| 1706 |
The
French attack and devastate the island (the French settlers
having been driven out 4 years earlier) except for Brimstone
Hill which was a refuge fortress designed for such situations.
In the following month another French fleet similarly captured
and laid waste to Nevis which was at the time a thriving sugar
colony "Queen of the Caribbean". As a result of this
invasion, Charles Fort in Nevis, defending the capital of Charles
Town, was strengthened.
Powder magazine at Brimstone Hill Fortress struck by lightning
and destroyed. |
| Early
1700s |
The
name of the island is increasingly referred to as 'St. Kitts'.
This coincides with the Governorship of Christopher Codrington
over the Leeward Islands ('Kit' is a 'pet name' of 'Christopher').
|
| 1713 |
Treaty
of Utrecht declared the entire island of St. Christopher British. |
| 1727 |
Basseterre
becomes the capital of St. Christopher (St. Kitts). |
| 1731 |
Lightning
strikes again. The principal Powder magazine at the Fortress,
housing most of the arms and ammunition on the island, was completely
destroyed.. |
| 1776 |
The
13 British North American colonies (South of Canada) declare
their independence. St. Eustatius, a Dutch island through which
passed much of the munitions and other supplies for the American
Revolutionary army, was the first foreign port to salute the
American flag when the 'Andrew Doria' arrived on November 16
of that year.. |
| 1781 |
The
British Admiral Rodney capture and plunder the island of St.
Eustatius, known as the 'Golden Rock' by virtue of the vast
wealth in merchandise on such a tiny island. |
| 1782 |
The
Great Siege of Brimstone Hill. France, which along with Spain
and Holland had allied with the Revolutionary Government of
America against Britain, had already captured four British Caribbean
Colonies ( Dominica, St. Vincent, Grenada, Tobago ), when it
attacked St. Kitts with 8000 soldiers and 31 warships. The local
militia retreated to British Hill Fortress where with the garrison
(altogether numbering approximately 950 men, assisted by marauding
African slaves) held out for four weeks of heavy artillery fire
from 62 cannon, howitzers and mortars deployed around the Hill.
Meanwhile the British Admiral Hood out- manoeuvred the French
fleet under De Grasse at Basseterre. This tactical victory combined
with the prolonged resistance at Brimstone Hill may have prevented
a French rendevous with a Spanish fleet in Cuba assembled for
a joint invasion of Jamaica. Had that attack taken place and
been successful, it would have severely - perhaps conclusively
weakened British influence in the West Indies. The naval victory
over the French at the islets 'the Saintes' off Dominica re-established
British naval supremacy.. |
| 1783 |
St.
Kitts (and Brimstone Hill Fortress) restored to the British.
This agreement was one detail of a complex multi-nation negotiation
begun at Versailles and concluding in Paris, and referred to
variously as the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Paris.
Among other important decisions was the confirmation of the
independence of the United States of America.. |
| 1783-early
1800s |
Reconstruction,
extension and strengthening of the Fortress. The present Citadel
and Prince of Wales Bastion completed at that time. The Fortress
thus regarded as impregnable is, thereafter referred to as 'the
Gibraltar of the West Indies'. |
| 1789
|
The
French Revolution. The monarchy overturned in a popular uprising,
and the principles of 'Liberty, Equality and Fraternity' proclaimed.
These slogans were embraced by the free Coloureds and many of
the Plantocracy and officials in the French colonies, for whom
however, the concept did not extend to slavery.. |
| 1791 |
The
Haitian Revolution: a war of liberation in France's most profitable
sugar colony, St Domingue, but also an ethnic war involving
grands blancs and petit blancs (propertied and non-propertied
whites) free coloureds, African slaves, the French Republican
army (which contained 'black' troops) and the French colonial
militia (which included free coloureds). The African ex-slaves
under the leadership of Toussaint L'Ouverture, prevailed, and
independence was declared in 1804. |
| 1795-97 |
Carib
Revolt in St. Vincent, the 'Brigand's War'. The 'Black Caribs'
(descended from the survivors of the wreck of a slave ship,
who had intermingled with native people and absorbed much of
their culture) and Yellow Caribs (the indigenous people) combined
against the British colonizers. The British landed re-inforcements
and the revolt was defeated after the Black Carib leader, Chatoyer
was killed. The Black Caribs were transported to Honduras and
present day Belize in Central America |
| 1795 |
The
establishment by the British of the first two black (African)
regiments drawn from Africans captured from slave- ships, and
the slave population of the colonies, commanded by British officers.
Twelve such regiments were raised, but the numbers fluctuated.
They served British military interests in the Caribbean and
also in West Africa. West India Regiments (WIR) were stationed
at Brimstone Hill from time to time, including the 4th WIR in
the mid- 1790s and the 2nd WIR in 1851. The last West India
Regiment was disbanded in 1927, but the uniform of the 2nd survivors
as the ceremonial dress of the Barbados and Jamaica Defence
Force Bands.. |
