THE LEGACY ISLES

Some palm-scattered sun-soaked Caribbean isles boast English histories, culture and linguistic traits

The first Caribbean islands to be settled by the British were the north-east island of St Kitts, in 1623, and Barbados, in 1627, in the south-east corner of the Caribbean Basin. Once settled, splinter communities set off to form their own colonies of English-speakers in other locations, such as Jamaica which was taken by the British from the Spanish in 1660.

Though all of the above islands share different colonial histories, culture and identities, the linguistic characteristics of the island put them together, collectively, in an English-speaking group. Over time, these formed different federations and unions, usually based on location or defensive needs.

The first Federation in the British West Indies was established by Sir William Stapleton in 1674 and by the 18th century, each island had kept its own Assembly and made its own laws. Between 1816 and 1833, the Leewards were divided into two groups: St. Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla and Antigua-Barbuda-Montserrat, each with its own Governor. In 1833 all the LeewardIslands were brought together, and Dominica was added, remaining as part of the group until 1940.

In 1833 the Windward Islands became a formal union called the Windward Islands Colony of which Trinidad and St Lucia were added in 1838. In 1840, however, Trinidad left the Colony to form a union with Tobago, Barbados wished to retain its separate identity and ancient institutions and individual islands resisted British attempts at a closer union. Barbados in particular fought to retain its own Assembly and left the union in 1884. Grenada and the Grenadines, St. Vincent and St. Lucia stayed part of the Windward Islands Colony during the entire period. Dominica joined in 1940, after having been transferred from the Leewards, and remained in the Colony until 1958 when each island chose to join the new Federation of the West Indies as a separate unit.

Jamaica and dependencies comprised The Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos and Jamaica with British Honduras (later known as Belize) afforded the protection of the Jamaica military in 1742 when under threat from the Spanish. In 1862 British Honduras became a Crown Colony but broke all administrative ties with Jamaica to self-govern, as did the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Today, the English language seems to be common everywhere in the Caribbean, though this is primarily in major resorts, sailing communities and big cities. As the third most established language throughout the Caribbean, it is common in all English-speaking territories and prime tourist spots. There are frequent surprises through, for example many smaller islands were changed hands multiple times between the colonial maritime powers, England, France, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands - some of these, have retained the English language as an ‘acrolect’ of a ‘basiclect’, a sub-variety of the English language. The largest of these is Creole, avernacular spoken widely in the Caribbean, both on the islands and on the Central and South American rim. An English-based creole is also spoken in large numbers on the main anglophone island of Jamaica as well as the following Caribbean destinations:

•    Anguilla

•    Antigua & Barbuda

•    The Bahamas

•    The Cayman Islands

•    Dominica

•    Grenada

•    Jamaica

•    St Kitts & Nevis

•    Saint Lucia

•    Saint Vincent & the Grenadines

•    Trinidad & Tobago

•    Turks and Caicos

•    British Virgin Islands

•    US Virgin Islands

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