Saint Kitts and Nevis

The first inhabitants of the islands now known as Saint Kitts and Nevis were the Caribs, who arrived around 1000 AD. The Caribs were soon displaced by the Arawak, who began to arrive from South America around 1200 AD. The Arawak were in turn displaced by the Caribs. The first Europeans to arrive on the islands were Christopher Columbus and the Spanish, who claimed Saint Kitts in 1493 and Nevis in 1498. The Spanish did not settle the islands, however, and they were soon claimed by the French. The French settled Saint Kitts in 1625 and Nevis in 1628. The British began to settle the islands in the 1660s, and the islands were jointly controlled by the British and the French from 1670 until 1713, when they were ceded to the British under the Treaty of Utrecht. The British formally annexed Saint Kitts and Nevis in 1783, and they became a crown colony in 1833. Saint Kitts and Nevis became an independent state within the British Commonwealth in 1983.