-1000 B.C. : the Ciboneys are the first occupants. 2nd c. A.D. : the Arawaks arrive. 10th c. A.D: invasion of the Caribs. The island is called "Ouanalao". 1496: Christopher Colombus discovers the island and names it after his brother Bartholomew. 1648: first arrivals of European colonists. 1651: the island is sold to Knights of Malta. 1660: after four years of exile, the colonists return to the island. 1665: St-Barth is sold to the West Indian Company. 1674: St-Barth becomes part of the royal colony of Guadeloupe. 1690-1764: War between France and England for control of the region. 1749: the island is declared a "free port" by royal decree. 1785: start of the island's era of prosperity. 1785: the island is handed over to Sweden in exchange for the right to maintain commercial warehouses. 1801-1802: occupation by the British. 1828: start of the island's economic decline. 1847: abolition of slavery on St-Barts. 1878: the island reverts to France on March 16. 1914: World War I mobilizes St-Barts also. 1934: inauguration of the hospital. 1940-1945: the war years, when supply restrictions leave St-Barts dependent on the neighboring islands. 1945: Rémy de Haenen makes the first landing at St-Jean. 1980 :to the present: the tourist boom years.
Discovered by Christopher Colombus in 1493, and baptized according to his brother Barthélemy, Saint Barth was colonized first in 1648 by natives of the close island of Saint-Kitts. This first colonization was not a great success and in 1651, the island was sold to the order of Malta. Five years later, a raid of the Caribbean Indians destroyed the colony massacring all the colonists. Their head was planted on spades along the beach of Lorient to discourage other visitors. In 1763, the island was once more colonized, this time by French sailors of Normandy and Brittany. This colony succeeded. French buccaneers were well, and improved there the economic conditions thanks to significant booties brought back from Spanish galions. Monbars the Exterminator, a famous buccaneer of noble French origin, is known to have made of Saint Barth his home port. It is reported that its treasure is always hidden in one of the splits of the Anse of the Governor, or is buried in the sand of Saline. Gradually, the buccaneers became small merchants, tradesmen, fishermen and farmers. The island was however too small, too rocky, and too dry to take part in the sugar economy of the larger islands. Apart from a short attack by the English in 1758, Saint Barth remained French until 1784, where it was suddenly sold to Sweden by one of the ministers of Louis XIV in exchange of commercial laws in the Swedish port of Gothenburg. As a free port of Swedish right, Saint Barth was used as a center of trade and supply for the various factions in the colonial war during the 18th century. When a captain made spoils of war or plundered a colony, he could come and sell its spoils in Saint Barth, and restock by the same occasion. Warehouses overflowing of goods enclosed the port which itself sheltered ships of all countries, and a tradition of trade and construction was born at this time, which still exists today. However, this boom ended quickly, with the end of hostilities, and the sailing ships were replaced by motor ships. France became again purchaser of the island in 1878. The statute of free port has been preserved until today, like some Swedish memories in the shape of buildings, of a cemetery, some street names and of course, the name of the port and capital, Gustavia. In 1946, Martinique and Guadeloupe, including Saint Barth, became French departments with all the rights and duties of the departments of France. In 1967, Great Britain left the majority of its West-Indian possessions because they became a too heavy burden to carry, without hope of improvement. Sugar is not any more a lucrative product, and increasing populations ask more and more public services without the local profits being able to face it. That year, France increased the amount of its assistance in the islands, and it did not stop increasing since then. During the twenty last years, the resident population of Saint Barth has more than doubled. Less natives leave the island and a growing number of French and foreigners come and settle there.
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