__NOTOC__ The Battle of St. Kitts or St. Cristopher was a successful Spanish expedition that seized the islands of

Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis (), officially the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, is an island country and microstate consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of ...

from the English and French during the

Anglo-Spanish War (1625–30) Anglo-Spanish War may refer to: * Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604), including the Spanish Armada and the English Armada * Anglo-Spanish War (1625–1630), part of the Thirty Years' War * Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660), part of the Franco-Spanish ...

Background

By the year 1629, the colony had grown sufficiently to be regarded as a threat to the

Spanish West Indies The Spanish West Indies or the Spanish Antilles (also known as "Las Antillas Occidentales" or simply "Las Antillas Españolas" in Spanish language, Spanish) were Spanish colonies in the Caribbean. In terms of governance of the Spanish Empire, The ...

. English settlers had been recruited to the number of nearly 3,000, and guns and ammunition had been sent over. Orders were given to the commander of the outward bound Spanish fleet ''Armada de Sotavento'' to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

to clear out the heavily armed English and French colonies.

Raid

The Spanish expedition, under the command of Admiral Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo Osorio, dropped anchor at Nevis Island and captured and destroyed several English ships anchored there. Spanish soldiers were then sent ashore to destroy the few newly built structures and capture the settlers. When Nevis was seized by the Spanish forces, the island's

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

owners were deserted by their indentured servants, who swam out to the Spanish ships to cries of "Liberty, joyful Liberty". Many of the indentured servants on the island were Irish Roman Catholics and as such preferred to join forces with the Catholic Spanish than remain with the Protestant plantation owners. On 7 September 1629, the Spanish expedition moved on to the sister island

Saint Kitts Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis cons ...

and burned the entire settlement.

Aftermath

By the terms of surrender, the Spanish allotted shipping to carry some 700 of the colonists back to England. But other colonists, variously estimated at 200 to 400, evaded capture by taking to the hills and woods. After an agreement between the Spanish and English crowns, the Spanish departed in 1630, handing the island to England. The fugitives returned to their plantations to form the nucleus of a new phase of colonization.Sheridan p.85

References

*Robert L. Brenner, ''Merchants and Revolution: Commercial Change, Political Conflict, and London's Overseas Traders, 1550-1653'', Verso (2003) *John H. Elliot, ''Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America 1492-1830'' Yale University Press (2007) *Robert F. Marx, ''Shipwrecks in the Americas'', New York (1971) *Robert L. Paquette and Stanley L. Engerman, ''The Lesser Antilles In The Age Of European Expansion'' (1996) *Robert L. Paquette, ''The Lesser Antilles in the Age of European Expansion'', University Press of Florida (1996) *Richard B. Sheridan, ''Sugar and Slavery; An Economic History Of The British West Indies'', 1623-1775 The Johns Hopkins University Press (1 April 1974) *Timothy R. Walton, ''The Spanish Treasure Fleets by Pineapple Press'' (1994) *David Marley, ''Wars of the Americas: a chronology of armed conflict in the New World, 1492 to the present'', ABC-CLIO (1998)

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Kitts, Battle of 1629 Conflicts in 1629 Battle Saint Kitts 1629 Battle Saint Kitts 1629

Battle of St. Kitts The Battle of Saint Kitts, also known as the Battle of Frigate Bay, was a naval battle fought on 25 and 26 January 1782 during the American Revolutionary War between a British fleet under Rear Admiral Sir Samuel Hood and a larger French fleet u ...

Battle Saint Kitts 1629 Battle Saint Kitts Battle Saint Kitts Battle Saint Kitts Battle Saint Kitts Battles involving Spain Battles involving England Anglo-Spanish War (1625–1630) Amphibious operations involving Spain