British Leeward Islands

The British Leeward Islands was a colonial federation in the eastern Caribbean, formed in 1671 from the English possessions in the Leeward Islands. It brought together Antigua, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, the British Virgin Islands and, for much of its history, Dominica. The governor was usually based in Antigua, at St. John's, while deputy governors and local assemblies handled affairs on the individual islands. The colony was split between 1816 and 1833 into two separate administrations, then reunited as a semi-federal entity under the governor of Antigua. From 1872 it was formally known as the Federal Colony of the Leeward Islands. Its economy depended on sugar and enslaved labour; after emancipation the islands faced a long economic decline, and the 1930s brought labour unrest and demands for political reform. Dominica left for the Windward Islands in 1940, and on 3 January 1958 most remaining islands joined the West Indies Federation. The British Leeward Islands was dissolved in 1958, and its governorship was abolished in 1960 when the British Virgin Islands became a separate colony.