Adapted from works by Coville Petty, O.B.E. and Nik Douglas

Around 4000 years ago, Anguilla was a lush island covered in dense rain forest. It was discovered by Amerindian peoples who came by dugout canoes and rafts from South America's mainland. They called Anguilla "Malliouhana" which meant arrow-shape sea serpent and they developed villages, farms and ceremonial sites to their gods.

Heritage Collection Museum courtesy Bob Green's Anguilla News www.news.ai and Professor Gaetano Di Palo

Evidence of these Amerindians as old as 3300 years has been found at the eastern end of Anguilla. Shell axes, conch shell drinking vessels, flint blades and stone objects from the pre-ceramic era have all been uncovered on Anguilla. There is no record of how long this first group of Amerindians lived on the island.

By the fourth 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 Arawak Indian belief was based on the sun and moon and two sacred caverns, where they believed all of mankind originated. There is much evidence of this belief system in Anguilla's two impressive cave sites located at the eastern end of the island, Big Springs at Island Harbour and The Fountain at Shoal Bay. The Fountain is the Eastern Caribbean's most intact ceremonial site from this period and features a stalagmite carved in the likeness of Jocahu, the Supreme Deity of the Arawak people, petroglyphs and offering bowls. Big Springs, a limestone sinkhole which provides an overhang to a fresh water source, contains a large petroglyph, a small carved stalagmite and other interesting artifacts.

The Fountain is currently closed to the public. The National Parks System, administered by the National Trust, is seeking to develop this historic site into an eco-tourism attraction. Tours of Big Spring can be arranged through the Anguilla National Trust.

Christopher Columbus sailed by Anguilla is 1493 but never landed. During this time the Europeans changed the island's name from Malliouhana to Anguilla, for its long eel shape.

It was in 1650 that Anguilla first became colonized. English settlers found that the soil in Anguilla was good for growing corn and tobacco, so plantations began. When they arrived on the island there were no Amerindians inhabiting Anguilla, but by 1656 Indians from a neighboring island destroyed their settlement.

In 1666 Anguilla was captured by a French expedition and settlers fled to the forests. The following year the island was returned to Britain under the Treaty of Breda. In 1744 Anguilla, assisted by privateers from St. Kitts captured the French half of neighboring St. Martin. Retaliation came on May 21, 1745, when two French frigates and some small craft attacked at Crocus Bay. The Anguillians repulsed them in less than fifteen minutes. St. Martin was returned to the French in 1748 under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.

Heading into the 1800's Anguilla possessed a plantation economy like most of the Caribbean. Rum, sugar, cotton, indigo, fustic and mahogany were its chief exports. Unfortunately, the soil on Anguilla was thin and rainfall was unreliable making conditions for a plantation economy unfavourable. Estates were small and could not employ many slaves. Those who were employed spent most of their time tending their own food plots rather than the plantation. Eventually, slaves began to develop into individual peasant proprietors, fisherman or sailors, which increased their personal independence. By 1833 the British Parliament passed the Emancipation Act which came into force on August 1, 1834. By this time the population on Anguilla shrunk to a mere 1,956 persons due to the island's difficult natural conditions.

Meanwhile, the 1830's brought the union of St. Kitts -Nevis-Anguilla on Britain's recommendation -- a union protested by the majority of Anguilla's freeholders. Anguilla was allowed one freeholder representative to the House of Assembly on the Island of St. Kitts and was mostly neglected by the tri-island legislature.

In 1958, St. Kitts -Nevis-Anguilla became part of the Federation of the West Indies. The Federation collapsed in 1962, which resulted in individual constitutions for most islands St. Kitts -Nevis-Anguilla was made an associated statehood, a political decision that sparked the Anguilla Revolution. Anguilla wanted its independence from the state and the proposed union was not a viable option for the island.

May 30, 1967 is celebrated today as Anguilla Day. This day commemorates the repulsion of the Royal St. Kitts Police Force from the island. Britain intervened and a peacekeeping committee was established. Debates over Anguilla's succession continued to be negotiated for another decade until December 19, 1980, Anguilla became a separate Dependent Territory with some measure of autonomy in Government.

 

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