The French settlement of St. Kitts and Nevis started in the early seventeenth century. Throughout its history on

Saint Kitts Saint Kitts, officially Saint Christopher, 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 constitute one ...

until the nineteenth century, France had frequent clashes with the English for the occupation of the island, until its final defeat in 1782, which definitely gave the island to the British. Today, the descendants of French make up a portion of the white population of the archipelago.

History

In 1625, a French captain,

Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc Pierre Belain, sieur d'Esnambuc (; 1585–1636) was a French trader and adventurer in the Caribbean, who established the first permanent French colony, Saint-Pierre, on the island of Martinique in 1635. Biography Youth Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc w ...

, arrived on the island. He had left France hoping to establish an island colony after hearing about the success of the English on Saint Kitts, but his fleet was destroyed in a clash with the

Spanish army The Spanish Army () is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest Standing army, active armies – dating back to the late 15th century. The Spanish Army has existed ...

, leaving him with only his flagship. Warner took pity on the French settlers and allowed them to settle on the island as well, thus making Saint Kitts the site of the first permanent French colony in the Caribbean as well. French settlers lodged themselves in the ruins of the town of Dieppe, which they rebuilt. Warner also willingly accepted the French in an attempt to out-populate the local

Kalinago The Kalinago, also called Island Caribs or simply Caribs, are an Indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. They may have been related to the Mainland Caribs (Kalina) of South America, but they spoke an unrelated language know ...

, of whom he was growing suspicious. So, the British and French briefly united to massacre the local Kalinago (preempting a Kalinago plan to massacre the Europeans), and then partitioned the island, with the English in the middle and the French on either end.Infoplease
Retrieved December 29, 2012, at 0:30 pm. The Spanish for their part also considered endorsed these islands since Christopher Columbus discovered (as he signed a treaty with the Spanish crown in the late fifteenth century, all the places he discovered from that time were for Spain), which prompted them to send a Spanish force to clear the islands of the area of foreign settlement seized St. Kitts, to quickly occupy the two islands of the archipelago and deport those early English and French settlers in 1629, during the Anglo-Spanish war of 1625. However, following the peace treaty between England and Spain in 1630, the Spanish permitted the re-establishment of the English and French colonies. So, France and Great Britain have reoccupied the archipelago.World Atlas
Retrieved December 29, 2012, to 0:50 pm. On May 13, 1627 and until July 16, 1702, the Island of St. Kitts was divided into separate English (Center) and France's Saint-Christopher. During those years, the island was occupied by British and French often. However, during the

Second Anglo-Dutch War The Second Anglo-Dutch War, began on 4 March 1665, and concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Breda (1667), Treaty of Breda on 31 July 1667. It was one in a series of Anglo-Dutch Wars, naval wars between Kingdom of England, England and the D ...

(4 March 1665 – 31 July 1667), the relationship between the French and English settlers soured, as their home countries warred. So, warfare soon broke out on the island itself and the overwhelming French troops attacked the English settlements and gained control of the whole island from 1665 to 1667. The Treaty of Breda restored the English portion of the island to its owners. In 1689, during the

War of the Grand Alliance The Nine Years' War was a European great power conflict from 1688 to 1697 between Kingdom of France, France and the Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg), Grand Alliance. Although largely concentrated in Europe, fighting spread to colonial poss ...

, France re-occupied the entire island, and decimated the English farms. An English retaliation by General Codrington defeated the French forces and deported them to

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

. The Treaty of Rijswijk in 1697 restored pre-war conditions. The war devastated St. Kitts's economy. On 16 July 1702 the British annexed the French side of the island, but in 1705 the French made one more major attack on English troops during the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish E ...

, as the over 8,000 French troops on the island easily defeated the 1,000 English posts. In addition, a heavy French raid in 1706 caused also damaged the island's agriculture extensively. The French held St. Kitts for eight years, until the

Treaty of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaty, peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vac ...

was signed (1713). This treaty did return, on April 11, 1713, the island to England. However, between February 12, 1782, and September 3, 1783, it was occupied by France again. The last war developed between the two powers, ending with the British victory over the French at Brimstone Hill in 1783. After this, the islands came under British control until independence in 1983.

References

{{Ancestry and ethnicity in Saint Kitts and Nevis French diaspora in the Caribbean

1538 establishments in the French colonial empire