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Shoal Bay history - learn what once happend
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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Shoal Bay Vacations site
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