The British West Indies (BWI) were colonised British territories in the West Indies: Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, British Guiana (now Guyana) and Trinidad and Tobago. Other territories include Bermuda, and the former British Honduras (now Belize).
The Kingdom of England first pursued the establishment of the colonies in its 16th-17th century competition with the Spanish Empire. Initially, financed by valuable extractive commodities such as sugar production, the colonies were also at the centre of the transatlantic slave trade, around 2.3 million slaves were brought to the British Caribbean. The colonies served as bases to project the power of the British Empire through the Royal Navy and the merchant marine, and to further and protect the empire's trade. Before the decolonisation period in the later 1950s and 1960s, "British West Indies" was regularly used to include all British colonies in the region as part of the British Empire. Following the independence of most of the territories from the United Kingdom, the term Commonwealth Caribbean is now used.
In 1912, the British government divided their territories into different colonies: The Bahamas, Barbados, British Guiana, British Honduras, Jamaica (with its dependencies the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Cayman Islands), Trinidad and Tobago, the Windward Islands, and the Leeward Islands. Between 1958 and 1962, all of the island territories except the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and Bermuda were organised into the West Indies Federation. It was hoped that the Federation would become independent as a single nation, but it had limited powers and faced many practical problems. Consequently, the West Indies Federation was dissolved in 1962.
The territories are now fully independent sovereign states, except for five – Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos Islands – which remain British Overseas Territories, as does Bermuda. All remain within the Commonwealth of Nations. They also established the Caribbean Community, and many of the nations have joined various international bodies, such as the Organization of American States, the Association of Caribbean States, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations, and the Caribbean Development Bank among others.
Territories
The territories that were part of the British West Indies are (date of independence, where applicable, in brackets): The Bahamas (1973) Barbados (1966) Belize (formerly British Honduras) (1981) Bermuda (British overseas territory) British Leeward Islands Anguilla (British overseas territory) Antigua and Barbuda (1981) British Virgin Islands (British overseas territory) Dominica (1978) Montserrat (British overseas territory) Saint Kitts and Nevis (1983) British Windward Islands Grenada (1974) Saint Lucia (1979) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (1979) Cayman Islands (British overseas territory) Guyana (formerly British Guiana) (1966) Jamaica (formerly Colony of Jamaica) (1962) Trinidad and Tobago (1962) Turks and Caicos Islands (British overseas territory)
History
The origins of the British West Indies lie in outposts established to support English pirates and privateers who were involved in raiding Spanish treasure fleets, and merchants interested in trade. Charles Leigh, an English merchant, established a short-lived settlement on the Wiapoco River in 1604 (now the Oyapock, which forms the border between French Guiana and Brazil). This was followed by failed attempts to established settlements in Saint Lucia in 1605 and Grenada in 1609. The first permanent settlement was established in St. Christopher (St. Kitts) by Thomas Warner. This was followed by settlements in Barbados in 1627, Nevis in 1628, and Montserrat and Antigua in 1632. Providence Island was colonised by English Puritans in 1630, but the colony was destroyed by the Spanish in 1641. The capture of Jamaica in 1655 expanded British control beyond these small islands in the Lesser Antilles.
Leeward Islands
Sir William Stapleton established the first federation in the British West Indies in 1674. He set up a General Assembly of the Leeward Islands in St. Kitts. Stapleton's federation was active between 1674 and 1685, during his term as governor, and the General Assembly met regularly until 1711.