Category: Saint Kitts and Nevis

The Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis is an island country in the Antilles. There are 52 thousand residents (2016). The capital is Basseterre. The islands of São Cristóvão and Neves were seen by Christopher Columbus in 1493, who named them San Cristóbal y Nieves. The colonization of the two islands began, in the 17th century, by the English and the French, who disputed their possession, until 1783, when the Treaty of Paris was signed, giving the possession to the British. Independence was achieved in 1983. Note: It is common to register, in Portuguese, the spelling “Névis” (with an acute accent), instead of Neves. But this is a tortuous aportuguesamento of the topony Nevis, used in English. The name originally comes from the Spanish, Nieves (Neves, in Portuguese), an allusion from Colombo to the clouds commonly seen over Pico das Neves, on the Island, and a tribute to Nossa Senhora das Neves.