourism industry, what the future will bring politically will be interesting to watch to say the least.