Editing Saint Kitts (section)

===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}}