Meet the People of St Kitts

2009-08-03 18:08:20 by

The recorded history of St. Kitts begins with the second voyage in 1493 of Christopher Columbus who sailed past the island but did not land. There is some doubt as to whether it is this island that Columbus gave the name St. Christopher (after himself ). In any case, by the time the Englishman Thomas Warner arrived with fourteen other settlers in 1624 to found the first non-Spanish European colony in the Caribbean, the island was known as St. Christopher's.

In 1623, Sir Thomas Warner, his family, and fourteen others arrived on the island at what is now Sandy Point. Thomas Warner chose St. Christopher for its abundant forests and fresh water, its fertile easily worked soil, its accessible physical structure, and the presence of salt.

These English settlers were soon followed by Pierre Belain d'Esnambue, leader of French settlers, in 1625. The two groups wiped out the inhabitants of the island, Arawaks and Caribs, in a massacre at Bloody Point in 1626. African people were brought to the island from the 1630's to work as slaves on sugar and tobacco plantations. As a result, a rich culture combining elements from Africa, Europe and native America has evolved.

St. Kitts occupied a critical position in the European struggle for the West Indies, combining exceptional wealth as sugar colonies with a vital strategic position as gateways to the Caribbean. As a result, the struggles and conflicts that marked their history are among the most decisive episodes in Caribbean history.

(resource: DiscoverStKitts)