Saint Kitts and Nevis Independence Day

Today commemorates the independence of the country from the United Kingdom on 19th September 1983. The British in 1623 and the French in 1624 were the first Europeans who settled on the islands. This caused a period of France, Spain and Britain wrestling for control of the islands in the region with British emerging victorious when France ceded the territory in 1713. In 1871 the country and nearby Anguilla were united as a British dependency. They both became Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla, an internally self-governing member of the West Indies Association States in 1967. Anguillan resentment against this decision resulted in the people of Anguilla marching on the Police Headquarters and evicting the Royal Saint Kitts Police Force from the island in May 1967. Anguilla was placed under direct rule before leaving the union with Saints Kitts and Nevis in 1980. Three years later the country achieved independence within the British Commonwealth.