ST. KITTS TIMELINE 1,400 - 1,100 B.C.: "Arawaks (Taino)" 1,100 B.C. - 1,625 A.D.: "Caribs" 1540: Maps had Nevis listed as Santa Maria de las Nieves. It was discovered on a day that snow fell on a summer day in Spain on Santa Maria. 1603: In June 1603 Captain BarthelomewBartholomew Gilbert of Plymouth England landed on Nevis, while there they harvested tons of Lignumvitae until 1607 to make furniture and other wood products and functional things. Lignumvitae - a wet wood- is the hardest wood in the world. 1607: Captain John Smith sailed into Nevis, rested there, and used the sulfur baths. 1622: Thomas Warner of England settled in St. Kitts but left shortly for England to acquire capital and men to work the new virgin colony. 1624: St. Kitts officially settled by Great Britain. 1625: Pierre Belaind Ensambuc’s ship sailed into St. Kitts harbour by some battle with the Spanish. They eventually named that area Basseterre. Warner returned to St. Kitts that same year a treaty was signed by the French and British establishing rights to French over the North and the British the southern and central areas since they were there first. 1626: Both European colonists joined together in a massacre of the Indians at Bloody Point where they lived. 1627: The French settled in this year, met the British there and shared the island with the British for many years. 1629: Spain attacked the British and French in St. Kitts but were unwilling or unable to settle the island. The French and English tried to rebuild and some left for British settlements in the Cayman Islands named Tortuga at the time. There were Buccaneers living there and they also suffered by the hands of the Spanish earlier who drove them out of Hispaniola (Haiti and Santo Domingo). These Buccaneers used to attack Spanish vessels to raid for gold but plied the trade of smoking cows meat to make buccan, the origin of their name. The French established settlements in Martinique and Guadeloupe after this attack. 1630’s: The French side of St. Kitts was governed by Philippe Lon Villiers de Poincy who was made the Governor of the French West Indies. He controlled St. Croix, Martinique and, Guadeloupe, etc. The Poinciana (Flamboyant Tree) was named for de Poincy who introduced it from Madagascar Africa. The Flamboyant tree’s seed pod and seeds were used as a musical instrument as well as for jewelry.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 02:42:03 +0000
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