Editing Anguilla (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of Anguilla}}
[[File:Wallblake House, The Valley.jpg|thumb|left|[[Wallblake House]], a plantation house thought to be the oldest building in Anguilla]]
Anguilla was first settled by Indigenous Amerindian peoples who migrated from South America.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica – Anguilla"/> The earliest Native American artefacts found on Anguilla have been dated to around 1300&nbsp;BC; remains of settlements date from AD&nbsp;600.<ref>''Caribbean Islands'', Sarah Cameron (Footprint Travel Guides), p. 466 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=G74-rZzX64cC Google Books] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407032148/https://books.google.com/books?id=G74-rZzX64cC |date=7 April 2023 }})</ref><ref name=gov>{{citation |contribution=Anguilla's History |contribution-url=http://gov.ai/elections/anguillahistory.htm |publisher=Government of Anguilla |title=The Anguilla House of Assembly Elections<!--sic--> |year=2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070813051037/http://gov.ai/elections/anguillahistory.htm |access-date=9 June 2015 |archive-date=13 August 2007 }}</ref>
There are two known [[petroglyph]] sites in Anguilla: Big Spring and Fountain Cavern. The rock ledges of Big Spring contain more than 100 petroglyphs (dating back to AD&nbsp;600–1200), the majority consisting of three indentations that form faces.<ref>Source: [https://axanationaltrust.com/protected-areas/ The Anguilla National Trust - Preservation for Generations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406224250/https://axanationaltrust.com/protected-areas/ |date=6 April 2023 }}.</ref>

Precisely when Anguilla was first seen by Europeans is uncertain: some sources claim that Columbus sighted the island during his second voyage in 1493, while others state that the first European explorer was the [[Kingdom of France|French]] Huguenot nobleman and merchant [[René Goulaine de Laudonnière]] in 1564.<ref name=gov/> The [[Dutch West India Company]] established a fort on the island in 1631.  However, the Company later withdrew after its fort was destroyed by the Spanish in 1633.<ref>Source: [http://www.atlasofmutualheritage.nl/nl/Anguilla.1009p Atlas of Mutual Heritage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129004331/http://www.atlasofmutualheritage.nl/nl/Anguilla.1009p |date=29 January 2018 }}.</ref>

Traditional accounts state that Anguilla was first colonised by [[Kingdom of England|English]] settlers from [[Saint Kitts]] beginning in 1650.{{sfnp|Martin|1839}}<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Historical Geography of the British Colonies: The West Indies|first=Charles Prestwood|last=Lucas|page=143|isbn=978-1-4590-0868-7|publisher=General Books LLC|year=2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Anguilla-island-West-Indies |title=Encyclopedia Britannica - Anguilla |access-date=12 July 2019 |archive-date=7 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220807102108/https://www.britannica.com/place/Anguilla-island-West-Indies |url-status=live }}</ref> The settlers focused on planting tobacco, and to a lesser extent cotton.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica – Anguilla"/> The French temporarily took over the island in 1666 but returned it to English control under the terms of the [[Treaty of Breda (1667)|Treaty of Breda]] the next year.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica – Anguilla"/> Major John Scott, who visited in September 1667, wrote of leaving the island "in good condition" and noted that in July 1668, "200 or 300 people fled thither in time of war".<ref>British Colonial and State Papers 1661–1668, 16 November 1667 and 9 July 1668.</ref> The French attacked again in 1688, [[Battle of Anguilla|1745]] and 1798, causing much destruction but failing to capture the island.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica – Anguilla"/><ref name=gov/>

It is likely that the early European settlers brought enslaved Africans with them. Historians confirm that [[Atlantic slave trade|African slaves]] lived in the region in the early 17th century, such as slaves from [[Senegal]] living on St Kitts in the mid-1600s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hubbard |first1=Vincent K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NMcnAAAAYAAJ&q=senegal |title=A History of St Kitts: The Sweet Trade |publisher=Macmillan |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-333-74760-5 |language=en |access-date=9 February 2021 |archive-date=30 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240530191503/https://books.google.com/books?id=NMcnAAAAYAAJ&q=senegal |url-status=live }}</ref> By 1672 a slave depot existed on the island of [[Nevis]], serving the [[Leeward Islands]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walicek |first=Don E. |date=2012-06-17 |title=Migration from Anguilla to 18th Century Puerto Rico: A Socio-linguistic Approach to African Identities in Caribbean Context |url=https://revistas.upr.edu/index.php/cih/article/view/16400/13936 |journal=Cuadernos de Investigación Histórica |language=es |issue=7 |pages=51–68 |issn=3065-6591}}</ref> While the time of African arrival in Anguilla is difficult to place precisely, archival evidence indicates a substantial African presence of at least 100 enslaved people by 1683; these seem to have come from Central Africa as well as West Africa.<ref name="Walicek, Don E 2009. pp. 349-3722">Walicek, Don E. (2009). "The Founder Principle and Anguilla's Homestead Society," ''Gradual Creolization: Studies Celebrating Jacques Arends'', ed. by M. van den Berg, H. Cardoso, and R. Selbach. (Creole Language Library Series 34), Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 349–372.</ref> The slaves were forced to work on the sugar plantations which had begun to replace tobacco as Anguilla's main crop.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica – Anguilla2"/> Over time, the African slaves and their descendants came to vastly outnumber the white settlers.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica – Anguilla2"/> The African slave trade was eventually terminated within the British Empire in 1807, and slavery outlawed completely in 1834.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica – Anguilla2">{{cite web |title=Encyclopedia Britannica – Anguilla |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Anguilla-island-West-Indies |access-date=12 July 2019 |archive-date=7 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220807102108/https://www.britannica.com/place/Anguilla-island-West-Indies |url-status=live }}</ref> Many planters subsequently sold up or left the island.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica – Anguilla2"/>

During the early colonial period, Anguilla was administered by the British through Antigua; in 1825, it was placed under the administrative control of nearby Saint Kitts.<ref name=gov/> Anguilla was federated with St Kitts and Nevis in 1882, against the wishes of many Anguillans.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica – Anguilla"/> Economic stagnation, and the severe effects of several droughts in the 1890s and later the [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s led many Anguillans to emigrate for better prospects elsewhere.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica – Anguilla"/>

[[File:Flag of Anguilla (1967–1969).svg|thumb|left|Flag of the short-lived Republic of Anguilla]]

Full adult suffrage was introduced to Anguilla in 1952.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica – Anguilla"/> After a brief period as part of the [[West Indies Federation]] (1958–1962), the island of Anguilla became part of the [[associated state]] of [[Saint Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla]] with full internal autonomy in 1967.<ref name="britannica.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Saint-Kitts-and-Nevis |title=Encyclopedia Britannica – St Kitts and Nevis |access-date=10 July 2019 |archive-date=3 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230803155513/https://www.britannica.com/place/Saint-Kitts-and-Nevis |url-status=live }}</ref> However many Anguillans had no wish to be a part of this union, and resented the dominance of St Kitts within it. On 30 May, 1967, Anguillans forcibly ejected the St Kitts police force from the island and declared their separation from St Kitts following a [[1967 Anguillan separation referendum|referendum]].<ref name=DD>[http://www.sudd.ch/event.php?lang=en&id=ai011967 Anguilla, 11 July 1967: Separation from St Kitts and Nevis; Peace Committee as Government] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626122436/http://www.sudd.ch/event.php?lang=en&id=ai011967 |date=26 June 2015 }} Direct Democracy {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica – Anguilla"/><ref>Noack, David X., [https://amerika21.de/analyse/160106/anguilla-kolonie-separatisten ''Die abtrünnige Republik Anguilla''], amerika21.de, 27 September 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2017. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417180508/https://amerika21.de/analyse/160106/anguilla-kolonie-separatisten |date=17 April 2019 }}.</ref> The events, led by [[Atlin Harrigan]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gov.ai/documents/budget/Budget_2009.pdf |title=Budget Address 2009, 'Strengthening the Collective: We are the Solution' |access-date=22 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020162301/http://www.gov.ai/documents/budget/Budget_2009.pdf |archive-date=20 October 2016 |url-status=live  }}</ref> and [[Ronald Webster]] among others, became known as the Anguillan Revolution; its goal was not independence per se, but rather independence from Saint Kitts and Nevis and a return to being a British colony.

With negotiations failing to break the deadlock, a [[1969 Anguillan constitutional referendum|second referendum]] confirming Anguillans' desire for separation from St Kitts was held and the [[Republic of Anguilla]] was declared unilaterally, with Ronald Webster as president. Efforts by British envoy [[William Whitlock (politician)|William Whitlock]] failed to break the impasse and [[Operation Sheepskin|300 British troops were subsequently sent in March 1969]].<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica – Anguilla"/> British authority was restored, and confirmed by the [[Anguilla Act 1971]] (c. 63) of July 1971.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica – Anguilla"/> In 1980, Anguilla was finally allowed to formally secede from Saint Kitts and Nevis and become a separate [[British Crown colony]] (now a [[British overseas territory]]).<ref>{{cite book |last=Minahan |first=James |date=2013 |title=The Complete Guide to National Symbols and Emblems |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jfrWCQAAQBAJ |pages=656–657 |publisher=Abc-Clio |isbn=9780313344978 |access-date=13 September 2020 |archive-date=30 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240530191504/https://books.google.com/books?id=jfrWCQAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Hubbard>{{cite book|last1=Hubbard|first1=Vincent|title=A History of St. Kitts|date=2002|publisher=Macmillan Caribbean|isbn=9780333747605|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofstkitts00vinc/page/147 147–149]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofstkitts00vinc/page/147}}</ref><ref name="britannica.com"/><ref name="Introduction ::Anguilla"/><ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica – Anguilla"/> Since then, Anguilla has been politically stable, and has seen a large growth in its tourism and offshore financing sectors.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica – Anguilla"/>