HISTORY
At the time of European discovery,
Carib Indians inhabited the islands of St. Kitts and Nevis. Christopher
Columbus landed on the larger island in 1493 on his second voyage
and named it after St. Christopher, his patron saint. Columbus
also discovered Nevis on his second voyage, reportedly calling
it Nevis because of its resemblance to a snowcapped mountain (in
Spanish, "nuestra senora de las nieves" or our lady of the snows).
European colonization did not begin until 1623-24, when first
English, then French colonists arrived on St. Christopher's Island,
whose name the English shortened to St. Kitt's Island. As the
first English colony in the Caribbean, St. Kitts served as a base
for further colonization in the region.
The English and French held
St. Kitts jointly from 1628 to1713. During the 17th century, intermittent
warfare between French and English settlers ravaged the island's
economy. Meanwhile Nevis, settled by English settlers in 1628,
grew prosperous under English rule. St. Kitts was ceded to Great
Britain by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. The French seized both
St. Kitts and Nevis in 1782.
The Treaty of Paris in 1783
definitively awarded both islands to Britain. They were part of
the colony of the Leeward Islands from 1871-1956, and of the West
Indies Federation from 1958-62. In 1967, together with Anguilla,
they became a self-governing state in association with Great Britain;
Anguilla seceded late that year and remains a British dependency.
The Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis attained full independence
on September 19, 1983.
