Geologic History

• St. Kitts is volcanic in origin. That explains the mountains that rise up in the middle and the especially fertile soil that supports the variety of lush, tropical vegetation throughout the island. The island's pre-Colombian inhabitants called their home Liamuiga, which means "fertile land," according to the St. Kitts and Nevis Department of Tourism. Liamuiga is the name given to St. Kitts' central peak, an extinct volcano that soars 3,792 feet above sea level.
  
  

St. Kitts' Earliest Inhabitants

• More than 5,000 years ago, Arawak and Carib Indians from South America began exploring and settling in the islands of the Caribbean. By the time Christopher Columbus and the explorers and European settlers who followed him reached St. Kitts, there were already large, established Indian villages and farms.
  
  

European Colonization

• Legend has it that Christopher Columbus named the island St. Christopher, after the patron saint of travelers. Whether he did or not, it is generally accepted that the British sailors in the 1600s shortened St. Christopher and nicknamed it St. Kitts. English and French settlers set up colonies on St. Kitts in the 1620s and wiped out most of the Indian inhabitants in bloody battles. The English and French then set about colonizing other islands in the region during the next century. During that time, they also fought each other, with the two sides exchanging control of the island for many years.
  
  

Pirates and Conflict

• While the British struggled to maintain control of St. Kitts, the island experienced attacks by the Dutch, Spanish and French up until the British assumed permanent control of St. Kitts in 1783, as part of the Treaty of Versailles. However, the thriving sugar industry and the key geographic location of St. Kitts and its neighbor, Nevis, made them prime targets. They became homes to pirates and privateers who preyed upon the ship traffic throughout the islands. Once slavery was abolished in 1834, however, and the free labor that made the sugar trade so profitable was no longer available, St. Kitts began to struggle economically.
  
  

Tourism

• For more than a century, St. Kitts' main focus continued to be sugar cane. But in the latter half of the 20th century, the island along with many of its neighbors, such as Barbados, the Bahamas and the Virgin Islands, became popular tourist destinations for both Americans and Europeans. The Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis became an independent nation within the British Commonwealth, and officials wisely turned money and attention to the tourist trade. Today, St. Kitts is considered one of the real jewels of the Caribbean islands.