19th September: St Kitts and Nevis Independence Day

St Kitts and Nevis gained independence from the UK on this date in 1983.

1. It is a two island nation located in the West Indies, and is the smallest sovereign state in the Americas, in both area and population.
2. It has had a variety of names throughout history. Before the Europeans arrived, the islands were called "Liamuiga", which roughly translates as "fertile land" (this name lives on in the country's highest peak, at 1,156 metres, Mount Liamuiga, a dormant volcano once known as Mount Misery) and "Oualie", meaning "land of beautiful waters". It is thought Columbus may actually have given the name to a different island while naming Saint Kitts Sant Yago (Saint James) - but a mapping error led to the island that is now Saint Kitts being widely called "San Cristóbal", and later "St. Christopher's Island" by the British. In the 17th century, a common nickname for Christopher was Kit, or Kitt. This is why the island was often informally referred to as "Saint Kitt's Island", further shortened to "Saint Kitts." Columbus's original name for Nevis was San Martín. The current name "Nevis" is derived from a Spanish name Nuestra Señora de las Nieves (Our Lady of the Snows). It is thought the white clouds on Nevis Peak reminded the sailors of snow. For a while, the British called their settlement "Dulcina," a name meaning "sweet one" in Spanish, they eventually reverted back to a shortened version of the Spanish name, Nevis.
3. Sugar was once a major export crop although agriculture has diversified in recent years. Nevertheless, the St. Kitts and Nevis national Football team is known as the "Sugar Boyz", and a popular tourist attraction is the Sugar Train, the only coastal scenic railway in the Caribbean.
4. Established in 1984, St. Kitts’ citizenship program is the oldest economic citizenship program of this kind in the world. If you want to become a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis, you will need to undergo a few legal checks and then buy government approved real-estate to the value of US$400,000. This entitles you and your family and descendants to full citizenship.
5. Saint Kitts is known for its Christmas Carnival which takes place between 17 December and 3 January each year. Crowd favorites include the Miss Caribbean Talented Teen Pageant, the Junior Calypso Show, and the National Carnival Queen Pageant.
6. The national bird is the Brown pelican.
7. Saint Kitts also has a population of vervet monkeys which may have arrived with French settlers as pets or with West African slaves brought in to work in the rum industry. The monkeys are known to get drunk on the fermented juice of sugar canes. Studies have shown that the monkey population reacts in a similar way to alcohol as humans, with some monkeys becoming alcoholics, most being social drinkers and a few not touching the stuff at all.
8. The capital city is Basseterre, located on Saint Kitts, and is a major port.
9. The Flag of St. Kitts and Nevis is divided diagonally by a broad Black band with two white, five-pointed stars; the black band is edged in Yellow; the upper triangle is Green, the lower triangle is red; green signifies the island's fertility, red symbolises the struggles of the people from slavery, yellow denotes year-round sunshine, and black represents the African heritage of the people; the white stars stand for the islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, but can also express hope and liberty, or independence and optimism.
10. Mel B, the former "Scary Spice" of the Spice Girls and the actress Angela Griffin both have Nevisian fathers.