Nevis

Nevis(/ˈniːvɪs/NEE-viss) is an island in theCaribbean Seathat forms part of the inner arc of theLeeward Islandschain of theWest Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island ofSaint Kittsconstitute theFederation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, a singular nation state. Nevis is located near the northern end of theLesser Antillesarchipelago about 350 kilometres (220 mi) east-southeast ofPuerto Ricoand 80 kilometres (50 mi) west ofAntigua. Its area is 93 square kilometres (36 sq mi) and the capital isCharlestown.
Saint Kitts and Nevis are separated byThe Narrows, a shallow 3-kilometre (2 mi) channel. Nevis is roughly conical in shape with a volcano,Nevis Peak, at its centre. The island is fringed on its western and northern coastlines by sandy beaches composed of a mixture of white coral sand with brown and black sand eroded and washed down from the volcanic rocks that make up the island. The gently-sloping coastal plain (1 km (0.62 mi) wide) has natural freshwater springs as well as non-potable volcanichot springs, especially along the western coast.
The island was namedOualie, translated as "land of beautiful waters", by theKalinagoandDulcina("Sweet Island") by the earlyBritishsettlers. The nameNevisis derived from theSpanishphraseNuestra Señora de las Nieves, which translates asOur Lady of the Snows; the name was given by the island'sSpanishdiscoverers and first appeared on maps in the 16th century.Nevis is also known by thesobriquet"Queen of the Caribees", which it earned in the 18th century because of its many sugar plantations.
Nevis is both geographically smaller and less populous than Saint Kitts. It maintains significant autonomy within the federation, includinga separate governmentheaded by thepremier of Nevisanda separate legislature. Nevis has twice voted –in 1977, in an unofficial referendum,  and in1998, in an official one – to secede from the federation, but neither attempt succeeded.
The majority of the approximately 12,000 Nevisians are of primarilyAfricandescent, with notable British,Portuguese, andLebaneseminority communities.Englishis the official language,and its literacy rate of 98 per cent is one of the highest in theWestern Hemisphere.
In 1498,Christopher Columbusgave the island the nameSan Martín(Saint Martin). However, the confusion of numerous poorly-charted small islands in the Leeward Island chain meant that this name ended up being accidentally transferred to another island, which is still known asSaint-Martin.
The current nameNeviswas derived from theSpanishnameNuestra Señora de las Nievesby process of abbreviation andanglicisation. The Spanish name meansOur Lady of the Snows. It is not known who chose this name for the island, but it is a reference to the story of a 4th-centuryCatholicmiracle related to a snowfall on theEsquiline HillinRome.Presumably the white clouds that usually cover the top ofNevis Peakreminded someone of this story of a miraculous snowfall in a hot climate.
Nevis was part of theSpanish claimto theCaribbeanislands, a claim pursued until the1670 Treaty of Madrid, even though there were no Spanish settlements on the island. According to Vincent Hubbard, author ofSwords, Ships & Sugar: History of Nevis, the Spanish ruling caused many of theArawakgroups who were not ethnically Caribs to "be redefined as Kalinago overnight".Records indicate that the Spanish enslaved large numbers of the native inhabitants on the more accessible of the Leeward Islands and sent them toCubagua,Venezuela, to dive for pearls. Hubbard suggests that the reason the first European settlers found so few Kalinago on Nevis is that they had already been rounded up by the Spanish and shipped off to be used as slaves.
Nevis had been settled for more than two thousand years byAmerindian peoplesprior to having been sighted by Columbus in 1493.The indigenous people of Nevis during these periods belonged to the Leeward Island Amerindian groups popularly referred to asArawaksandKalinago, a complex mosaic of ethnic groups with similar culture and language.Dominican anthropologist Lennox Honychurch traces the European use of the term "Carib" to refer to the Leeward Island aborigines to Columbus, who picked it up from theTaínosonHispaniola. It was not a name the Kalinago called themselves."Carib Indians" was the generic name used for all groups believed involved in cannibalistic war rituals, more particularly, the consumption of parts of a killed enemy's body.
The Amerindian name for Nevis wasOualie, land of beautiful waters. The structure of the Kalinago language has been linguistically identified asArawakan.
Despite the Spanish claim, Nevis continued to be a popular stop over point for English and Dutch ships on their way toNorth America. CaptainBartholomew GilbertofPlymouthvisited the island in 1603, spending two weeks to cut 20 tons oflignum vitaewood. Gilbert sailed on toVirginiato seek out survivors of theRoanoke settlementin what is nowNorth Carolina.Captain John Smithvisited Nevis on his way toVirginiain 1607 on the voyage that foundedJamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the New World.
On 30 August 1620,James I of Englandasserted sovereignty over Nevis by giving a Royal Patent for colonisation to theEarl of Carlisle. However, actual English settlement did not happen until 1628, when Anthony Hilton moved from nearby Saint Kitts following a murder plot against him. 80 English settlers accompanied him, soon boosted by a further 100 settlers from London who had initially hoped to settleBarbuda. Hilton became the first Governor of Nevis.
After theTreaty of Madridbetween Spain and England, Nevis became a major part of theEnglish West Indiesand anadmiralty courtalso sat in Nevis. Between 1675 and 1730, the island was the headquarters for the slave trade to the Leeward Islands, with approximately 6,000–7,000 enslaved West Africans passing through en route to other islands each year. TheRoyal African Companybrought all its ships through Nevis.A 1678 census shows a community ofIrish people– 22% of the population – existing as eitherindentured servantsor freemen.
Due to the profitableslave tradeand the high quality of Nevisiansugar cane, Nevis soon became a dominant source of wealth for the colonialslavocracy. When theLeeward Islandswere separated fromBarbadosin 1671, Nevis became the seat of theLeeward Islands colonyand was given the nickname "Queen of the Caribees". It remained the colonial capital for the Leeward Islands until the seat was transferred toAntiguafor military reasons in 1698. During this period, Nevis was the richest of the English Leeward Islands.
Nevis outranked larger islands likeJamaicain sugar production in the late 17th century. The planters' wealth on the island is evident in the tax records preserved at the Calendar State Papers in theColonial Office's Public Records, where the amount of tax collected on the Leeward Islands was recorded. The sums recorded for 1676 as "head tax on slaves", a tax payable in sugar, amounted to 384,600 pounds in Nevis, as opposed to 67,000 each in Antigua and Saint Kitts, 62,500 inMontserrat, and 5,500 total in the other five islands.
The profits on sugar cultivation in Nevis was enhanced by the fact that thecane juicefrom Nevis yielded an unusually high amount of sugar. A gallon (3.79 litres) of cane juice from Nevis yielded 24 ounces (0.71 litres) of sugar, whereas a gallon from Saint Kitts yielded 16 ounces (0.47 litres).Twenty per cent of theEnglish colonial empire's total sugar production in 1700 was derived from Nevisian plantations.Exports from West Indian colonies like Nevis were worth more than all the exports from all the mainlandThirteen Coloniesof North America combined at the time of theAmerican Revolutionary War.
The enslaved families formed the large labour force required to work the sugar plantations. After the 1650s, the supply of white indentured servants began to dry up due to increased wages in England and less incentive to migrate to the colonies. By the end of the 17th century, the population of Nevis consisted of a small, wealthy planter elite in control, a marginal population of poor Whites, a great majority of African-descended slaves, and an unknown number ofmaroons, escaped slaves living in the mountains. In 1780, 90 per cent of the 10,000 people living on Nevis were Black.Some of the maroons joined with the few remaining Kalinago in Nevis. Memories of the Nevisian maroons' struggle under the plantation system are preserved in place names such as Maroon Hill, an early centre of resistance.
The great wealth generated by the colonies of the West Indies led to wars among the great powers of Europe. The formation of the United States can be said to be a partial by-product of these wars, and the strategic trade aims that often ignored North America.Threeprivateers(William Kiddbeing one of them) were employed bythe Crownto help protect ships in Nevis' waters.
During the 17th century, the French, based on Saint Kitts, launched many attacks on Nevis, sometimes assisted by the Kalinago, who in 1667 sent a large fleet of canoes along in support. In the same year, a Franco-Dutch invasion fleetwas repelledoff Nevis by an English fleet. Letters and other records from the era indicate that colonists on Nevis hated and feared the Kalinago. In 1674 and 1683, they participated in attacks on Kalinago villages inDominicaandSt. Vincent, despite a lack of official approval from the Crown for the attack.On Nevis, the English builtFort Charlesand a series of smaller fortifications to aid in defending the island. This included Saddle Hill Battery, built in 1740 to replace adeodandon Mount Nevis.
In 1706,Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, the French Canadian founder ofLouisianain North America, decided to drive the English out of Nevis and thus also stop pirate attacks on French ships; he considered Nevis the region's headquarters forpiracyagainst French trade. During d'Iberville's invasion of Nevis, Frenchbuccaneerswere used in the front line, infamous for being ruthless killers after the pillaging during the wars with Spain where they gained a reputation for torturing and murdering non-combatants.In the face of the invading force, the English militiamen of Nevis fled.
Some planters burned the plantations, rather than letting the French have them, and hid in the mountains.It was the enslaved Africans who held the French at bay by taking up arms to defend their families and the island. The slave quarters had been looted and burned as well, as the main reward promised the men fighting on the French side in the attack was the right to capture as many slaves as possible and resell them inMartinique.
During the fighting, 3,400 enslaved Nevisians were captured and sent off to Martinique, but about 1,000 more, poorly armed and militarily untrained, held the French troops at bay, by "murderous fire" according to an eyewitness account by an English militiaman. He wrote that "the slaves' brave behaviour and defence there shamed what some of their masters did, and they do not shrink to tell us so."After 18 days of fighting, the French were driven off the island. Among the Nevisian men, women and children carried away on d'Iberville's ships, six ended up in Louisiana, the first persons of African descent to arrive there.
One consequence of the French attack was a collapsed sugar industry and during the ensuing hardship on Nevis, small plots of land on the plantations were made available to the enslaved families in order to control the loss of life due to starvation. With less profitability for the absentee plantation owners, the import of food supplies for the plantation workers dwindled. Between 1776 and 1783, when the food supplies failed to arrive altogether due to therebellion in North America, 300–400 enslaved Nevisians starved to death.On 1 August 1834, slavery was abolished in theBritish Empire. In Nevis, 8,815 slaves were freed.The first Monday in August is celebrated asEmancipation Dayand is part of the annual Nevis Culturama festival.
A four-year apprenticeship programme followed the abolishment of slavery on the plantations. In spite of the continued use of the labour force, the Nevisian slave owners were paid over £150,000 in compensation from the British Government for the loss of property, whereas the enslaved families received nothing for 200 years of labour.One of the wealthiest planter families in Nevis, thePinneysof Mountravers Plantation, claimed £36,396 (equivalent to £4,418,540 in 2023)in compensation for the slaves on the family-owned plantations around the Caribbean.
Because of the early distribution of plots and because many of the planters departed from the island when sugar cultivation became unprofitable, a relatively large percentage of Nevisians already owned or controlled land at emancipation.Others settled on crown land. This early development of a society with a majority of small, landowning farmers and entrepreneurs created a stronger middle class in Nevis than in Saint Kitts, where the sugar industry continued until 2006. Even though the 15 families in the wealthy planter elite no longer control the arable land, Saint Kitts still has a large, landless working class population.
The population had reached 7,470 by 1842.Nevis was united with Saint Kitts andAnguillain 1882, and they became anassociated statewith full internal autonomy in 1967, though Anguilla seceded in 1971. Together, Saint Kitts and Nevis became independent on 19 September 1983. On 10 August 1998, areferendum on Nevisto separate from Saint Kitts had 2,427 votes in favour and 1,498 against, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed.
Before 1967, the local government of Saint Kitts was also the government of Nevis and Anguilla. Nevis had two seats and Anguilla one seat in the government. The economic and infrastructural development of the two smaller islands was not a priority to the colonial federal government.
When the hospital in Charlestown was destroyed in a hurricane in 1899, planting of trees in the squares of Saint Kitts and refurbishing of government buildings, also in Saint Kitts, took precedence over the rebuilding of the only hospital in Nevis.After five years without any proper medical facilities, the leaders in Nevis initiated a campaign, threatening to seek independence from Saint Kitts. The British Administrator in Saint Kitts, Charles Cox, was unmoved. He stated that Nevis did not need a hospital since there had been no significant rise in the number of deaths during the time Nevisians had been without a hospital. Therefore, no action was needed on behalf of the government, and besides, Cox continued, the Legislative Council regarded "Nevis and Anguilla as a drag on St. Kitts and would willingly see a separation".
A letter of complaint to the metropolitanBritish Foreign Officegave result and the federal government in Saint Kitts was ordered by their superiors in London to take speedy action. The Legislative Council took another five years to consider their options. The final decision by the federal government was to not rebuild the old hospital after all but to instead convert the old Government House in Nevis into a hospital, named Alexandra Hospital after Queen Alexandra, wife of KingEdward VII. A majority of the funds assigned for the hospital could thus be spent on the construction of a new official residence in Nevis.
After d'Iberville's invasion in 1704, records show Nevis' sugar industry in ruins and a decimated population begging theEnglish Parliamentand relatives for loans and monetary assistance to stave off island-wide starvation.The sugar industry on the island never fully recovered and during the general depression that followed the loss of the West Indian sugarmonopoly, Nevis fell on hard times and the island became one of the poorest in the region. The island remained poorer than Saint Kitts until 1991, when the fiscal performance of Nevis edged ahead of the fiscal performance of Saint Kitts for the first time since the French invasion.
Electricity was introduced in Nevis in 1954 when two generators were shipped in to provide electricity to the area around Charlestown. In this regard, Nevis fared better than Anguilla, where there were no paved roads, no electricity and no telephones until 1967. However, electricity did not become available island-wide on Nevis until 1971.
An ambitious infrastructure development programme was introduced in the early 2000s which included a transformation of the Charlestown port, construction of a new deep-water harbour, resurfacing and widening the Island Main Road, a new airport terminal and control tower, and a major airport expansion, which required the relocation of an entire village in order to make room for the runway extension.
Modernised classrooms and better-equipped schools, as well as improvements in the educational system, have contributed to a leap in academic performance on the island. The pass rate among the Nevisian students sitting for theCaribbean Examination Council(CXC) exams, the Cambridge General Certificate of Education Examination (GCE) and the Caribbean Advance Proficiency Examinations is now consistently among the highest in the English-speaking Caribbean.
The formation of the island began inmid-Pliocenetimes, approximately 3.45 million years ago. Nine distinct eruptive centres from different geological ages, ranging from mid-Pliocene toPleistocene, have contributed to the formation. No single model of the island'sgeological evolutioncan, therefore, be ascertained.
Nevis Peak(985 m or 3,232 ft high) is the dormant remnant of one of these ancientstratovolcanoes. The last activity took place about 100,000 years ago, but activefumarolesand hot springs are still found on the island, the most recent formed in 1953.The composite cone of Nevis volcano has two overlapping summit craters that are partially filled by a lava dome, created in recent, pre-Columbian time.Pyroclastic flowsand mudflows were deposited on the lower slopes of the cone simultaneously.
Nevis Peakis located on the outer crater rim. Four other lava domes were constructed on the flanks of the volcano, one on the northeast flank (Madden's Mount), one on the eastern flank (Butlers Mountain), one on the northwest coast (Mount Lily) and one on the south coast (Saddle Hill, with a height of 375 metres or 1,230 feet). The southernmost point on the island isDogwood Pointwhich is also the southernmost point of theFederation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
During thelast ice age, when the sea level was 60 metres (200') lower, the three islands of Saint Kitts, Nevis andSint Eustatius(also known as Statia) were connected as one island.Saba, however, is separated from these three by a deeper channel.
There are visible wave-breaking reefs along the northern and eastern shorelines. To the south and west, the reefs are located in deeper water.The most developed beach on Nevis is the 4.8 km (3.0 mi)or 6.5 km long (4.0 mi)Pinney's Beach,on the western or Caribbean coast.There is sheltered swimming at Pinney, Nisbet, Lovers, and Oualie beaches.The eastern coast of the island faces into the Atlantic Ocean.
The colour of thesandon the beaches of Nevis is variable: on a lot of the bigger beaches the sand is a yellow-grey in colour, but some beaches on the southern coast have darker, reddish, or even black sand. Under a microscope it becomes clear that Nevis sand is a mixture of tiny fragments of coral, manyforaminifera, and small crystals of the various mineral constituents of thevolcanic rockof which the island is made.
Seven volcanic centers make up Nevis. These include Round Hill (3.43Ma), Cades Bay (3.22 Ma), Hurricane Hill (2.7 Ma), Saddle Hill (1.8 Ma), Butlers Mountain (1.1 Ma), Red Cliff and Nevis Peak (0.98 Ma). These are mainlyandesiteanddacitelava domes, with associated block andash flows, pluslahars. Nevis Peak has the highest elevation, at 984 m. Cades Bay and Farm Estate Soufriere are noted areas ofhydrothermalactivity.
Water has been piped since 1911 from aspringcalled the "Source", located 1,800 feet (550 m) up the mountain, to storage tanks at Rawlins Village, and since 1912, to Butler's Village. Additional drinking water comes from Nelson's Spring near Cotton Ground and Bath Spring.Groundwaterhas been extracted since the 1990s, and mixed with the Source water.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, massivedeforestationwas undertaken by the planters as the land was initially cleared for sugar cultivation. This intense land exploitation by the sugar and cotton industry lasted almost 300 years, and greatly changed the island'secosystem.
In some places along the windswept southeast or "Windward" coast of the island, the landscape is radically altered compared with how it used to be in pre-colonial times.Due to extreme land erosion, the topsoil was swept away, and in some places at the coast, sheer cliffs as high as 25 metres (82 feet) have developed.
Thick forest once covered the eastern coastal plain, where the Amerindians built their first settlements during the Aceramic period, complementing the ecosystem surrounding thecoral reefjust offshore. It was the easy access to fresh water on the island and the rich food source represented by the ocean life sheltered by the reef that made it feasible for the Amerindians to settle this area around 600 BC.With the loss of the natural vegetation, the balance in runoff nutrients to the reef was disturbed, eventually causing as much as 80 per cent of the large eastern fringing reef to become inactive. As the reef broke apart, it, in turn, provided less protection for the coastline.
During times of maximum cultivation, sugar cane fields stretched from the coastline of Nevis up to an altitude at which the mountain slopes were too steep and rocky to farm. Nonetheless, once the sugar industry was finally abandoned, vegetation on the leeward side of the island regrew reasonably well, as scrub and secondary forest.
Nevis has several natural freshwater springs, includingNelson'sSpring. The island also has numerous non-potable volcanichot springs, including most notably the Bath Spring near Bath village, just south of the capital Charlestown.
After heavy rains, powerful rivers of rainwater pour down the numerousravines, known as ghauts.When the water reaches the coastline, the corresponding coastal ponds, both freshwater and brackish, fill to capacity and beyond, spilling over into the sea.
With modern development, the existing freshwater springs are no longer enough to supply water to the whole island. The water supply now comes mostly from Government wells. The major source of potable water for the island is groundwater, obtained from 14 active wells. Water is pumped from the wells, stored and allowed to flow by gravity to the various locations.
The climate is tropical with little variation, tempered all year round (but particularly from December through February) by the steady north-easterly winds, called thetrade winds. There is a slightly hotter and somewhat rainier season from May to November.
Nevis lies within the track area of tropical storms and occasional hurricanes. These storms can develop between June 1 and November 30. This time of year has the heaviest rainfalls.
Nevis also experiences many fires, including the devastating Nevisian Fire of 1876.
The official currency is theEastern Caribbean dollar(EC$), which is shared used by the eight member countries of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank.
TheEuropean Commission's Delegationin Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean estimates the annual per capitaGross Domestic Product(GDP) on Nevis to be about 10 per cent higherthan on St. Kitts.
The major source of revenue for Nevis as of 2023 according toIMFis tourism.During the 2003–2004 season, approximately 40,000 tourists visited the island.A five-star hotel(The Four Seasons Resort Nevis, West Indies), four exclusive restored plantation inns, and several smaller hotels including Oualie Beach Resort are currently in operation.Larger developments along the west coast have recentlybeen approved and are in the process of being developed.
The introduction of secrecy legislation has madeoffshore financial servicesa rapidly growing economic sector in Nevis. Incorporation of companies, international insurance and reinsurance, as well as several international banks, trust companies, asset management firms, have created a boost in the economy.During 2005, the Nevis Island Treasury collected $94.6 million in annual revenue, compared to $59.8 million during 2001.
In 1998, 17,500 international banking companies were registered in Nevis. Registration and annual filing fees paid in 1999 by these entities amounted to over 10 per cent of Nevis' revenues.The offshore financial industry gained importance during the financial disaster of 1999 whenHurricane Lennydamaged the major resort on the island, causing the hotel to be closed down for a year and 400 of the 700 employees to be laid off.
In 2000, theFinancial Action Task Force, part of theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD), issued a blacklist of 35 nations which were said to be non-cooperative in the campaign against tax evasion andmoney laundering. At the time, the list included theFederation of Saint Kitts and Nevis,although the country was subsequently removed following various reforms.
The political structure for the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis is based on theWestminster Parliamentary system, but it is a unique structurein that Nevis has its own unicameral legislature, consisting ofHis Majesty's representative (the Deputy Governor General) and members of theNevis Island Assembly. Nevis has considerable autonomy in its legislative branch. The constitution actually empowers the Nevis Island Legislature to make laws that cannot be abrogated by the National Assembly.
Nevis has a constitutionally protected right to secede from the federation, should a two-thirds majority of the island's population vote for independence in a local referendum. Section 113.(1) of the constitution states: "The Nevis Island Legislature may provide that the island of Nevis shall cease to be federated with the island of Saint Christopher and accordingly that this Constitution shall no longer have effect in the island of Nevis."
Nevis has its ownpremierand its own government, theNevis Island Administration. It collects its own taxes and has a separate budget, with a current account surplus. According to a statement released by the Nevis Ministry of Finance in 2005, Nevis had one of the highest growth rates in gross national product and per capita income in the Caribbean at that point.
Nevis elections are scheduled every five years. The Nevis elections of 2013, called on 23 January 2013, were won by the party in opposition, theConcerned Citizens Movement(CCM), led byVance Amory. The CCM won three of the five seats in the Nevis Island Assembly, while the incumbent party, theNevis Reformation Party(NRP), won two.
In the federal elections of 2010, the CCM won two of the three Nevis assigned Federal seats, while the NRP won one. Of the eight Saint Kitts assigned federal seats, the St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party won six and the People's Action Movement (PAM) two.
Joseph Parry, leader of the opposition, has indicated that he favours constitutional reform over secession for Nevis. His party, the NRP, has historically been the strongest and most ardent proponent for Nevis independence; the party came to power with secession as the main campaign issue. In 1975, the NRP manifesto declared that: "The Nevis Reformation Party will strive at all costs to gain secession for Nevis from St. Kitts – a privilege enjoyed by the island of Nevis prior to 1882."
A cursory proposal for constitutional reform was presented by the NRP in 1999, but the issue was not prominent in the 2006 election campaign and it appears a detailed proposal has yet to be worked out and agreed upon within the party.
InHandbook of Federal Countriespublished byForum of Federations, the authors consider the constitution problematic because it does not "specifically outline" the federal financial arrangements or the means by which the central government and Nevis Island Administration can raise revenue: "In terms of the NIA, the constitution only states (in s. 108(1)) that 'all revenues...raised or received by the Administration...shall be paid into and form a fund styled the Nevis Island Consolidated Fund.' [...] Section 110(1) states that the proceeds of all 'takes' collected in St. Kitts and Nevis under any law are to be shared between the federal government and the Nevis Island Administration based on population. The share going to the NIA, however, is subject to deductions (s. 110(2)), such as the cost of common services and debt charges, as determined by the Governor-General (s.110(3)) on the advice of the Prime Minister who can also take advice from the Premier of Nevis (s.110(4))."
According to a 1995 report by the Commonwealth Observer Group of theCommonwealth Secretariat, "the federal government is also the local government of St Kitts and this has resulted in a perception among the political parties in Nevis that the interests of the people of Nevis are being neglected by the federal government which is more concerned with the administration of St Kitts than with the federal administration."
Simeon Daniel, Nevis' first Premier and former leader of theNevis Reformation Party(NRP) andVance Amory, Premier and leader of theConcerned Citizens Movement(CCM), made sovereign independence for Nevis from theFederation of Saint Kitts and Nevispart of their parties' agenda.Since independence from the United Kingdom in 1983, the Nevis Island Administration and the Federal Government have been involved in several conflicts over the interpretation of the new constitution which came into effect at independence. During an interview onVoice of Americain March 1998, repeated in a government-issued press release headlined "PM Douglas Maintains 1983 Constitution is Flawed",Prime MinisterDenzil Douglascalled the constitution a "recipe for disaster and disharmony among the people of both islands".
A crisis developed in 1984 when thePeople's Action Movement(PAM) won a majority in the Federal elections and temporarily ceased honouring the Federal Government's financial obligations to Nevis.Consequently, cheques issued by the Nevis Administration were not honoured by the Bank, public servants in Nevis were not paid on time and the Nevis Island Administration experienced difficulties in meeting its financial obligations.
There is also substantial support in Nevis forBritish Overseas Territorystatus similar toAnguilla's, which was formerly the third of the tri-stateSaint Christopher-Nevis-Anguillacolony.
In 1996, four new bills were introduced in the National Assembly in Saint Kitts, one of which made provisions to have revenue derived from activities in Nevis paid directly to the treasury in Saint Kitts instead of to the treasury in Nevis. Another bill, The Financial Services Committee Act, contained provisions that all investments in Saint Kitts and Nevis would require approval by an investment committee in Saint Kitts. This was controversial, because ever since 1983 the Nevis Island Administration had approved all investments for Nevis, on the basis that the constitution vests legislative authority for industries, trades and businesses and economic development in Nevis to the Nevis Island Administration.
All three representatives from Nevis, including the leader of the opposition in the Nevis Island Assembly, objected to the introduction of these bills into the National Assembly in Saint Kitts, arguing that the bills would affect the ability of Nevis to develop its offshore financial services sector and that the bills would be detrimental to the Nevis economy. All the representatives in opposition in the National Assembly shared the conviction that the bills if passed into law, would be unconstitutional and undermine the constitutional and legislative authority of the Nevis Island Administration, as well as result in the destruction of the economy of Nevis.
The constitutional crisis initially developed when the newly appointed Attorney General refused to grant permission for the Nevis Island Administration to assert its legal right in the Courts. After a decision of the High Court in favour of the Nevis Island Administration, the Prime Minister gave newspaper interviews stating that he "refused to accept the decision of the High Court".Due to the deteriorating relationship between the Nevis Island Administration and the Federal Government, a Constitutional Committee was appointed in April 1996 to advise on whether or not the present constitutional arrangement between the islands should continue. The committee recommended constitutional reform and the establishment of an island administration for Saint Kitts, separate from the Federal Government.
The Federal Government in Saint Kitts fills both functions today and Saint Kitts does not have an equivalent to the Nevis Island Administration. Disagreements between the political parties in Nevis and between the Nevis Island Administration and the Federal Government have prevented the recommendations by the electoral committee from being implemented. The problematic political arrangement between the two islands, therefore, continues to date.
Nevis has continued developing its own legislation, such as The Nevis International Insurance Ordinance and the Nevis International Mutual Funds Ordinance of 2004,but calls for secession are often based on concerns that the legislative authority of the Nevis Island Administration might be challenged again in the future.
The issues of political dissension between Saint Kitts and Nevis are often centred around perceptions of imbalance in the economic structure.As noted by many scholars,Nevisians have often referred to a structural imbalance in Saint Kitts' favour in how funds are distributed between the two islands and this issue has made the movement for Nevis secession a constant presence in the island's political arena, with many articles appearing in the local press expressing concerns such as those compiled by Everton Powell in "What Motivates Our Call for Independence":
A referendum on secession from the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis was held in 1998. Although 62% voted in favor of a secession, a two-thirds majority would have been necessary for the referendum to succeed.
The island of Nevis is divided into five administrative subdivisions calledparishes, each of which has an elected representative in the Nevis Island Assembly. The division of this almost round island into parishes was done in acircular sectorpattern, so each parish is shaped like a pie slice, reaching from the highest point ofNevis Peakdown to the coastline.
Some of the parishes have double names. For example,Saint George Gingerland's first part of its name is the name of thepatron saintof the parish church, and the second part of the name is the traditionalcommon nameof the parish. Often the parishes are referred to simply by their common names. The religious part of a parish name is sometimes written or pronounced in the possessive, as follows: Saint George's Gingerland.
The five parishes of Nevis are:
Culturama, the annual cultural festival of Nevis, is celebrated during the Emancipation Day weekend, the first week of August. The festivities include many traditional folk dances, such as themasquerade, theMoko jumbieson stilts, Cowboys and Indians, and Plait the Ribbon, aMay poledance. The celebration was given a more organised form in 1974, including a Miss Culture Show and aCalypsoCompetition, as well as drama performances, old fashion Troupes (including Johnny Walkers, Giant and Spear, Bulls, Red Cross and Blue Ribbon), arts and crafts exhibitions and recipe competitions. According to the Nevis Department of Culture, the aim is to protect and encourage indigenous folklore, in order to make sure that the uniquely Caribbean culture can "reassert itself and flourish".
The official language isEnglish.Saint Kitts Creoleis also spoken on Nevis and less so on the neighbouring island.
Nevisian culture has since the 17th century incorporatedAfrican,European, andEast Indiancultural elements, creating a distinctAfro-Caribbeanculture. Several historical anthropologists have done field research Nevis and in Nevisianmigrantcommunities in order to trace the creation and constitution of a Nevisian cultural community. Karen Fog Olwig published her research about Nevis in 1993, writing that the areas where the Afro-Caribbean traditions were especially strong and flourishing relate tokinshipandsubsistence farming. However, she adds, Afro-Caribbean cultural impulses were not recognised or valued in the colonial society and were therefore often expressed through Euro-Caribbean cultural forms.
Examples of European forms appropriated to express Afro-Caribbean culture are the Nevisian and KittitianTea MeetingsandChristmas Sports. According to anthropologistRoger D. Abrahams, these traditional performance art forms are "Nevisian approximation of British performance codes, techniques, and patterns". He writes that the Tea Meetings were staged as theatrical "battles between decorum and chaos",decorumrepresented by the ceremony chairmen and chaos the hecklers in the audience, with a diplomatic King or a Queen presiding over the battle to ensure fairness.
The Christmas Sports included a form of comedy and satire based on local events and gossip.They were historically an important part of the Christmas celebrations in Nevis, performed on Christmas Eve by small troupes consisting of five or six men accompanied by string bands from different parts of the island. One of the men in the troupe was dressed as a woman, playing all the female parts in the dramatisations. The troupes moved from yard to yard to perform their skits, using props, face paint and costumes to play the roles of well-known personalities in the community.
Examples of gossip about undesired behaviour that could surface in the skits for comic effect were querulous neighbours, adulterous affairs, planters mistreating workers, domestic disputes or abuse, crooked politicians and any form of stealing or cheating experienced in the society. Even though no names were mentioned in these skits, the audience would usually be able to guess who the heckling message in the troupe's dramatised portrayals was aimed at, as it was played out right on the person's own front yard. The acts thus functioned as social and moral commentaries on current events and behaviours in Nevisian society. This particular form is called "Bazzarding" by many locals. Abrahams theorises that Christmas Sports are rooted in the pre-emancipation Christmas and New Year holiday celebrations, when the enslaved population had several days off.
American folklorist and musicologistAlan Lomaxvisited Nevis in 1962 in order to conduct long-term research into the black folk culture of the island. His field trip to Nevis and surrounding islands resulted in the anthologyLomax Caribbean Voyageseries.Among the Nevisians recorded werechantey-singing fishermen in a session organised in a rum shop in Newcastle; Santoy, the Calypsonian, performingcalypsosby Nevisian ballader and local legend Charles Waltersto guitar andcuatro; andstring bands,fifeplayers and drummers from Gingerland, performingquadrilles.
The island is also known for "Jamband music", which is the kind of music performed by local bands during the "CulturamaFestival" and is key to "Jouvert" dancing. The sounds of the so-called "Iron Band" are also popular within the culture; many locals come together using any old pans, sinks, or other kits of any sort; which they use to create sounds and music. This form of music is played throughout the villages during the Christmas and carnival seasons.
A series of earthquakes during the 18th century severely damaged most of the colonial-era stone buildings of Charlestown. TheGeorgianstone buildings in Charlestown that are visible today had to be partially rebuilt after the earthquakes, and this led to the development of a new architectural style, consisting of a wooden upper floor over a stone ground floor; the new style resisted earthquake damage much more effectively.
Two important Nevisian buildings from the 18th century are Hermitage Plantation, built oflignum vitaewood in 1740, the oldest surviving wooden house still in use in the Caribbean today, and the Bath Hotel, the first hotel in the Caribbean, a luxury hotel and spa built by John Huggins in 1778. The soothing waters of the hotel'shot springand the lively social life on Nevis attracted Europeans including Antigua-basedAdmiral Nelson, and Prince William Henry,Duke of Clarence, (futureWilliam IV of the United Kingdom), who attended balls and private parties at the Bath Hotel. Today, the building serves as government offices, and there are two outdoor hot-spring bathing spots which were specially constructed in recent yearsfor public use.
According to localfolklore, a destructive 1680 or 1690 earthquake andtsunamidestroyed the buildings of the original capital Jamestown on the west coast. Folk tales say that the town sank beneath the ocean, and the tsunami is blamed for the escape of (possibly fictional) pirateRed Legs Greaves.However, archaeologists from theUniversity of Southamptonwho have done excavations in the area have found no evidence for such a tsunami. They state that this story may originate with an over-excited Victorian letter writer sharing somewhat exaggerated accounts of his exotic life in the tropical colony with a British audience back home.
One such letter recounts that so much damage was done to the town that it was completely evacuated, and was engulfed by the sea. Early maps do not, however, actually show a settlement called "Jamestown", only "Morton's Bay", and later maps show that all that was left of Jamestown/Morton's Bay in 1818 was a building labelled "Pleasure House". Very old bricks that wash up on Pinney's Beach after storms may have contributed to this legend of a sunken town; however, these bricks are thought to be dumped ballast from 17th and 18th century sailing ships.
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