The Documented History Of Nevis, Saint Kitts & Nevis

The Documented History Of Nevis, Saint Kitts & Nevis

Today's article will discuss the history of the island known as Nevis. Saint Nevis is an island that exists in the Caribbean. It is a part of the country known as the Federation of Saint Kitts & Nevis. Nevis is the smaller of the 2 islands that are from the country of Saint Kitts & Nevis. It is a part of the lesser Antilles. It is a part of the archipelago group known as the Leeward Islands. Nevis is approximately 383.31 Nautical / Marine miles from its closest point to mainland South America, specifically the country of Venezuela. It is also approximately 1128.85 Nautical / Marine Miles from the State of Florida, United States Of America.  The ocean that surrounds Nevis is the Atlantic. It rests in the Caribbean Sea. The island is in the vague shape of a circle, which is incredibly uncommon. The island is well known for its beautiful beaches & high amount of exotic marine life. The island was formed via the Atlantic plate & North American plate moving towards each other & eventually colliding. The island was created approximately 3.45 million years ago. The capital of the island is known as Charleston. Charleston just so happens to also be the largest city on the island. However, this is not the capital of the country. The capital of the country is known as Basseterre & it exists on the sister island of Saint Kitts. They are a part of the commonwealth still. The island is approximately 336.7 square miles (872.049 square kilometers). The current population of the island is approximately 11,108. This number was found during a 2011 census. The highest elevation on the island is known as Nevis Peak. It is approximately 3,232 feet (985.1136 meters) high. It is the dormant remnant of an ancient stratovolcano. There are approximately 5 designated bays around the island. There are approximately 5 administrative divisions on Nevis. These administrative zones are known as Parishes. The names of these parishes as as follows in order from largest to smallest; Saint James Windward, Saint John Figtree, Saint George Gingerland, Saint Tomas Lowland, & Saint Paul Charleston. In this article we will discuss the discovery & documented history of Nevis as a whole, The known aboriginals of Nevis, the most destructive man-caused & natural disasters of Nevis, & finally a segment on the Saint Kittian & Nevisian economies. With that being said, let us delve into the paradise island of Nevis.

The Documented History Of Nevis, Saint Kitts & Nevis

Before Colonization

The first natives who arrived on the island were the Ciboney. They originated from the islands of Hispaniola & Cuba. They arrived approximately 3,000 years ago (Or approximately 980 B.C.). They lacked a distinct pottery style making their timeline uncertain. The Arawaks arrived much later in approximately 800 A.D. The Caribs arrived within the following years & had taken over Saint Kitts & Nevis by the time of the Spanish invasion. The peak Population on the island most likely fell between 500 A.D & 600 A.D. The natives collectively called the island Oualie, which translates to “Land Of Beautiful Waters”.

After Colonization

Please note that this will only involve the history of Nevis, not Saint Kitts.

The 15th Century

Christopher Columbus noted the island on his second voyage through the Caribbean. He did not make landfall, however he did see the island. He noted its appearance down on the dates of November 11th, 1432 & November 13th, 1432. At first, he named Saint Kitts “Saint George” & Nevis “San Martin”.

The 16th Century

An English Privateer & seaman known as Sir Francis Duke noted a visit to the island around the 25th of December 1585.

The 17th Century

The next time the island had contact with the Europeans was in 1603. This was by English Captain & mariner Bartholomew Gilbert. His visit was to gather, a certain type of Caribbean wood known as Ligum Vitae (Guayacan). After this he was documented to have sailed to Saint Kitts. He stayed for approximately 2 weeks & in this short period gathered 20 tons of the aforementioned wood. In 1607, English Captain & Colonial governor John Smith stopped at Nevis for five days on his way to founding the first successful settlement in the U.S. state of Virginia. Captain Smith wrote about the many hot springs that exist in Nevis, whose waters had mystical curative abilities against skin diseases & bad health. It is unlikely that these waters healing properties. English explorer Robert Harcourt stopped at Nevis in 1608. The length of his stay was undocumented & his reason for staying was also undocumented. The island legally became a British Colony in the year 1620. It was known as the Colony Of Nevis. However, actual European settlement did not occur until 1628. The reason for this delay if there was one, remains unknown. In the year 1628, Anthony Hilton moved from nearby Saint Kitts following a murder plot against him. The exact reason for this murder plot is unspecified. 80 other settlers accompanied him, soon boosted by a further 100 settlers from London who had initially hoped to settle on the island of Barbuda. Hilton became the first Governor of Nevis. After the Treaty of Madrid in 1670 between Spain & England, Nevis became the seat of the British colony & the Admiralty Court also sat in Nevis. Between the years 1675 & 1730, the island was the headquarters for the slave trade for the Leeward Islands, with approximately 6,000–7,000 enslaved West Africans passing through en route to other islands each year. It would remain like this for quite some time. The Royal African Company brought all its ships through Nevis. This effectively made Nevis a sort of exchange point or way station for incoming ships to North America. A census in the year 1678 shows a community of Irish People as being 22% of the population. They either existed as either indentured servants or freemen. Due to the profitable slave trade on the island & the high quality of Nevisian sugar cane, Nevis soon became a dominant source of wealth for Great Britain & the slave-owning British plantocracy. When the Leeward Isles were separated from Barbados in the year 1671, Nevis became the seat of the Leeward Islands British colony. It was at this point that the island was given the nickname "Queen of the Caribees". It remained the colonial capital for the Leeward Islands until the seat was transferred to Antigua for military reasons in 1698. During this period, Nevis was the richest of the British Leeward Islands. Nevis soon outranked larger islands like Jamaica in sugar production in the late 17th century. The planters' wealth on the island is evident in the tax records preserved in the Calendar State Papers in the British Colonial Office Public Records, where the amount of tax collected on the Leeward Islands was recorded. The sums recorded for 1676 as "head tax on slaves", a tax payable in sugar, amounted to 384,600 pounds in Nevis, as opposed to 67,000 each in Antigua & Saint Kitts, 62,500 in Montserrat, & 5,500 total in the other five islands. The enslaved families on Nevis formed the large labor force required to work the sugar plantations. After the 1650s, the supply of white indentured servants began to dry up due to increased wages in England & less incentive to migrate to the colonies. By the end of the 17th century, the population of Nevis consisted of a small wealthy planter elite in control, a marginal population of poor Whites, a great majority of African-descended slaves, and an unknown number of Maroons. The “Maroons” were the names of escaped African slaves who were living in the mountains. In 1780, 90% of the 10,000 people living on Nevis were African. Some of the maroons joined with the few remaining Arawakan groups in Nevis to form a resistance force. Memories of the Nevisian maroons' struggle under the plantation system are preserved in place names such as Maroon Hill, an early center of resistance. The great wealth generated by the colonies of the West Indies led to wars among Spain, Britain, & France. These wars were usually for ownership of these islands to cultivate sugar on the islands. The formation of the United States can be said to be a partial by-product of these wars, & the strategic trade aims that often ignored North America. Three privateers were employed by the British Crown to help protect ships in Nevisian waters. During the 17th century, the French, based on Saint Kitts, launched many attacks on Nevis. These attacks were occasionally assisted by the few remaining Arawakan Groups. In the year 1667, these Arawakan groups sent a large fleet of dug-out canoes along in support. In the same year, a Franco-Dutch invasion fleet was repelled off Nevis by an English fleet. Letters & other records from the era indicate that the English on Nevis hated & feared the Amerindians. This was a result of racism towards the Natives. This hatred also may have been perpetuated by the Spanish spreading the idea that they practiced cannibalism. In 1674 & 1683, they participated in attacks on Arawakan villages in Dominica & Saint Vincent, despite a lack of official approval from the crown for this attack. On Nevis, the English built what is now known as Fort Charles & a series of smaller fortifications to aid in defending the island. This included Saddle Hill Battery, built in 1740 to replace a deodand on Nevis Peak.

The 18th Century

In 1706 Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville, the French Canadian founder of the U.S state  Louisiana in North America, decided to drive the English out of Nevis & thus also stop pirate attacks on French ships; he considered Nevis the region's headquarters for piracy against French trade. During d'Iberville's invasion of Nevis, French buccaneers were used in the front line, infamous for being ruthless killers after the pillaging during the wars with Spain where they gained a reputation for torturing and murdering non-combatants. In the face of the invading force, the English militiamen of Nevis fled. Some plantation owners burned the plantations, rather than letting the French have them, & they proceeded to hide in the mountains. It was the enslaved Africans who held the French at bay by taking up arms to defend their families & the island. The slave quarters had been looted and burned as well, as the main reward promised to the men fighting on the French side in the attack was the right to capture as many slaves as possible for the purpose of reselling them in Martinique. During the fighting, approximately 3,400 enslaved Nevisians were captured and sent off to Martinique. About approximately 1,000 more, poorly armed & militarily untrained, held the French troops at bay, by "murderous fire" according to an eyewitness account by an English militiaman. He wrote that "the slave's brave behavior & defense there shamed what some of their masters did, & they do not shrink to tell us so.” After 18 days of fighting, the French were driven off the island. Among the Nevisian men, women & children carried away on d'Iberville's ships, six ended up in Louisiana, the first persons of African descent to arrive there. One consequence of the French attack was a collapsed sugar industry & during the ensuing hardship on Nevis, small plots of land on the plantations were made available to the enslaved families in order to control the loss of life due to starvation. With less profitability for the absentee plantation owners, the import of food supplies for the plantation workers dwindled. Between 1776 & 1783, when the food supplies failed to arrive altogether due to the rebellion in North America, 300–400 enslaved Nevisians were starved to death. A four-year apprenticeship program followed the abolishment of slavery on the plantations. In spite of the continued use of the labor force, the Nevisian slave owners were paid over £150,000 in compensation from the British Government for the loss of property, whereas the enslaved families received nothing for 200 years of labor. One of the wealthiest planter families in Nevis, the Pinneys of Mountravers Plantation, claimed £36,396 (equivalent to approximately 4,019,385.35£ in 2021) in compensation for the slaves on the family-owned plantations around the Caribbean. Because of the early distribution of plots &  because many of the planters departed from the island when sugar cultivation became unprofitable, a relatively large percentage of Nevisians already owned or controlled land at emancipation. Others settled on crown land. This early development of a society with a majority of small, landowning farmers & entrepreneurs created a stronger middle class in Nevis than in Saint Kitts, where the sugar industry continued until 2006. Even though the 15 families in the wealthy planter elite no longer control the arable land, Saint Kitts still has a large, landless working-class population.

The 19th Century

On the 1st of August 1834, slavery was officially abolished in the British Empire. In Nevis, 8,815 slaves were freed. The first Monday in August is celebrated as Emancipation Day & is part of the annual Nevis Culturama festival. The population had reached 7,470 by 1842. Nevis was united with Saint Kitts & Anguilla in the year 1882, & they became an associated state. with full internal autonomy in 1967. Anguilla went on to secede in 1971.

The 20th Century

Before 1967, the local government of Saint Kitts was also the government of Nevis and Anguilla. Nevis had two seats and Anguilla one seat in the government. The economic and infrastructural development of the two smaller islands was not a priority to the colonial federal government. Together, Saint Kitts & Nevis became independent on 19 September 1983. On 10 August 1998, a referendum on Nevis to separate from Saint Kitts had 2,427 votes in favor & 1,498 against, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed. When the hospital in Charlestown was destroyed in a hurricane in 1899, planting of trees in the squares of Saint Kitts and refurbishing of government buildings, also in Saint Kitts, took precedence over the rebuilding of the only hospital in Nevis. After five years without any proper medical facilities, the leaders in Nevis initiated a campaign, threatening to seek independence from Saint Kitts. The British Administrator in Saint Kitts, Charles Cox, was unmoved. He stated that Nevis did not need a hospital since there had been no significant rise in the number of deaths during the time Nevisians had been without a hospital. Therefore, no action was needed on behalf of the government, & besides, Cox continued, the Legislative Council regarded "Nevis and Anguilla as a drag on Saint Kitts & would willingly see a separation". A letter of complaint to the metropolitan British Foreign Office gave the result & the federal government in Saint Kitts was ordered by their superiors in London to take speedy action. The Legislative Council took another five years to consider their options. The final decision by the federal government was to not rebuild the old hospital after all but to instead convert the old Government House in Nevis into a hospital, named Alexandra Hospital after Queen Alexandra, wife of King Edward VII. A majority of the funds assigned for the hospital could thus be spent on the construction of a new official residence in Nevis. Electricity was introduced in Nevis in 1954 when two generators were shipped in to provide electricity to the area around Charlestown. In this regard, Nevis fared better than Anguilla, where there were no paved roads, no electricity & no telephones until 1967. However, electricity did not become available island-wide on Nevis until 1971. After d'Iberville's invasion in 1704, records show Nevis' sugar industry in ruins & a decimated population begging the English Parliament & relatives for loans & monetary assistance to stave off island-wide starvation. The sugar industry on the island never fully recovered & during the general depression that followed the loss of the West Indian sugar monopoly, Nevis fell on hard times & the island became one of the poorest in the region. The island remained poorer than Saint Kitts until 1991 when the fiscal performance of Nevis edged ahead of the fiscal performance of Saint Kitts for the first time since the French invasion. An ambitious infrastructure development programme was introduced in the early 2000s which included a transformation of the Charlestown port, the construction of a new deep-water harbor, the resurfacing &  widening of the Island Main Road, a new airport terminal & control tower, as well as a major airport expansion, which required the relocation of an entire village in order to make room for the runway extension. Modernized classrooms & better-equipped schools, as well as improvements in the educational system, have contributed to a leap in academic performance on the island. The pass rate among the Nevisian students sitting for the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) exams, the Cambridge General Certificate of Education Examination (GCE) & the Caribbean Advance Proficiency Examinations is now consistently among the highest in the English-speaking Caribbean.

The Documented Aboriginal Tribes Of Saint Kitts & Nevis

The Carib / Kalingo Indigenous Peoples

The Caribs of Nevis were an indigenous Amerindian of the Caribbean lesser Antilles. They are also known as the Kalingo or Kalina. They also lived in South America. They spoke a language that is modernly known as Island Carib which is classified as a highly endangered language. They were one of the least peaceful tribes in the Caribbean. They had many warlike tactics & were believed to have mandatory combat training. They were taller, bulkier, & stronger than the Arawaks due to the emphasis on being a warrior & being able to defend their home. They utilized their marine resources often & had a strong fishing industry. Fish was one of the most common foods, they also were believed to have bred some fish. They had large boats which were most similar to a modern-day Canoe, these boats could hold up to 12 persons. However, their largest warships could hold up to 100 persons. These boats looked similar to a modern-day dugout canoe. However, they also could use & build sails. They used these to raid the Arawaks as well as to fish. They also utilized the ocean in other ways often. They fought with the other tribes of The lesser Antilles such as the Arawaks who were relatively peaceful. They hunted mammals as well. They revered the bones of their elders or family members & they burnt off fat from their enemies or prisoners of war during battle rituals. They were labeled as cannibals & savages by the Spanish & British on their individual conquests, this was in an effort to justify conquering their lands & enslaving them. The modern-day word cannibal originates from the word Carib due to their alleged cannibalistic practices. They invented certain types of primitive barbecues as well which they most likely used to barbecue the Arawaks. However, if they were cannibalistic they did not consume the entire body. Allegedly, their reasoning for this was that if they consumed a little bit of their enemy after they were dead, they would assume the characteristics of that person. Also, there is evidence to believe that early Caribs were not cannibals. They were on average approximately 5 feet 5 inches. They had a brown hue to their skin similar to that of a modern-day Latin American person. They did not appear to wear clothing of any kind. The women would paint their skin with a red dye known as Roucou which is made from the extract of the seeds of the Achiote tree. The women also circled their eyes with black pigment. The males would also paint their bodies and on occasion wore feathered headdresses, jewelry & piercings of all kinds through their lips, and large hoop jewelry through their noses. Nose piercings were fairly common among both genders. The males also wore the Caracoli which was a necklace of small bones along with the teeth of defeated enemies from which a crescent-shaped bone-carved ornament was suspended. The Caracoli necklace was worn to represent the courage of the wearer, it was typically worn by men & there isn’t much evidence that it was worn by women. The women also commonly lived in different houses from the men. Arts were common among the Caribs. Basket weaving was a common type of art that was done both for function & for art. Pottery was quite common among Caribs as well. They had many different structural styles of pottery. It is also important to note that most men spoke Island Carib languages, however, women spoke mostly Arawakan languages. They often used bows & arrows when hunting or fighting. This weaponry unfortunately was not very helpful during the initial British Invasion. However, their boats were. They were infamous for using one of their warships to catch European boats. This is one of the main reasons why Saint Lucia wasn’t colonized for such a long time. They did not have a social or societal construct & did not have any form of government. Little is known about their religion however it is believed that they practiced polytheism.

The Arawak Indigenous Peoples

The Arawak Indigenous peoples existed throughout the lesser Antilles & heavily throughout northern South America. They were also known as the Taino people. They spoke many different dialects of Arawaken languages. They were quite peaceful & often avoided to engage in combat. They mostly only fought in defense or if they were being directly threatened. They often did not fight with other Arawak populations. They often practiced farming of corn, beans, pepper, sweet potatoes, ground nuts, & cassava. They also practiced fishing with nets & spearfishing. They used weaving techniques to build the nets. They also bred their fish in individual ponds. They hunted any animals that were available using spears, bows, & blow guns. They, however, did not use the pelts to make clothes. Most of the time Arawaks stood naked, with men occasionally wearing loincloths. The women wore short skirts & beaded shell necklaces. They also did not make shoes of any kind. On occasion, they would paint their bodies various colors such as black, white, or red. They were described as being of medium height by Columbus, which most likely means approximately 5 feet & 3 inches. They also generally were quite slim in build. Their skin was a dark tanned colour. Their hair was a black color & was coarse. They often wore jewelry & ornaments on their neck, ears, lips, & noses. These ornaments varied in material however they were often made with clay, shell, or cotton. Some of these ornaments were braided into hair & used as hair pieces as well. They did have social & societal constructs, with each group of Arawaks having a chief. For fun & religious purposes, they had festivals. These festivals entailed singing, dancing, & eating food with the community. They had instruments such as wooden gongs, reed pipes, & certain types of drums. They also had a kind of primitive oven which was used to bake small flat cakes. Games were also a common pastime of them, one game they invented was a ball game called Batos. Their religion was polytheistic & their gods were called Zemi. These Zemi would control various sectors of the known universe.

The Ciboney Indigenous People

The Ciboney indigenous peoples lived throughout the Caribbean. They lived throughout Cuba & as well as the greater & lesser Antilles. They were also known as the Siboney. Their language was unknown & it a language was an isolate. They often stayed out of the way & lived on the coastlines. Their ambitions in relation to war & peace are unknown. They did not farm anything to our knowledge, instead opting to hunt & gather their supplies. They did not write anything down, so extremely little is known about them as the majority of them were gone before the Europeans arrived. Some of their primary sources of food were shellfish, turtles, & certain available island rodents. They also lacked in arts such as pottery & weaving. They may have originated from southern America in the areas of modern-day Venezuela. If they were, they would have migrated to Cuba. Alternatively, they may have originated from the southern areas of modern-day Florida. However, they did not have very good maritime technologies.

The Most Destructive Man-Caused & Natural Disasters Of Saint Kitts & Nevis

No. 1 Christena Disaster Of Nevis

The Christena disaster was a ferryboat disaster that occurred on the 1st of August 1970. A specific time for this disaster was not given. This disaster involved a ferryboat that ended up causing 233 casualties. This ferryboat was a ferryboat that operated from Basseterre to Charleston. At this point, the boat had no known malformations that would cause the vessel to collapse or stop working effectively. On the afternoon of Saturday, August the 1st 1970, the ferry boat was overloaded on her final run of the day from St. Kitts to Nevis. The passenger capacity was 155, but that afternoon the Christena had approximately 320 people on board. This may have had a causal relationship with what ended up happening. When the boat was half a mile off Nags Head which is in the southern area of Saint Kitts, & entering the rougher seas that line up with the channel between the two islands, the ferry boat took on water and sank. Unfortunately, there were only 91 survivors. The great majority of those were people that had to be rescued. After this point 57 bodies were retrieved from the vessel after sinking, these 57 were identified. 66 other bodies were retrieved from the wreckage however these were unable to be identified. These bodies remain unknown to this day. Including all survivors & bodies carved from the wreckage, there are approximately 214 bodies accounted for. This leaves 106 bodies unaccounted for.

No. 2 Great Hurricane Of 1780

The great hurricane of 1780 is the deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record if we are going by total fatalities. This hurricane lasted from October 9th, 1780 to October 20th, 1780. It is estimated that approximately 22,000 people died from this hurricane. This hurricane passed through the Lesser Antilles area. This was non-arguably the worst hurricane to hit Nevis. The storm passed through the islands from October 10th to 16th. Unfortunately, very little is documented about this hurricane due to the official Atlantic hurricane database only going as far back as 1851. It is estimated that this hurricane was a category 5. The highest wind speed for this hurricane was 200 miles (321.869 kilometers per hour) per hour. The hurricane was most concentrated in the area of the French Islands, it killed approximately 9,000 people throughout the French Isles.

No. 3 Hurricane Irma

Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful Cape Verde Atlantic hurricane that lasted from August 30th, 2017 through September 13th, 2017. Hurricane Irma was a category 5 Atlantic Hurricane. There were a total of 134 fatalities caused by this hurricane. 52 of these fatalities were direct & 82 of them were not. The highest winds from this hurricane were 180 miles (289.682 kilometers per hour) per hour. It was the fifth costliest Atlantic hurricane in all of the Atlantic hurricane Databases' history.

The Economic State Of Saint Kitts & Nevis

The economic state of Nevis is relatively stable however the economy may not be in the best shape. Due to hurricanes, Nevis is severely damaged every year & this caused the Nevisian government to bleed money. The currency that is used in Saint Kitts & Nevis is the Eastern Caribbean Dollar or the XCD. As of 2018, we have seen a 4.6% economic growth. Their GDP per capita is 17,513$ as of 2018. Their GDP by sector is 3.5% agriculture, 25.8% industry, & finally 70.7% services. Their current labor force is approximately made up of 18,172$ people. The island has a 4.5% unemployment rate. Their main industries are currently

tourism, cotton, salt, copra, clothing, footwear, beverages, light manufacturing, & finally component assembly for export. Their main export partners are the United States Of America (69%), Germany (8%), & finally Italy (5%). Their current gross external debt is 314 million USD.

Directories / Credits

1. https://www.britannica.com/place/Saint-Kitts-and-Nevis/History

2. Hubbard, Vincent K. (2002). Swords, Ships & Sugar: History of Nevis. Corvallis, Oregon: Premiere, ISBN 1-891519-05-0, pp. 20–23 (Captain Gilbert, Captain Smith), 25 (pearl diving), 41–44 (name Dulcina, treaty with Spain, first settlement), 69–70 (privateers, Captain Francis), 79–85 (slave trade, Royal African Company, Queen of the Caribees), 86–102 (Caribs), 113–120 (d'Iberville, buccaneers), 138–139 (Great Britain's wealth derived from West Indian sugar and slave trade, 1776 starvation), 194–195 (Alexandra Hospital), 211–223 (electricity, Anguilla in 1967, OECD blacklist).

3. The Prehistoric Settlement Pattern of Nevis, West Indies". Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Winter 1989), p. 427-450.

4. ^ Jump up to: a b Honychurch, Lennox (1997). "Crossroads in the Caribbean: A Site of Encounter and Exchange on Dominica". World Archaeology Vol. 28(3): 291–304.

5. ^ "Irish indentured labor in the Caribbean". Archived 22 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Nationalarchives.gov.uk. 11 March 2013.

6. ^ Calendar State Papers (1676). Number 1152, 1676. The British Colonial Office Public Records. Qt. in Hubbard, p. 85.

7. ^ Watts, David (1987). The West Indies: Patterns of Development, Culture and Environmental Change Since 1492. Cambridge University Press, 1987, p. 285.

8. ^ Goveia, Elsa H. (1965). Slave Society in the British Leeward Islands. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965. ISBN 0-88258-048-5

9. Personal stories: Traders and Merchants – John Pinney. In Bristol and Transatlantic Slavery, a project by the City Museum and the University of the West of England's Faculty of Humanities.

10. ^ Baker Motley, Constance (1998). Equal Justice Under Law. An Autobiography. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ISBN 0-374-14865-1. An excerpt from the autobiography, describing her search in Nevis church records for her family's history during the era of slavery, is available online at The New York Times Book Review. Retrieved 8 August 2006.

11. ^ Simmonds, Keith C. (1987). "Political and Economic Factors Influencing the St. Kitts-Nevis Polity: An Historical Perspective". Phylon, 48:4. 4th Qtr., 1987, pp. 277–286.

12. ^ The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge, Vol.IV. London: Charles Knight. 1848. p. 772.

13. ^ Qt. in Hubbard, p. 195.

14. ^ Brown, Janet (2000). "Early Childhood Investment in St. Kitts and Nevis: A Model for the Caribbean?". Caribbean Child Development Centre, School of Continuing Studies, UWI, Mona: "St. Kitts-Nevis has one of the highest levels of CXC passes in the region."

15. ^ "Education official calls on students to push beyond their comfort zones" Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Nevis Government Information Service, 10 January 2007: "In 2002, Nevis captured the award for Most Outstanding School for the year in the Region. [...] In the May/June examinations of 2006, Nevis again recorded its name in the annals of CXC's when it captured two of the eight awards in Business Studies and Technical/vocational Studies. Nevis returned the best performance in Business Studies in the Region in two of the three years that the award had been offered". For results at individual schools, see Caines, Jaedee. "Proud Moment For Lyn Jeffers School" Archived 1 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine. The Observer, 13 October 2005; "Minister of Education to GSS 2005 graduands: The future of Nevis depends on you" Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine. SKN Vibes, 24 November 2005; and Washington Archibald High School obtains highest CXC pass rate among 7 others. SKN Vibes, 4 September 2006. Retrieved 7 May 2007.

16. Wilson, Samuel (1990). "The Prehistoric Settlement Pattern of Nevis, West Indies". Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Winter 1989), p. 428: "The breakup of the fringing reef has itself contributed to extensive and accelerating coastal erosion on the windward coast of the island, where sea cliffs of unconsolidated volcanic gravels as high as 25 m have developed."

17. Herbert, Roy (2005). "A short historical look at the Relationship between St. Kitts & Nevis" Archived 18 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Historical Review. Nevis Independence, 4 February 2005. Retrieved 8 August 2006.

18. ^ "Nevis: 'Reform before independence'". BBC Caribbean, online edition, 26 January 200

19. ^ Jump up to: a b Griffiths, Ann Lynn and Karl Nerenberg (2002). Handbook of Federal Countries. Ed. Karl Nerenberg. Published McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP, 2002. ISBN 0-7735-2511-4, p. 274.

20. ^ General Election in St Kitts and Nevis 3 July 1995: The Report of the Commonwealth Observer Group. Commonwealth Observer Group, Commonwealth Secretariat, 1995. ISBN 0-85092-466-9, p.3.

21. ^ "Independence for Nevis still on the agenda, says premier." Caribbean Net News, 16 June 2006. Retrieved 8 August 2006.

22. ^ Office of the Prime Minister (1998). "PM Douglas Maintains 1983 Constitution is Flawed." Archived 22 October 2003 at the Wayback Machine Media Release, 11 March 1998. Retrieved 8 August 2006.

23. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h The Concerned Citizens Movement (1996). "The Way Forward For The Island Of Nevis." Nevis, Queen of the Caribees. Nevis Island Administration, September 1996. Retrieved 8 August 2006.

24. ^ "Secession – The Way Forward For Nevis & St. Kitts – Wealth Management – Nevis". mondaq.com.

25. ^ "Nevis Independent Travel". nevisindependence.com. Archived from the original on 18 June 2006.

26. ^ Jump up to: a b Phillips, Fred (2002). Commonwealth Caribbean Constitutional Law. Cavendish Publishing, 2002, ISBN 1-84314-429-8.

27. ^ St. Kitts and Nevis Observer July 16–22, 1995. Qtd. in The Concerned Citizens Movement. "The Way Forward For The Island Of Nevis." Nevis, Queen of the Caribees. Nevis Island Administration, September 1996.

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