On 19 September 1983 St Kitts and Nevis achieved full independence from the United Kingdom, becoming the smallest sovereign state in the Western Hemisphere. Independence transferred control of defence and foreign affairs — the last powers Britain had retained under associated statehood — to the people of the two islands, and gave the nation its Constitution, its flag and its anthem.
The final steps to sovereignty
By the early 1980s the islands had governed themselves internally for more than a decade. Following constitutional conferences with Britain and intense negotiation between the parties on both islands — particularly over the autonomy Nevis would hold within the new federation — the date was set. The new Constitution established a federal, parliamentary, democratic state with a distinct Nevis Island Administration, the structure described in our guide to the government of St Kitts and Nevis.
The first moments of nationhood
As 18 September turned to 19 September 1983, the British flag was lowered and the new national flag — green, red and black with a gold-edged diagonal band and two white stars, designed by Edrice Lewis — was raised for the first time. The story of that design and its symbolism is told in full in our flag cornerstone guide. The new national anthem, “O Land of Beauty!”, composed by Kenrick Anderson Georges, was performed as the emblem of a people now responsible for their own destiny.
Dr Kennedy Alphonse Simmonds, who had led the government since 1980, became the first Prime Minister of the independent federation. For his role in carrying the islands into sovereignty he was later knighted and named one of the nation’s five official National Heroes.
What independence meant
Independence completed a journey that ran from the Workers’ League of 1932 through universal suffrage in 1952 and statehood in 1967. The new nation took its seat at the United Nations, joined the Commonwealth, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States and CARICOM, and assumed the right to speak for itself in the world. At home, sovereignty anchored a national identity that the islands celebrate every year on September 19 — explored in our guides to the independence story and how Independence Day is celebrated.
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