Welcome

Welcome to this blog; I'm hoping this will be a readable, I'll do my best!

On here I'll probably be meaning to write on a number of things on a number of different subjects. Foremost of which will be my life here on the beautiful island of St. Kitts. Let's start off with a shortened history of the island itself.

St. Kitts was a relatively successful British Colony during the early-mid 17th century, and traded largely in sugar, as it was grown very successfully (and still does) on the island. Christopher Columbus introduced sugar cane into the Caribbean (and the island of St. Kitts actually used to be called St. Christopher). The island has traded hands between the French and British, but St. Kitts was eventually returned to the British by the French as terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 which also formally ended the United States' War for Independence.

Caption reads: Natives in a Sugar cane Field (at lunch time) St. Kitts B.W.I. [British West Indies]



Brimstone hill, a (fairly) impregnable fortress located on the Northewesternish side of the island that the British and French fought over in the mid to late 18th century. Interestingly, (to me at least) the citadel is an examples of Trace Italienne architecture. Trace Italienne forts or probably more easy to remember, "Star Forts", were a evolution of the classic castle-type fortification. People always think gunpowder killed the castle, a little, but not quite. Castles instead became these:

Walls were made so that there would always be a line of fire going towards the bad guys, and the bad guys would have a difficult time getting a shot head-on on the good guys (if you are the defender that is). Earth works were also a trend for these forts with stone becoming less important and large packs of dirt behind the walls became more important, this softened the blow of cannon fire allowing the walls to take a greater impact from cannon fire. These forts were in vogue from the 16th century even up to the 19th! Cool stuff.

I did find it interesting that Brimstone Hill is less of a slave to architectural style than it was to the geographical and geological conditions that it rested upon. Most defensive fortifications use the terrain to create the greatest possible defensibility, but Brimstone takes this to a new level! I sure wouldn't want to storm it. It was (according to Wikipedia) known as the 'Gibraltar of the West Indies' [citation needed]. ;)

So fast forward a couple of hundred years and here we are. Sugar cane grows still, but there is no market for it abroad; tourism is now the most profitable industry on the island, and many farmers who had jobs, don't anymore and many are (understandably) upset. I will from here on, however, leave the politics for someone who knows better.

Well that's all for now though, I hope I haven't bored you yet! Much more to come, and more variety too.

PS If any of the above images or any images I ever use are copyrighted and the owner would like them taken down, please let me know in the comments below. I have done and will do my best to only use images that are not copyrighted or are "fair use" images.