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Anguilla History
The history of Anguilla can be divided in three periods: The pre-colonial history, the colonial history and the modern history.
The pre-colonial history
Around 3500 years ago, Anguilla was covered in dense rain forest. Archaeological finds indicate that the island was first settled by Amerindian tribes, the Arawaks. These Amerindians came by dugout canoes and rafts from South America's mainland. They named the island Malliouhana. Religious artifacts found at Big Springs and Fountain Cavern and dated around 1300 BC suggest that the inhabitants were extremely religious in nature. They developed villages, farms and ceremonial sites to their gods. It is not known how long this first group of Amerindians stayed on the island.
By the 4th century AD, Amerindians of the Saladoid culture settled in Anguilla. The Saladoids were adept farmers, pottery makers, weavers and basket makers. Many of their creations incorporated their religious beliefs.
The colonial history
Christopher Columbus first sighted Anguilla in 1493, but the discovery of the island is often credited to the French explorer Pierre Laudonnaire. He landed on the island in 1565.
The Dutch claim to have built a fort on the island in 1631, but there have never been found any remains. In 1650 the island of Anguilla first became colonized by the English. The settlers began growing corn and tobacco. Although the island was uninhabited when the English arrived, Carib Indians from a neighbouring island destroyed the settlements in 1656. The French captured the island in 1666, but the British regained control in 1667 under the Treaty of Breda.
In 1744 Anguilla captured the French half of neighboring Saint Martin and held it until the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748). Retaliation came in 1745 and 1796 when the French tried to invade Anguilla. Both attempts failed.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Anguilla possessed a plantation economy. Slaves from Africa were imported to work on the plantations. Rum, sugar, cotton, indigo, fustic and mahogany were the main exports. Because the soil on Anguilla was thin and the rainfall was unreliable the plantation economy was not a big success. The slaves were permitted to leave the plantations and pursue their own interests. The plantation owners started to leave Anguilla and left the island to the farmers and fishermen of African descent. The population dropped dramatically.
In the 1830s the British government placed Anguilla under the administrative control of the colony of Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla. The Anguillans protested strongly against this arrangement
The modern history
In 1967, Britain wanted to form a new Caribbean nation, the Associated State of Saint Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, with Britain continuing to hold the reins on foreign affairs and defense. The Anguillans objected strongly and on May 30th they forced the Saint Kitts police to leave the island. Britain intervened and a peacekeeping committee was established.
On December 19th, 1980, Anguilla formally disassociated itself from Saint Kitts and became a separate British dependency.