Editing Basseterre (section)

==History==
[[File:Wesleyan Chapel, Basseterre, St. Christopher's, West Indies (VII, p.18, February 1950) - Copy.jpg|thumb|280px|Wesleyan Chapel, Basseterre, St. Christopher's, West Indies (1850)<ref name=Offering1850>{{cite journal|title=Wesleyan Chapel, Basseterre, St. Christopher's, West Indies|journal=Wesleyan Juvenile Offering|date=February 1850|volume=VII|page=18|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a1wEAAAAQAAJ|publisher=Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society|location=London}}</ref>]]
Basseterre was founded in 1627 by the French, under Sieur [[Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc]]. It served as the capital of the French colony of Saint-Christophe, which consisted of the northern and southern extremities of the island of St. Kitts (the centre was yielded to Britain). When [[Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy]] was made the French governor of St. Kitts in 1639, the town turned into a large, successful port, commanding Eastern Caribbean trade and colonisation.

De Poincy then quickly made Basseterre capital of the entire French West Indies colony, which included the islands of [[Guadeloupe]] and [[Martinique]], and remained so until his death in 1660. The city was made capital of the island of St. Kitts in 1727, following the expulsion of the French from the island and the establishment of full British control.

The city of Basseterre has one of the most tragic histories of any Caribbean capital, destroyed many times by colonial wars, fire, earthquakes, floods, riots, and hurricanes. Despite all of this, a considerable number of well-restored buildings still exist in the centre of Basseterre.

Most of the city structures were built after the great fire of 1867. The Circus was modelled after [[Piccadilly Circus]], and the fountain in the centre was built in 1883, and dedicated to The Honourable Thomas Berkeley Hardtman Berkeley, the father of [[Henry Spencer Berkeley]].<ref name=Hubbard/>