Editing Saint Kitts (section)

==History==
{{multiple image
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 | image1    = West Saint Kitts map.png
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 | caption1  = French and English partitions of west St. Kitts.  Note the location of Fort Charles and the sulphur mine further to the west.
 | image2    = East Saint Kitts map.png
 | width2    = 156
 | caption2  = French and English partitions of east St. Kitts.  Note the location of Fort Basseterre.
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[[File:StKitts Brimstomhill.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Siege of Brimstone Hill]], 1782, as described by an observer in a French engraving titled "Attaque de Brimstomhill".]]
{{Main|History of Saint Kitts and Nevis}}

During the [[Last Glacial Period|last ice age]], the sea level was up to {{convert|300|ft|m|order=flip}} lower and St. Kitts and Nevis were one island along with [[Saba (island)|Saba]] and [[Sint Eustatius]] (also known as Statia).<ref name=Hubbard>{{cite book|last1=Hubbard|first1=Vincent|title=A History of St. Kitts|date=2002|publisher=Macmillan Caribbean|isbn=9780333747605|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofstkitts00vinc/page/1 1]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofstkitts00vinc/page/1}}</ref>

St. Kitts was originally settled by pre-agricultural, pre-ceramic "Archaic people", who migrated south down the archipelago from Florida. In a few hundred years they disappeared, to be replaced by the [[ceramic]]-using and [[agriculturalist]] [[Saladoid]] people around 100 BC, who migrated to St. Kitts north up the archipelago from the banks of the [[Orinoco River]] in [[Venezuela]]. Around 800 AD, they were replaced by the [[Igneri]] people, members of the [[Arawak peoples|Arawak]] group.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McGrath |first=Jim |date=2016-01-14 |title=St Kitts - a very quick history in 317 words |url=https://acrew.com/st-kitts-a-very-quick-history-in-317-words-2/ |access-date=2024-12-19 |website=ACREW |language=en-US}}</ref>

Around 1300 AD, the [[Kalinago]], or Carib people arrived on the islands. These agriculturalists quickly dispersed the Igneri, and forced them northwards to the [[Greater Antilles]]. They named Saint Kitts "Liamuiga" meaning "fertile island", and would likely have expanded further north if not for the arrival of Europeans.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

A [[Spain|Spanish]] expedition under [[Christopher Columbus]] arrived and claimed the island for Spain in 1493.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Saint Kitts and Nevis {{!}} Colonizer, Population, Map, & Independence {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Saint-Kitts-and-Nevis |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

The first [[England|English]] [[colony]] was established in 1623, followed by a [[France|French]] colony in 1625. The English and French briefly united to pre-empt a Kalinago ambush. They [[Kalinago Genocide of 1626|massacred the local Kalinago]],<ref>"[https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/oct/01/top-10-attractions-st-kitts-caribbean Top 10 attractions in St Kitts]". ''[[The Guardian]]''. 1 October 2013.</ref> and then partitioned the island, with the English colonists in the middle and the French on either end. [[Anglo-Spanish War (1625-1630)|In 1629]], a [[New Spain|Spanish force]] sent to clear the islands of foreign settlement [[Battle of St. Kitts (1629)|seized]] St. Kitts. The English settlement was rebuilt following the [[Treaty of Madrid (1630)|1630 peace]] between England and Spain.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

The island alternated repeatedly between [[Kingdom of England|English]] (then [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]]) and [[Early modern France|French]] control during the 17th and 18th centuries, as one power took the whole island, only to have it switch hands due to treaties or military action. Actions included [[Siege_of_Brimstone_Hill|the Siege of Brimstone Hill]] and [[Battle_of_Saint_Kitts|the Battle of Saint Kitts]]. Parts of the island were heavily fortified, as exemplified by the [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]] at [[Brimstone Hill]] and the now-crumbling [[Fort Charles (Saint Kitts)|Fort Charles]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

Since 1783, Saint Kitts has been affiliated with the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]], which became the [[United Kingdom]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Saint Kitts and Nevis |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Saint-Kitts-and-Nevis |access-date=Jun 4, 2024 |website=Encyclopaedia Britannica}}</ref>

===Slavery===
The island originally produced [[tobacco]], but farmers switched to [[sugarcane]] in 1640 because of stiff competition from the colony of [[Virginia]]. The labour-intensive cultivation of sugar cane was the reason for the large-scale importation of [[Ethnic groups of Africa|African]] [[slave]]s. The importation began almost immediately upon the arrival of Europeans to the region even though sugarcane wasn't cultivated for another two hundred years on the island, leading some to discredit the earliest claims of imported African labour.<ref>{{Cite book|title=To Hell or Barbados|last=O'Callaghan|first=Sean|publisher=Brandon, O'Brien Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0-86322-287-0|location=Dublin|pages=66,137,148,173,176, 202}}</ref>

The [[Atlantic slave trade|purchasing of enslaved Africans]] was outlawed in the [[British Empire]] by an Act of Parliament in 1807.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How did the slave trade end in Britain? {{!}} Royal Museums Greenwich |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/how-did-slave-trade-end-britain |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=www.rmg.co.uk |language=en}}</ref> [[Slavery]] was abolished by an Act of Parliament which became law on 1 August 1834. This emancipation was followed by four years of forced enslavement (1834-1838) against which the nominally freed Africans on St. Kitts revolted and martial law was declared with British warships sent from Antigua to force the rebels back to the plantations.<ref>{{Citation |last=Schroedl |first=Gerald F. |title=Enslaved Africans and the British Military at the Brimstone Hill Fortress, St. Kitts, West Indies |date=2018-04-10 |work=British Forts and Their Communities |url=https://doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813056753.003.0008 |access-date=2025-04-30 |publisher=University Press of Florida |isbn=978-0-8130-5675-3}}</ref> The four years of forced enslavement was referred to as the apprenticeship system and was put in place to protect the "planters" (plantation owners) from losing their free labour force.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sugar Reform will offer EU producers long-term competitive future |url=https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_05_776 |access-date=2024-12-14 |website=European Commission - European Commission}}</ref>

1 August is now celebrated as a public holiday and is called [[Emancipation Day]]. In 1883, Saint Kitts, [[Nevis]], and [[Anguilla]] were all linked under one presidency, located on Saint Kitts, to the dismay of the Nevisians and Anguillans. Anguilla left this arrangement in 1971, after an armed raid on Saint Kitts on the 10th of June 1967.<ref>{{cite web|title=Introduction ::Anguilla|date=10 January 2023 |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/anguilla/}}</ref>

Sugar production continued to dominate the local economy until 2005, when, after 365 years of having a [[monoculture]], the government closed the [[sugar industry]]. This decision was made because of huge losses and [[European Union]] plans to greatly cut sugar prices.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}