Arriving in the peaceful calm of St. Kitts you wouldn’t imagine the extraordinary history the island possesses. For centuries, St. Kitts occupied a critical position in the European struggle for the islands of the West Indies- rich with sugar plantations and the gateway to the Caribbean. The struggles and conflicts in and around St. Kitts have shaped much of the history of the entire Caribbean.
DISCOVERY AND EARLY TIMES
It was Christopher Columbus who first recorded the island on his second voyage in 1493 in which is passed the island, but didn’t land. Some question whether he named the island after himself, or after the patron saint of travellers, St. Christopher but by the time the Englishman Thomas Warner arrived with fourteen other settlers in 1623 the island was known as St. Christopher's. It was only later that it was affectionately nicknamed St Kitts. Thomas Warner went on to found the first non-Spanish European colony in the Caribbean.
BLESSED BY A VOLCANO
Columbian Carib inhabitants originally knew their island as Liamuiga, or "fertile land," referring to the productive volcanic soil found here. Today the same name is used for St. Kitts' central peak, a 3,792-foot dormant volcano that has left its legacy of a rich geologic history and lush tropical vegetation. The peak rises up above the ever-expanding rainforests that continue to spread like great green canopies where sugar cane was once cultivated. This fertile soil, along with fresh water, abundant forests and salt was why these first, non-Spanish settlers of the Caribbean chose what was then called St. Christopher.
FIRST SETTLERS AND BLOODY POINT
In 1624, Sir Thomas Warner, an English gentleman arrived at Sandy Point with his family and fourteen others to an island which was inhabited by local peoples. It was less than two years later when Pierre Belain d'Esnambue led a small group of French settlers to the island and it wasn’t long before fighting began; together the English and French wiped out the entire native population of Arawaks and Caribs. A massacre at which is now Bloody Point. Once the English and French had the island to themselves, they set about expanding sugar and tobacco plantations, bringing in African people to serve as slaves, and began the growth of St. Kitts's rich culture began influenced by people from Africa, Europe and the Caribbean itself.
A HISTORY OF CONTRADICTIONS
From early on in St Kitts history, the island has been home to a range of religions; Christianity, Jewish and Catholic worship, as well as Free Masonry. St.Kitts was the home of one of the oldest Jewish Temples and oldest Masonic Temples in the Caribbean. However while variation in religious beliefs were relatively acceptable, the plantation owners who governed over the island had little tolerance for the few islanders who were activists for abolishment of slavery, and at least two of the most influential abolitionists were forced to leave the island.
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