Central America · The modern Caribbean and isthmus states
Saint Kitts
1983–present
The Federation of Saint Christopher (Saint Kitts) and Nevis, in the Leeward Islands, was the site of the first successful English Caribbean colony (1624) and is known as "the mother colony of the West Indies." It gained independence from the United Kingdom on 19 September 1983 — the last of the British Caribbean territories to become independent — with Kennedy Simmonds as its first prime minister; the capital is Basseterre.
- Existed
- 1983–present
- Shown on the map
- 1967–2024
- Peak area
- 504 km²
- Region
- Central America
Overview
The Federation of Saint Christopher (Saint Kitts) and Nevis, in the Leeward Islands, was the site of the first successful English Caribbean colony (1624) and is known as "the mother colony of the West Indies." It gained independence from the United Kingdom on 19 September 1983 — the last of the British Caribbean territories to become independent — with Kennedy Simmonds as its first prime minister; the capital is Basseterre. It is the smallest sovereign state in the Americas in both area and population, a federal constitutional monarchy under King Charles III in which Nevis has its own legislature and premier.
Later history and present status
The economy shifted from sugar (the state-run industry closed in 2005) to tourism and a well-known citizenship-by-investment program. Nevisian secession sentiment led to a 1998 independence referendum that fell just short of the required two-thirds majority. Terrance Drew (St. Kitts and Nevis Labour Party) has been prime minister since August 2022.
Common questions
- What were the Saint Kitts?
- The Federation of Saint Christopher (Saint Kitts) and Nevis, in the Leeward Islands, was the site of the first successful English Caribbean colony (1624) and is known as "the mother colony of the West Indies." It gained independence from the United Kingdom on 19 September 1983 — the last of the British Caribbean territories to become independent — with Kennedy Simmonds as its first prime minister; the capital is Basseterre.
- When did the Saint Kitts exist?
- The Saint Kitts existed 1983–present. On this map they are drawn 1967–2024.
- How large were the Saint Kitts?
- At their greatest extent drawn on this map, the Saint Kitts covered about 1,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives them across the years they are drawn, not necessarily their greatest extent in history.
- What is the present status of the Saint Kitts?
- The economy shifted from sugar (the state-run industry closed in 2005) to tourism and a well-known citizenship-by-investment program. Nevisian secession sentiment led to a 1998 independence referendum that fell just short of the required two-thirds majority.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each polity and for the key figures and events as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, EBSCO Research Starters and academic sources. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Saint Kitts en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Kitts
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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