CLICK ON THE MAP - IT WILL ENLARGE TO A FULL VIEW OF THE CARIBBEAN
I had received an email today saying that I would be receiving a phone call between noon and 4 p.m. from the heads of the Eastern Caribbean Peace Corps group. At 2:15p.m. the phone rang and before the conversation was over, I learned that I was not going to be going to the island of Grenada but had been switched to the island(s) of St. Kitts and Nevis. These are a lot closer to the US and British Virgin Islands. Click on the map above and you can see an enlarged view of the Caribbean and there is St. Kitts/Nevis just across the way from St. John's Antigua.
I will have a change in job responsibilities as well. No longer will I be working with NGO's (non-governmental organizations - non-profits) but using my years of experience as a Small Business Developer. Right now I am just in a state of shock! I've Googled St. Kitts and Nevis and put some information on this page for you all to read, but I'm a little flabbergasted and confused at the moment. At least it's still the Caribbean, the weather is the same and all the summer clothes I have packed will not go to waste! As I learn more, I'll share the information with you. As do most of the islands in the Caribbean, St. Kitts and Nevis seem to have glorious beaches, wonderful snorkeling and diving, great resorts (even a 4 Seasons) and a fairly poor native population. Here is a small history of this island nation.
Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis (also known as the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis[1, located in the Leeward Islands, is a federal two-island nation in the West Indies. It is the smallest nation in the Americas, in both area and population.
The capital city and headquarters of government for the federated state is on the larger island of Saint Kitts. The smaller state of Nevis lies about 2 miles (3 km) southeast of Saint Kitts, across a shallow channel called "The Narrows".
Historically, the British dependency of Anguilla was also a part of this union, which was then known collectively as Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla.
Saint Kitts and Nevis are geographically part of the Leeward Islands. To the north-northwest lie the islands of Saint Eustatius, Saba, Saint Barthélemy, and Saint-Martin/Sint Maarten. To the east and northeast are Antigua and Barbuda, and to the southeast is the small uninhabited island of Redonda, and the island of Montserrat, which currently has an active volcano (see Soufrière Hills.)
Saint Kitts and Nevis were amongst the first islands in the Caribbean to be settled by Europeans. Saint Kitts was home to the first British and French colonies in the Caribbean.
Saint Kitts and Nevis is the smallest nation on Earth to ever host a World Cup event; it was one of the host venues of the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
Intoxicating natural beauty, sunny skies, warm waters, and white sandy beaches combine to make St. Kitts one of the most seductive spots in the Caribbean. Christopher Columbus first spotted St. Kitts in 1493, when it was populated with native tribes, but the Europeans did not colonize until the British arrived in 1623. Its strategic location and valuable sugar trade led to an advanced and luxurious development that was among the best in the Colonial Caribbean.
While development has been of the highest quality, it has fortunately remained in low quantity, so St. Kitts remains un-crowded and unspoiled, famous around the world for excellent preservation of the ecosystems. Nature lovers will want to take advantage of the various tours through lava formations, tropical forest areas, and seaside lagoons. Boating tours and scuba diving expeditions are also favorite activities. Plantation homes have been transformed into grand, intimate inns. Quaint shopping areas and beautiful Colonial architecture draw visitors to the tiny towns. If a quiet vacation in a luxurious and alluring corner of paradise is what you seek, you'll find it on St. Kitts.
The peaceful calm of St. Kitts suggests nothing of the extraordinary history of the island. For centuries, St. Kitts occupied a critical position in the European struggle for the West Indies, combining exceptional wealth as sugar colonies with a vital strategic position as gateways to the Caribbean. As a result, the struggles and conflicts that marked their history are among the most decisive episodes in Caribbean history.
St. Kitts is a volcanic island, a fact to which it owes its dramatic central mountains, its rather unpredictable geologic history, and its lush tropical vegetation. In fact, St. Kitts' pre-Columbian Carib inhabitants knew their island as Liamuiga, or "fertile land," a reference to the island's rich and productive volcanic soil. Today that name graces St. Kitts' central peak, a 3,792-foot extinct volcano.
The recorded history of St. Kitts begins with the second voyage in 1493 of Christopher Columbus who sailed past the island but did not land. There is some doubt as to whether it is this island that Columbus gave the name St. Christopher (after himself ). In any case, by the time the Englishman Thomas Warner arrived with fourteen other settlers in 1624 to found the first non-Spanish European colony in the Caribbean, the island was known as St. Christopher's.
Thomas Warner chose St. Christopher for its abundant forests and fresh water, its fertile easily worked soil, its accessible physical structure, and the presence of salt.
St. Kitts, the larger of the two islands, is roughly oval in shape except for a long, narrow peninsula to the southeast. Its highest point is Mount Liamuiga (3,792 ft [1,156 m]). The Narrows, a 2-mile- (3-km-) wide channel, separates the two islands. The circularly shaped Nevis is surrounded by coral reefs and the island is almost entirely a single mountain, Nevis Peak (3,232 ft [985 m]). A volcanic mountain chain dominates the center of both islands.
