Skip to content

Was West Indies A British Colony

The first colonies of the British Empire were founded in North America (Virginia, 1607) and the West Indies (Barbados, 1625).

Also indicated are the mainland colonies of British Honduras and British Guiana. The term British West Indies refers to the former English and British colonies and the present-day overseas territories of the United Kingdom in the Caribbean.

The term British West Indies refers to the former English and British colonies and the present-day overseas territories of the United Kingdom in the Caribbean.

In the 17th and 18th centuries slaves were moved from Africa to the West Indies to work on sugar plantations. This industry and the slave trade made British ports and merchants involved very wealthy. The first colonies of the British Empire were founded in North America (Virginia, 1607) and the West Indies (Barbados, 1625).

Did the British colonize the West Indies?

Although most of the British West Indies seceded from British rule and were granted independence, several opted to remain British territories. Those territories include: Anguilla.

Who colonized West Indies?

British colonisation of Bermuda began in 1612. British West Indian colonisation began with Saint Kitts in 1623 and Barbados in 1627. The former was used as a base for British colonisation of neighbouring Nevis (1628), Antigua (1632), Montserrat (1632), Anguilla (1650) and Tortola (1672).

When did the English colonize the West Indies?

In 1623 the English occupied part of Saint Christopher (Saint Kitts), and in 1625 they occupied Barbados. By 1655, when Jamaica was captured from a small Spanish garrison, English colonies had been established in Nevis, Antigua, and Montserrat.

How many British colonies are there in the Caribbean?

So, five of the fourteen British Overseas Territories are located in the Caribbean. These territories provide to Britain a continued presence in the region for centuries and once were an essential pillar of the British naval power in the Atlantic Ocean.

What Caribbean islands were once British colonies?

The following former British Caribbean island colonies achieved independence in their own right; Jamaica (1962), Trinidad and Tobago (1962), Barbados (1966), Bahamas (1973), Grenada (1974), Dominica (1978), St. Lucia (1979), St. Vincent (1979), Antigua and Barbuda (1981), St. Kitts and Nevis (1983).

What was the first British colony in the Caribbean?

The first colonies of the British Empire were founded in North America (Virginia, 1607) and the West Indies (Barbados, 1625). In 1655 Jamaica was secured.

When did Britain colonize the Caribbean?

The first colonies of the British Empire were founded in North America (Virginia, 1607) and the West Indies (Barbados, 1625). In 1655 Jamaica was secured.

Which Caribbean island is British colony?

Originally inhabited by Arawak and Carib peoples, Anguilla became a British colony after English settlers arrived in 1650. Its people are of mainly African descent. Anguilla, as the first in the chain of the Leeward islands, is located in the Eastern Caribbean, east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Where is the British West Indies?

The British West Indies encompassed all of the Caribbean islands and coastal nations once ruled by the British Empire. This includes the Leeward Islands, comprised of the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, Dominica, Montserrat, and St. Kitts and Nevis.

What Caribbean islands are still under British rule?

Nevertheless, Britain still retains several small West Indian overseas territories, most of which have shown little interest in independence: Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

How many islands make up West Indies?

The West Indies are a geologically complex island system consisting of 7,000 islands and islets stretching over 3,000 km from the Florida peninsula of North America south-southeast to the northern coast of Venezuela.

Where are the British West Indies?

The British West Indies encompassed all of the Caribbean islands and coastal nations once ruled by the British Empire. This includes the Leeward Islands, comprised of the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, Dominica, Montserrat, and St. Kitts and Nevis.

More Answers On Was West Indies A British Colony

British West Indies – Wikipedia

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).

West Indies – Colonialism | Britannica

West Indies – Colonialism | Britannica Colonialism of the West Indies England was the most successful of the northwestern European predators on the Spanish possessions. In 1623 the English occupied part of Saint Christopher ( Saint Kitts ), and in 1625 they occupied Barbados.

History of the British West Indies – Wikipedia

The term British West Indies refers to the former English and British colonies and the present-day overseas territories of the United Kingdom in the Caribbean . In the history of the British West Indies there have been several attempts at political unions.

British West Indies – WorldAtlas

May 19, 2021The British West Indies was a group of former British colonies composed of various islands and mainland territories located in or bordering the Caribbean Sea. The island territories that formed a part of the British West Indies were: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Bermuda British Virgin Islands Belize (formerly British Honduras)

Was West Indies a British colony?

Beside above, which was the first British colony in the West Indies? The first colonies of the British Empire were founded in North America (Virginia, 1607) and the West Indies (Barbados, 1625). In 1655 Jamaica was secured. British slave traders started supplying African slaves to the British colonies to work on plantations.

British Colonialism in the West Indies: The Political Legacy

1 Sir Charles Lucas, Historical Geography of the British Colonies, 8 vols, Oxford, 1887-1920. Vol. II, pp. 70-71. Quoted in Elsa Goveia’s, Historiography of the British West Indies, Mexico City, 1954, p. 138. For the later period of Crown Colony government, see D. J. Murray, The West Indies and the Development of Colonial Government, 1801-1834,

American and West Indian colonies before 1782 – The National Archives

Use this guide to find out about records of the British administration in colonial North America (present day United States) and the West Indies. The records can tell you about: the earliest…

The British & French West Indies, a story – African American Registry

Tue, 08.01.1600 The British & French West Indies, a story *Slavery in the British and French West Indies is remembered on this date in 1600 with a brief article. This refers to its practice in the parts of the Caribbean dominated by France or the British Empire.

Former British Colonies – WorldAtlas

Sep 8, 2020India was a colony of Britain from 1858 to 1947. It all began back in the 1600s when Britain first set up the East India Company in order to bring silk, spices, tea, and salt from India to Europe.

West Indies – WorldAtlas

May 23, 2021For example, English is spoken in the former British colony of the Bahamas and the current British colony of Montserrat, while French or French Creole is spoken in formerly French-controlled Haiti and the currently French-controlled islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.

British Empire – Wikipedia

The British West Indies initially provided England’s most important and lucrative colonies. … In 1808, Sierra Leone Colony was designated an official British colony for freed slaves. Parliamentary reform in 1832 saw the influence of the West India Committee decline. The Slavery Abolition Act, passed the following year, abolished slavery in the British Empire on 1 August 1834, finally …

French West Indies – Wikipedia

Pierre Belain d’Esnambuc 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. Belain sailed to the Caribbean in 1625, hoping to establish a French settlement on the island of St. Christopher (St. Kitts). In 1626 he returned to France, where he won the support of Cardinal Richelieu to establish …

British Migration to the West Indies Before 1800 – Genealogical.com

British Migration to the West Indies Before 1800 British Migration to the West Indies Before 1800 By Dr. David Dobson The waning of Spanish power in the early seventeenth century enabled England to establish its Empire in the West Indies. This began with Barbados then spread northwards in the Lesser Antilles and to Jamaica by 1655.

The British Empire in The Caribbean: The British West Indies

The French then planned to attack the most important remaining British colony in the region, Jamaica. Fortunately for the British, the protracted defence of St. Kitts had bought the British time to prepare a fleet to be despatched to the Caribbean to try and salvage their empire there. This fleet, under the command of Rodney, intercepted the French fleet as it attempted to rendezvous with a …

British colonies – Britain and the Caribbean – National 5 History …

British colonies The first colonies of the British Empire were founded in North America (Virginia, 1607) and the West Indies (Barbados, 1625). In 1655 Jamaica was secured. British slave traders…

West Indies | Islands, People, History, Maps, & Facts | Britannica

May 26, 2022West Indies, Spanish Indias Occidentales, French Indes Occidentales, Dutch West-Indië, crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north. From the peninsula of Florida on the mainland of the United States, the islands stretch 1,200 miles (1,900 km …

America and West Indies: Undated, 1600 | British History Online

Jul 7, 20221600? 9. Considerations on a “proposition of planting an English colony in the North West of America.” That if the Prince would assist it in part, Her Majesty’s merchants go liberally into it, the country be stirred to furnish men, some gentlemen moved to be adventurers, and a worthy general chosen, qualified to judge by sight of the strength of places, “it might be a glorious action for our …

The Cabinet Papers | West Indies

West Indies Sugarcane being planted on a hillside in Barbados in 1955. © The National Archives During the 17th century the British established colonies in the islands of the Caribbean. The colonies…

The British West Indies—I – JSTOR

administer the resources of each colony in the interests of its own people, nor one of responsibility to the welfare of the world as a whole, 335. 336 THE BRITISH WEST INDIES but the claims of the colonies in time of need upon the general resources of the Empire are now being recognized. These colonies must be helped; according to their need, not according to the return they can make to the …

British Windward Islands – Wikipedia

the british windward islands was an administrative grouping of british colonies in the windward islands of the west indies, existing from 1833 until 31 december 1959 and consisting of the islands of grenada, st lucia, saint vincent, the grenadines, barbados (the seat of the governor until 1885, when it returned to its former status of a …

Barbados – The National Archives

British West Indies Regiment Key figures Key documents Glossary Overview Barbados was a British colony in 1914. It had been occupied by England since 1625 and privately governed until the Crown…

British colonies – Britain and the Caribbean – BBC Bitesize

British colonies. The first colonies of the British Empire were founded in North America (Virginia, 1607) and the West Indies (Barbados, 1625). In 1655 Jamaica was secured. Around six million …

Great Britain: Colonization and the English Industrial Revolution

Williams was born in 1911 in the West Indies in Trinidad, a British colony since 1902. He studied at Oxford where he presented his doctoral thesis in 1938, which was published in 1944 under the title Capitalism and Slavery., the French translation was published in Paris in 1968. « This study is forced to place in a historical perspective the relationships that exist between the beginnings of …

The Danish Colony in the West Indies

From 1672 to 1917 Denmark had a colony in the Caribbean called the Danish West Indies, which consisted of the islands St. Thomas, St. Jan and St. Croix. In 1917 the colony was sold to the U.S. for $25 million in gold coin. March 31st 2017 is the centenary of Transfer Day, when the Danish West Indies was handed over to the U.S.

British West Indies – hyperleap.com

From 1958 to 1962 Grenada was part of the Federation of the West Indies, a short-lived federation of British West Indian colonies. British Guiana was the name of the British colony, part of the British West Indies (Caribbean), on the northern coast of South America, now known as the independent nation of Guyana (since 1966). It is the only English speaking country in South America, and is …

The British Empire and the First World War: the colonial experience

Despite all these measures, the chronic shortage of labour persisted and workers from all parts of the British Empire (informal as well as formal), notably China, Egypt and the West Indies, were brought to work on the Western front, mainly in France. It is estimated that as many as 100,000 labourers came from the colonies. Indians were recruited for military work services, work on the railways …

Running the West Indies: British records from West Indian countries …

Running the West Indies: British records from West Indian countries under colonial rule is a thematic series contained as a sub-set within the digitized archival content known as British Online Archives (BOA), distributed by Microform Academic Publishers (MAP). This series includes the following collections: Antigua, slavery and emancipation in the records of a sugar plantation, 1689-1907

British Migration to the West Indies Before 1800 – Genealogical.com

The Thirteen Colonies had long traded with the British West Indies, exchanging fish and other provisions for sugar, rum, and fruit. This led to settlement by merchant families in both locations. Probably the most important migrant from the West Indies to America was Alexander Hamilton who was born in Nevis in 1755, moved to St Croix, later settled in New York in 1773, and died in there in 1804 …

West Indies | Encyclopedia.com

West Indies. views 2,258,777 updated Jun 08 2018. West Indies is the general geographical term for the many islands of the Caribbean, the largest of which are Cuba, Hispaniola (politically Haiti and the Dominican Republic ), Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Guadeloupe, and Martinique. After Columbus’ landing on San Salvador in 1492, Spain …

The West Indies and the Southern colonies (video) – Khan Academy

The West Indies and the Southern colonies. Plantation agriculture, and slave labor, united the British colonies in the West Indies and the southern part of the eastern seaboard. In this video, Kim discusses the sugar islands of the Caribbean and how their reliance on enslaved Africans for labor defined plantation society throughout the British …

Resource

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
https://www.britannica.com/place/West-Indies-island-group-Atlantic-Ocean/Colonialism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_British_West_Indies
https://www.worldatlas.com/geography/british-west-indies.html
http://te.youramys.com/was-west-indies-a-british-colony
https://www.jstor.org/stable/25611989
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/american-and-west-indian-colonies-before-1782/
https://aaregistry.org/story/the-british-french-west-indies-a-brief-story/
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/former-british-colonies.html
https://www.worldatlas.com/geography/west-indies.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_West_Indies
https://genealogical.com/2018/06/11/british-migration-to-the-west-indies-before-1800/
https://britishempire.co.uk/maproom/caribbean.htm
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zjyqtfr/revision/2
https://www.britannica.com/place/West-Indies-island-group-Atlantic-Ocean
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol1/p4b
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/west-indies.htm
https://www.jstor.org/stable/25643424
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Windward_Islands
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/first-world-war/a-global-view/the-caribbean/barbados/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zx32pv4/revision/2
https://baripedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain:_Colonization_and_the_English_Industrial_Revolution
https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/historical-themes/danish-colonies/the-danish-west-indies/
https://hyperleap.com/topic/British_West_Indies
https://isj.org.uk/the-british-empire-and-the-first-world-war-the-colonial-experience/
https://edesiderata.crl.edu/resources/running-west-indies-british-records-west-indian-countries-under-colonial-rule%C2%A0
https://genealogical.com/2018/06/11/british-migration-to-the-west-indies-before-1800/
https://www.encyclopedia.com/places/latin-america-and-caribbean/caribbean-political-geography/west-indies
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/colonial-america/early-chesapeake-and-southern-colonies/v/the-west-indies-and-the-southern-colonies