About Opentopia
Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Encyclopedia : S : SA : SAI : Saint Kitts and Nevis

 

Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis

Flag of
Saint Kitts and Nevis
(In Detail) 		Coat of Arms
(In Detail)
''National Anthem: O Land of Beauty!
Royal anthem: God Save the Queen''
National motto: Country Above Self

Location of Saint Kitts and Nevis
Official language English
Capital Basseterre
Monarch of Saint Kitts and Nevis>Queen Elizabeth II
Governor General Sir Cuthbert Sebastian
Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis>Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas
Area
 - Total
 - % water 		Ranked 207th
261 km²
Negligible
Population
 - Total
 - Population density>Density 		Ranked 209th
42,696 (July 2005)
149/km²
Human Development Index>HDI (2003) 49th) – high
Independence
 - Date 		From the United Kingdom
September 19, 1983
Currency East Caribbean dollar (EC$)
Time zone UTC -4
National anthem O Land of Beauty!
Top-level domain>Internet TLD .kn
List of country calling codes>Calling Code 1-869
[http://encycl.opentopia.com/ edit]
Saint Kitts and Nevis, officially the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis (or the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis), located in the Leeward Islands, is a unitary island nation in the Caribbean and the smallest nation in the Western Hemisphere. The capital city and government for the federated state is mainly on the larger island of Saint Kitts (formerly named Saint Christopher). The smaller state of Nevis (formerly named: Nuestra Señora de las Nieves) lies about 3km southeast of Saint Kitts. Historically the British dependency of Anguilla was also a part of this union, which was then known collectively as Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla.

Although Saint Kitts and Nevis are geographically within the Leeward Islands, they are relatively close to a cluster of several other islands. To the north-north west lie the islands of Saint Eustatius, Saba, Saint Barthélemy, and Saint Martin. To the north-east lie Antigua and Barbuda, and to the south-east lies Montserrat.

Both the names Saint Christopher and Saint Kitts are given in the [Constitution of Saint Christopher and Nevis].

Contents

History

Former colonies of the United Kingdom, Saint Kitts and Nevis along with Anguilla, became an associated state with full internal autonomy in 1967. Angullians rebelled and their island was allowed to separate from the others in 1971. St. Kitts and Nevis achieved independence in 1983. The country remains the newest sovereign nation of the Americas to this day, but will lose that title to Curacao and Sint Maarten (the Dutch part of Saint Martin) in July 2007. In August 1998, a vote in Nevis on a referendum to separate from St. Kitts fell short of the two-thirds majority needed. In late September 1998, Hurricane Georges caused approximately $445 million in damages and limited GDP growth for the year.

Alexander Hamilton, the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, was born on Nevis and spent his childhood there and on the island of St. Croix.

Politics

More information on politics and government of Saint Kitts and Nevis can be found at the Politics and government of Saint Kitts and Nevis series.
The country is an independent Commonwealth Realm with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state, represented in St. Kitts and Nevis by a governor general, who acts on the advice of the Prime Minister and the cabinet. The prime minister is the leader of the majority party of the house, and the cabinet conducts affairs of state.

St. Kitts and Nevis has a unicameral legislature, known as the National Assembly. It is comprised of fourteen members - eleven elected representatives - three of whom are from the island of Nevis - and three members who are appointed by the Governor-General. The three appointed members are known as Senators, with two being appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister, and one on the advice of the leader of the opposition. Though they are referred to as Senators, they do not form a separate house of parliament, as in some other countries. Both representatives and senators serve five-year terms. The prime minister and the cabinet are responsible to the Parliament.

Saint Kitts and Nevis are a full & participating member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

Parishes of Saint Kitts and Nevis
Enlarge
Parishes of Saint Kitts and Nevis

Parishes

There are fourteen parishes:

Geography

Map of Saint Kitts and Nevis
Enlarge
Map of Saint Kitts and Nevis

The country has two main islands, Saint Kitts and Nevis. The highest peak is Mount Liamuiga, which tops at 1 156 m.

The islands are of volcanic origin, with large central peaks covered in jungle; the steep slopes leading to these peaks are mostly uninhabited. The vast majority of the population on both islands live close to the sea where the terrain flattens out. There are numerous rivers descending from the mountains of both islands, which provide fresh water to the local population. St. Kitts also has one very small lake.

Economy

Saint Kitts and Nevis was the last sugar monoculture in the Eastern Caribbean. Faced with a sugar industry that was finding it increasingly difficult to earn a profit, the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis embarked on a program to diversify the agricultural sector and stimulate the development of other sectors of the economy.

In mid-2005, the sugar economy in St. Kitts was finally shut down by the government, after running continuous losses for many years. As of this writing, the primary industry of St. Kitts is tourism.

Demographics

As of July 2000, there were 42,696 inhabitants; their average life expectancy was 72.4 years. Emigration has historically been very high, and the population is about 25% lower than at its peak of about 51,100 in 1960.

Emigration from St. Kitts & Nevis to the United States:

(Source: http://uscis.gov)

Culture

Miscellaneous topics

Gallery

Image:3643_aquaimages.jpg|Downtown Basseterre Image:3649_aquaimages.jpg|Downtown Basseterre Image:3668_aquaimages.jpg|Fishing boat, Basseterre harbor Image:3476_aquaimages.jpg|Flamingo Tongue shell on a Sea Fan Image:3537_aquaimages.jpg|Divers and anemone on the MV River Taw wreck Image:3584_aquaimages.jpg|Juvenile French Angelfish near a sunken van Image:3624_aquaimages.jpg|Diver and fish, MV River Taw wreck Image:3682_aquaimages.jpg|Diver and sponges Image:3757_aquaimages.jpg|Royal Gramma or Fairy Basslet

External links

Government

Directories

Tourism

Other

Countries in the Caribbean
Independent nations: Antigua and Barbuda | Bahamas | Barbados | Cuba | Dominica | Dominican Republic | Grenada | Haiti | Jamaica | Saint Kitts and Nevis | Saint Lucia | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Trinidad and Tobago
Dependencies: -British: Anguilla | British Virgin Islands | Cayman Islands | Montserrat | Turks and Caicos Islands | -Dutch: Aruba & Netherlands Antilles | -French: Guadeloupe & Martinique | -U.S.: Navassa Island | Puerto Rico | U.S. Virgin Islands


 
Caribbean Community (CARICOM)

Antigua and Barbuda | Bahamas¹ | Barbados | Belize | Dominica | Grenada | Guyana | Haiti¹ | Jamaica | Montserrat² | Saint Kitts and Nevis | Saint Lucia | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Suriname | Trinidad and Tobago
Associate members: Anguilla | Bermuda | Cayman Islands | British Virgin Islands | Turks and Caicos Islands
Observer status: Aruba | Colombia | Dominican Republic | Mexico | Netherlands Antilles | Puerto Rico | Venezuela
¹ member of the community but not the CARICOM (Caribbean) Single Market and Economy.
² territory of the United Kingdom just awaiting British instruments of entrustment to join the (CSME)

[[zh-min-nan:Sèng Kitts kap Nevis]]

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: