The Caribbean Cultural Center Offers Fun, Relaxation, and Enlightenment in One Beautiful Tropical Setting
Help Make This Dream Come True - Click Here For The Theme Park Proposal

To Play Music associated with this page

THE SIX ENGLISH-SPEAKING LEEWARD ISLANDS HEAD UP THE CHAIN OF THE Lesser Antilles mingling with the Dutch Windward Islands and the French possessions of St. Martin and St.-Barthelemy (St. Barts). Antigua is the main gateway to this corner of the Caribbean, and it has been since the British established their chief Caribbean naval base here in the 18th century. The British influence lingers on throughout the region in a handful of notable historic sites, the occasional red mailbox, and, of course, the islanders' beloved sport of cricket.

The main European influence on the Leeward Islands might be British, but indigenous Caribbean culture is here, too, in the exuberant local carnivals, reggae, rasta, and the studied art of relaxation. There are beaches galore, water sports, and hiking, plus accommodations ranging from family-friendly resorts to gorgeous plantation hotel retreats.

England's first successful Caribbean colony was St. Kitts, settled in 1623. Nevis followed in 1628, and a decade later Antigua and Montserrat were added to a growing portfolio of Caribbean possessions. At first, English and French settlers agreed to share St. Kitts, banding together to rid the island of inhospitable Carib people. Once the Carib were defeated, the good neighbors soon fell out. And so began the battle for control of the eastern Caribbean islands, which would continue into the 19th century and cause the demise of the sugar industry.

While Antigua was systematically stripped of its native forest to make way for sugar plantations-and settlers did their best to plant cane wherever the topography allowed on St. Kitts, Nevis, and Montserrat-barren, low-lying Anguilla became a nest of pirates and smugglers. Slaves brought to the island by prospective planters were soon turned loose to scratch a living from the thin, sandy soil; they developed a local reputation for carpentry and boat building. This early self-reliance fostered the Anguillans' fiercely independent spirit, typified by the bizarre circumstances of the Anguillan "revolution' (actually a reactionary desire to remain British and avoid independence as a satellite of St. Kitts) in the late 1960s.

Slavery was abolished throughout the British Caribbean in 1834, although a term of forced `apprenticeship" legally bound former slaves to their masters for a further period of years. In the end European sugar beets undermined the Caribbean trade to emancipate the slaves for good in the late 1830s. The islands sunk into an impoverished backwater status, administered under the presidency of the Leeward Islands until 1967, when associated statehood brought a degree of autonomy. The twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda achieved independence in 1981, followed by St. Kitts, and Nevis in 1983. Anguilla and Montserrat elected to remain British Crown Colonies.

Sugar continued to be grown in Antigua until the 1970s and still provides a modest income for St. Kitts, but for more than a century the Leeward Islands' precarious economies had been almost entirely depend ent on remissions-money sent by islanders working overseas. In the last 30 years tourism has gradually injected new life into the region, and the top beach islands of Antigua and Anguilla, in particular, have seen considerable hotel development. Although the Leewards share a common background, each island enjoys its own identity.
For the ultimate laid-back Caribbean beach vacation, it would be hard to beat Anguilla, which focuses all the attention on its fabulous white sand strands and super-luxurious resorts. Very quiet and relatively undiscovered Barbuda boasts a selection of delectable and often deserted beaches, where the only crowds are propelled by fins and inhabit magical coral reefs.

Antigua is altogether a more lively choice. In addition to claiming a beach for every day of the year (a wild but forgivable exaggeration), the island's historical sites make for interesting excursions, and friendly pubs provide live reggae and impromptu jump-ups at night. Lush St. Kitts and tiny Nevis combine colonial history with romantic plantation retreats and some fine upland hiking and riding country. Sadly, lovely Montserrat is currently held hostage by its active volcano, which erupted in 1995 and continues to rain ash, rock, and mud over a wide area. The main settlement of Plymouth has been engulfed and the population evacuated to the northern end of the island.

If you have noteworthy cultural information on any Caribbean island, we would like to hear from you. Maybe you are an expert in geography, or knowledgeable on architecture, or specialize in Caribbean anthropology, or train tropical parrots, etc., send us an email. Share your knowledge and talents by sending your edited copy and permission so that we can include this on the Caribbean Cultural Center website. Please, no copyrighted material.

Top Of Page

You can email comments to the webmaster at webmaster@caribbeantown.com. Copyright © 1999 - 2002 Caribbean Town. All rights reserved.  Visit us at www.caribbeantown.com  Revised: November 11, 2006, Site Map, Search