Info about St Kitts
St.Kitts History today
In West Indies there is a federation of two islands,called The Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.Judging by the area and by the population we can say it is the smallest sovereign region in America.It is also called Saint Christopher Island and it is boarded by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean and it is situated at an equal distance from Miami and Florida.The people living here are called Kittians and primay spoken language is English.The capital of these two islands is the Basseterre city,also a port,that is often visited by cruise ships due to the luxury services it offers.The island hosts three volcanic peaks,the biggest one called Liamuiga is 3,792 feet high.
It is said that in the time of the last Ice Age the Saint Kitts Island,Nevis,Saint Eustatius and Saba composed a single island.Around 800 AD members of the Arawak tribe replaced the Saladoid people who migrated to St Kitts in 100 BC.Later,in 1300 a new people called Carib came to the island and vanished the Arawak tribe to be the only people living on Saint Kitts,which was named the Island of Fertility,or Liamuiga.After Christopher Columbus discovered this island on one of his expeditions he made it an island of Spain around 1493.After 1625,when both English and French Colonies invaded the island and fought together against Kalinago,then decided to divide the island and make the middle of the island English property and the rest was for the French.After 1629,when Spain came and made England and France leave the island the arrangements changed,but later,when England made peace with Spain got back its territory on St. Kitts Island and in 1783 it was declared a British Island.
The main production of the island was tobacco,but later changed it with sugar cane.Due to the competition it had with Virginia,St. Kitts started importing slaves from Africa,Ireland and Scotland.But the slaves imports didn’ last too much because the British Empire forbided it by releasing an Act of Parliament.This decision almost cost the plantation owners their labour force.But sugar industry was very prospere until these years too,until 2005 more precisely when because of the low profit and the fact that they lost more than they won the governmet chose to end the sugar production.Even if it is a small territory,the St. Kitts Island unites 6 ethnic groups and each one brigs a part of its traditions and customs that put together make St.Kitts an unique place.