Saint Kitts and Nevis: 20th Century Developments

Through much of the twentieth century, Saint Kitts and Nevis remained a British colony administered as part of the Leeward Islands, with an economy still centered on sugar cultivation. Political reform proceeded gradually: universal adult suffrage was introduced in 1952, and the islands, together with Anguilla, became an Associated State in 1967 with self-government over internal affairs while Britain retained responsibility for defense and foreign policy. Anguilla's residents soon rejected the arrangement, and after a period of unrest the island was allowed to separate from the union in 1980.

Saint Kitts and Nevis pursued full independence from Britain in the following years, though the process required balancing the interests of both islands. In the 1980 elections, the People's Action Movement and the Nevis Reformation Party formed a coalition government under Premier Kennedy Simmonds, creating the political basis for negotiating a joint path to statehood despite earlier disagreements between the islands over the terms of independence.

A federal constitution was adopted on June 23, 1983, granting Nevis its own island legislature and a degree of autonomy, along with a provision allowing it to pursue secession through a supermajority referendum. Saint Kitts and Nevis became fully independent on September 19, 1983, the last of Britain's Caribbean colonies to do so, and closed the century building the institutions of a small, twin-island parliamentary democracy within the Commonwealth.