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The term British West Indies refers to the former English and British colonies and the present-day
overseas territories A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or an ...
of the United Kingdom in the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
. In the history of the British West Indies there have been several attempts at political unions. These attempts have occurred over a period of more than 300 years, from 1627 to 1958, and were carried out, or sometimes imposed, first by the English and then the British government. During this time, some of the attempted unions were true federations of colonies and others involved attaching various colonies to a major nearby colony for the purposes of cheaper, efficient government or because the attached colonies were too small to justify a governor and administration of their own. The initial federal attempts never went so far as to try to encompass all of the British West Indies (BWI), but were more regional in scope. The historical regional groupings were the British Leeward Islands, the British Windward Islands, and Jamaica with other nearby English/British colonies such as the
Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...
, British Honduras and the Turks and Caicos Islands.


Reasons for failure of regional groupings

Many of the national government efforts to unify the region were met with opposition from influential groups within the various colonies, and by opposition from the wealthier colonies, Jamaica and Trinidad. In addition, the poor development of communication links and travel links among the separated island colonies contributed to the insularity and development of separate identities of each colony, even after emancipation of the slaves and more widespread participation in political life. The British had believed that a unified federation of all states would constitute better insurance for a positive result for all after decolonisation. They worked at the strategy for over ten years, and the West Indies Federation was finally established in 1958. Unfortunately, the Jamaicans had discovered substantial deposits of bauxite in the central mountains of the island, which would have made them very prosperous. They were not willing to share this wealth with the whole Federation, and so they withdrew from it in 1962. This prompted the next wealthiest state, Trinidad, to fear that it would be left to support the others, and so it also terminated membership.


Slavery


Marriage and separation

"By the 1820s there were few public sales of slaves ... and families were rarely separated."Morrissey, Marietta, ''Slave Women in the New World: Gender Stratification in the Caribbean'' (Lawrence, Kans.: University Press of Kansas, 1989 ()), p. 89 (author assoc. prof. sociology, Univ. of Toledo). "The British West Indies 1824 amelioration laws permitted marriage between slaves and forbade dissolution of families in trade."


Bahamas

The Bahamas' first British arrivals came from Bermuda in the 1640s and settled on the Island of Eleuthera, they are known as the Eleutheran Adventurers. By 1670 the Bahama Islands were granted to the Lord Proprietors of the province of Carolina. By the early 1700s The Bahamas was largely known as a haven for
pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
, especially on the island of
New Providence New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It is the location of the national capital city of Nassau, whose boundaries are coincident with the island; it had a population of 246 ...
. Piracy became a serious concern for the British and they had acquired the Bahama Islands back from the Lord Proprietors making the Bahamas a British Crown Colony for the first time in 1717. By 1718 Woodes Rogers became the first
royal governor of the Bahama Islands This is a list of governors of the Bahamas. The first English settlement in the Bahamas was on Eleuthera. In 1670, the king granted the Bahamas to the lord proprietor, lords proprietors of the Province of Carolina, but the islands were left to th ...
and by 1729 he established the House of Assembly. The Privateer business brought prosperity to the island of New Providence for the first time. Around the time of the American Revolutionary War many British Loyalist fled from main land colonies and settled in the Bahama islands bringing with them many slaves turning the black population in the Bahamas into the majority for the first time. On 10 July 1973, the Bahamas gained independence from Britain, becoming a sovereign state.


Leeward Islands


Colonial period 1627–1816

Under the
Carlisle proprietorship James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle KB (c. 1580March 1636) was a British noble. Life A Scot, he was the son of Sir James Hay of Fingask, second son of Peter Hay of Megginch (a branch member of Hay of Leys, a younger branch of the Erroll family) an ...
of 1627, Barbados and the Leewards were grouped together. In practice this arrangement was difficult to administer, and Thomas Warner governed the Leeward Islands only. In 1660
Lord Willoughby Baron Willoughby of Parham was a title in the Peerage of England with two creations. The first creation was for Sir William Willoughby who was raised to the peerage under letters patent in 1547, with the remainder to his heirs male of body. A ...
, as Governor of Barbados, also governed all of the Eastern Caribbean, then under English rule. This scheme was approved by the Leewards as they needed the military aid of Barbados at the time during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Otherwise, the planters on the Leewards competed with those in Barbados as rivals for the greatest share of the
sugar trade Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double s ...
with England. After the war, England gave in to the demands of the Leewards for separate government. In 1671 the Crown assigned a governor-in-chief to manage
St. 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 ...
, Nevis, Anguilla,
Montserrat Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with r ...
,
Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...
and Barbuda. Sir William Stapleton established the first federation in the BWI in 1674. Stapleton set up a General Assembly of the Leewards in St. Kitts. Antigua, Montserrat, Nevis and St. Kitts sent two representatives each. One governor had responsibility for the Leewards and a lieutenant governor was appointed for each island. Stapleton's Federation was active from 1674 to 1685, during his term as governor; the General Assembly met regularly until 1711. Afterwards it only met once more in 1798. The federation was unpopular, and in 1683 the islands rejected a government proposal for one government and set of laws. By the 18th century, each island had kept its own assembly and made its own laws, but continued to share one governor and one attorney-general. Although unpopular, Stapleton's Federation was never really dissolved but was simply replaced by other arrangements.


Colonial period 1816–1869

Between 1816 and 1833 the Leewards were divided into two groups, each with its own governor: St. Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla and Antigua-Barbuda-Montserrat (including Redonda). In 1833 all the Leewards were brought together again under the pre-1816 and
Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...
was added to the grouping until 1940. In 1869, Governor Benjamin Pine was assigned the task of organizing a federation of Antigua-Barbuda, Dominica, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitts, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands. St. Kitts and Nevis however opposed sharing their government funds with Antigua and Montserrat, which were bankrupt. Governor Pine told the Colonial Office that the scheme had failed due to "local prejudice and self-interest". Thus the only achievement was giving the Leewards a single governor. All laws and ordinances, however, had to be approved by each island council.


Federal colony 1871–1956

In 1871 the British government passed the Leeward Islands Act through which all the islands were under one governor and one set of laws. Each island was called " Presidency" under its own administrator or commissioner. Like earlier groupings this federation was unpopular but was not dissolved until 1956 to make way for the Federation of the West Indies. The Federal Colony was composed of all islands organized under Governor Pine's previous attempt.


Windward Islands


Colonial period 1763–1833

In 1763, Barbados, as the most well established of Britain's Caribbean colonies was placed in charge of new colonies acquired in the Seven Years' War. The Governor of Barbados became Governor of
Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...
and the
Grenadines The Grenadines is a chain of small islands that lie on a line between the larger islands of Saint Vincent and Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. Nine are inhabited and open to the public (or ten, if the offshore island of Young Island is counted): ...
,
St. Vincent Saint Vincent may refer to: People Saints * Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr * Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia * Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305) ...
and Tobago, with each island having its own lieutenant-governor. This arrangement was plagued with the difficulty of west to east communication among the islands in the days of sail.


Colonial period 1833–1958

In 1833 the Windward Islands became a formal union called the Windward Islands Colony. In 1838, Trinidad (acquired in 1802) and St. Lucia (acquired in 1814) were brought into the Windward Islands Colony, but were not given their own assemblies (having previously been British Crown Colonies). In 1840 Trinidad left the Colony. The Windward Islands Colony was unpopular as Barbados wished to retain its separate identity and ancient institutions, while the other colonies did not enjoy the association with Barbados (but needed such an association for defence against French invasions until 1815). Thus the individual islands resisted British attempts at closer union. Barbados in particular fought to retain its own Assembly. This opposition to closer federation was found mainly in the upper class of society. When Governor John Pope Hennessy was sent in 1875 to Barbados to organize a closer, formal federation, there was bitter opposition from the press, the assembly of the upper- plantocracy and a few influential coloured men. Hennessy was supported by the cane workers, who believed federation would allow them the opportunity to leave Barbados and work for higher wages or buy their own plots of land elsewhere in the Windwards.. The planters and coloured merchants set up the Barbados Defence League to fight federation, which they claimed would end their representative system. In March 1876, estate labourers in southern Barbados rioted in support of the governor when he tried to force the assembly to reform prisons and hospitals. The Colonial Office then quickly transferred Hennessy to Hong Kong in 1876 and the federation plans were dropped. The Governor of Barbados remained the Governor-General of the Windwards until 1885 when Barbados left the Windward Islands Colony. From 1885 to 1958, the Windward Islands Colony consisted of Grenada and the Grenadines, St. Vincent and St. Lucia for the entire period. Tobago left in 1889 when she formed a union with Trinidad.
Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...
joined the Windward Islands Colony in 1940 after having been transferred from the Leewards and remained in the Colony until 1958. After 1885 the Windward Islands Colony was under one governor-general in Grenada and each island had its own lieutenant-governor and its own assembly (as before). Attempts at a federal colony like in the Leewards were always resisted. The Windward Islands Colony broke up in 1958 when each island chose to join the new Federation of the West Indies as a separate provinces.


Jamaica and its dependencies

The remaining British colonies (as outlined in this section) in the Caribbean except for
British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...
and the Bahamas were grouped under Jamaica at various points in time out of convenience and sometimes for historical and/or geographical reasons. British Honduras was surrounded by hostile Spanish colonies and needed the protection afforded by the Army and Navy based in Jamaica. In addition, British Honduras had been founded by loggers and had expanded in population partly by the settlement of Englishmen arriving from Jamaica in the late 17th and early 18th centuries (with settlers also arriving from England directly or being born in the colony). From 1742 British Honduras was a dependency directly under the Governor of Jamaica. In 1749 the Governors of Jamaica appointed superintendents for British Honduras. In 1862 British Honduras became a Crown Colony and was placed under the Governor of Jamaica with its own lieutenant-governor. In 1884 it finally broke all administrative ties with Jamaica although legal appeals from British Honduras went to the Supreme Court in Jamaica even after 1884. The Miskito Coast protectorate was overseen by the Superintendents of British Honduras and thus by extension loosely attached to Jamaica from 1749 to 1787. In 1787 Britain withdrew from the Miskito Coast (then ending administrative links with British Honduras and Jamaica) as a result of the peace agreement ending the American Revolutionary War, however it continued to intervene in the Coast up until 1861 to protect its interests as well as the Miskito nation from Spanish encroachment. The Bay Islands off the coast of
Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
had begun to have permanent English settlements from 1827 and after having been formally claimed by Britain in 1841 were subordinated to Jamaica in 1852 with The Governor of the Bay Islands being the Governor of Jamaica and the Superintendent of British Honduras acting as Lieutenant-Governor of the Bay Islands. This relationship existed until 1860 when the Bay Islands were ceded to Honduras. The
Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...
were too small to justify a separate administration and having been settled mainly by English from Jamaica, had always been regarded as under the control of the Governor of Jamaica. In addition, the Caymans had been ceded as part of Jamaica to England from Spain in the 1670 Treaty of Madrid. They were formally attached to Jamaica in 1863 and were rather like a parish of Jamaica with nominated justices of the peace and elected vestrymen in their legislature (named the Justices and Vestry). The Justices and Vestry assisted a
Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...
appointed by the Governor of Jamaica to administer the islands. All laws passed in the Caymans had to be approved by the Governor of Jamaica. This relationship lasted until 1959. From 1959 to 1962 the Governor of Jamaica remained Governor of the Cayman Islands and had reserve powers over the islands. Also, all laws passed by the Jamaica legislature specifically for the Cayman Islands had to be enforced. Otherwise the Cayman Islands had their own
Administrator Administrator or admin may refer to: Job roles Computing and internet * Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database * Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum * N ...
and Legislative Assembly. The final administrative link to Jamaica ceased upon Jamaica's independence in 1962 (although the Cayman Islands continued to use Jamaican currency for a further 10 years). The Turks and Caicos Islands had in 1848 broken their association with the Bahamas due to the insufficient means of communication between the islands and the government in Nassau (this was due to the lack of major shipping routes running in that direction). Being too small to have a separate administration, the islands requested to be placed under Jamaica due to the regular communication from
Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...
to the islands along the Kingston to London shipping route. The British government agreed to this and from 1848 to 1873 the Turks and Caicos Islands were governed by superintendents/council presidents appointed from Jamaica. In 1873 the islands were then made into a dependency of Jamaica with a commissioner and a legislative board. In 1959, the islands were made more autonomous along the lines of the Cayman Islands with the Governor of Jamaica having reserve powers over the Turks and Caicos Islands. This relationship ceased when Jamaica obtained independence in 1962.


West Indies Federation

The West Indies Federation was a short-lived federation that existed from 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962. It consisted of several Caribbean colonies of the United Kingdom. The expressed intention of the Federation was to create a political unit that would become independent from Britain as a single state—possibly similar to the Australian Federation, or Canadian Confederation; however, before that could happen, the Federation collapsed due to internal political conflicts. The Federation was an internally self-governing, federal state made up of ten provinces, all British colonial possessions. The federation was created by the United Kingdom in 1958 from most of the British West Indies. Britain intended that the Federation would shortly become a fully independent state, thus simultaneously satisfying the demands for independence from all the colonies in the region. However, the project was doomed by political squabbling among the provinces, and the Federation never achieved full sovereignty, either as a
Commonwealth realm A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in the Commonwealth of Nations whose monarch and head of state is shared among the other realms. Each realm functions as an independent state, equal with the other realms and nations of the Commonwealt ...
or as a republic within the
Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
.


See also

*
British colonization of the Americas The British colonization of the Americas was the history of establishment of control, settlement, and colonization of the continents of the Americas by England, Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. C ...
*
English overseas possessions in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms Between 1639 and 1651 English overseas possessions were involved in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of civil wars and wars that were fought in and between England, Scotland and in Ireland. Americas At the beginning of the war, fifty ...
* Commonwealth Caribbean * Caricom *
Latin America–United Kingdom relations Latin America–United Kingdom relations are the diplomatic, economic and cultural relations between the United Kingdom and the countries of Latin America. England and Great Britain had long-standing interests in colonial Latin America, includi ...


Notes


Further reading

* Baptiste, Fitzroy. ''War, Cooperation, and Conflict: The European Possessions in the Caribbean, 1939-1945'' (1988). ** Baptiste, Fitzroy Andre. "The British grant of air and naval facilities to the United States in Trinidad, St. Lucia and Bermuda in 1939" ''Caribbean Studies'' 16.2 (1976): 5-43. * Black, Clinton V. 1997. ''The History of Jamaica''. Longman Publishers. * Bousquet, Ben and Colin Douglas. ''West Indian Women at War: British Racism in World War II'' (1991
online
* Claypole, William; and Robottom, John. 1989. ''Caribbean Story, Book Two: The Inheritors''. Longman Caribbean Publishers, Boundary Road, San Juan, Trinidad. * Cromwell, Jesse. "More than Slaves and Sugar: Recent Historiography of the Trans-imperial Caribbean and Its Sinew Populations." ''History Compass'' (2014) 12#10 pp 770–783. * Dupont, Jerry. 2000. ''The Common Law Abroad: Constitutional and Legal Legacy of the British Empire''. Fred B. Rothman & Company. * Greenwood, Robert. 1991. ''A Sketchmap History of the Caribbean''. Macmillan Caribbean, Macmillan Education Ltd. * High, Steven. ''Base Colonies in the Western Hemisphere, 1940–1967'' (Springer, 2008). * Jackson, Ashley. ''The British Empire and the Second World War'' (2007) pp 77–96. * Mawby, Spencer. ''Ordering Independence: The End of Empire in the Anglophone Caribbean, 1947-69'' (Springer, 2012). * Porter, Andrew, ed. ''The Oxford history of the British Empire: The nineteenth century. Vol. 3'' (1999)
online
pp 470–494. * Wallace, Elisabeth. 1977. ''The British Caribbean: From the decline of colonialism to the end of Federation''. University of Toronto Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:History Of The British West Indies British colonization of the Americas British Empire British West Indies