British Windward Islands
British Windward Islands | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 1833–1958 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Motto: "I pede fausto" (Go with a lucky foot) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Anthem: "God Save the Queen" | |||||||||||||||||||
| Status | British colony | ||||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Bridgetown (1871–1885) St George's (1885–1958)¹ | ||||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | English | ||||||||||||||||||
| Government | Constitutional monarchy | ||||||||||||||||||
| Monarch | |||||||||||||||||||
• 1952-1960 (last) | Elizabeth II | ||||||||||||||||||
| Governor-in-Chief | |||||||||||||||||||
• 1958-1960 (last) | Sir Colville Deverell | ||||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||||
• Established | 1833 | ||||||||||||||||||
• Federation | 1871 | ||||||||||||||||||
• Colony of Barbados left | 1885 | ||||||||||||||||||
• British Tobago left | 1889 | ||||||||||||||||||
• British Dominica joined | 1940 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1956 | |||||||||||||||||||
• West Indies Federation | 1958 | ||||||||||||||||||
• Federation dissolved | 31 May 1962 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1958 | 2,100 km2 (810 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||||
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¹ Bridgetown was the capital before 1885 | |||||||||||||||||||
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The British Windward Islands was a British colony existing between 1833 and 1960 and consisting of the islands of Grenada, St Lucia, Saint Vincent, the Grenadines, Barbados (the seat of the governor until 1885, when it returned to its former status of a completely separate colony), Tobago (until 1889, when it was joined to Trinidad), and (since 1940) Dominica, previously included in the British Leeward Islands.
The colony was known as the Federal Colony of the Windward Islands from 1871 to June 1956, and then as the Territory of the Windward Islands until its dissolution in 1960.
The capital was Bridgetown on Barbados, from 1871 to 1885, and thereafter Saint George's on Grenada. The islands were not a single colony, but a confederation of separate colonies with a common governor-in-chief, while each island retained its own institutions. The Windward Islands had neither legislature, laws, revenue nor tariff in common. There was, however, a common court of appeal for the group as well as for Barbados, composed of the chief justices of the respective islands, and there was also a common audit system, while the islands united in maintaining certain institutions of general utility.
See also
- List of Governors of the British Windward Islands
- History of the British West Indies
- Windward Islands
- British Leeward Islands
- Windward Islands cricket team
Sources and references
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - WorldStatesmen- Grenada, also shows flags
External links
- Queen and Commonwealth: Other Caribbean realms for the official website of the British monarchy
- U.S Library of Congress - Barbados and the Windward Islands colony
Former British Empire and Current British Overseas Territories | |||||||||||
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