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C H E M C O N T R O L Integrated Supply Solutions
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Main Geographic Markets Our market primarily includes the Eastern Caribbean. See Caribbean GDP Figures.
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SAINT KITTS & NEVIS First settled by the British in 1623, the islands became an associated state with full internal autonomy in 1967. The island of Anguilla rebelled and was allowed to secede in 1971. Saint Kitts and Nevis achieved independence in 1983. In 1998, a vote in Nevis on a referendum to separate from Saint Kitts fell short of the two-thirds majority needed. Nevis is once more trying to separate from the Saint Kitts. Economy Sugar was the traditional mainstay of the Saint Kitts economy until the 1970s. Although the crop still dominates the agricultural sector, activities such as tourism, export-oriented manufacturing, and offshore banking have assumed larger roles in the economy. Tourism revenues are now the chief source of the islands' foreign exchange. The opening of a 470-room resort in February 2003 was expected to bring in much-needed revenue. History When Christopher Columbus explored the islands in 1493, they were inhabited by the Carib people. Today, most of the inhabitants are the descendants of African slaves. The British settled on St. Kitts—formerly St. Christopher—in 1623, and on Nevis in 1628. The French settled on St. Kitts in 1627, and an Anglo-French rivalry lasted for more than 100 years. After a decisive British victory over the French at Brimstone Hill in 1782, the islands came under permanent British control. The islands, along with nearby Anguilla, were united in 1882. They joined the West Indies federation in 1958 and remained in that association until its dissolution in 1962. St. Kitts–Nevis-Anguilla became an associated state of the United Kingdom in 1967. Anguilla seceded in 1980, and St. Kitts and Nevis gained independence on Sept. 19, 1983. A drop in world sugar prices hurt the nation's economy through the mid-1980s, and the government sought to reduce the islands' dependence on sugar production and to diversify the economy, promoting tourism and financial services. In 1990, the prime minister of Nevis announced that he intended to seek an end to the federation with St. Kitts by 1992, but a local election in June 1992 postponed the idea. In Aug. 1998, 62% of the population voted for Nevis to secede, but the vote fell short of the two-thirds majority required. The country had been blacklisted by various international financial agencies for improprieties in its off-shore financial services industry, but by 2002 it had been removed from all such lists. Population St. Kitts and Nevis had a population of about 45,000 in 1986; population density was 167 per square kilometer. Despite a crude birth rate of 26 per 1,000 inhabitants, annual population change has been about zero or slightly negative since 1970 because of continued emigration; nearly 20 percent of the population left the island each year in search of employment. Most went to Canada, Britain, or the United States and its Caribbean territories. The long trend of labor emigration from St. Kitts and Nevis was tied to its economic and social development. Both men and women emigrated with the understanding that remittances to family members at home were expected of them for the entire time they were abroad. Some researchers have suggested that these remittances accounted for a greater percentage of disposable income than wages and salaries earned at home. In the 1980s, more than 90 percent of Kittitians were black; most could trace their heritage to the African slave trade that was responsible for populating much of the Eastern Caribbean in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. There was, however, a small group of white inhabitants who dominated the economy and were prominently represented in the merchant, banking, and other business professions. The remainder of the population consisted of a small group of mulattoes. Notwithstanding this apparent racial division, socioeconomic stratification on St. Kitts and Nevis was defined mostly by occupational status rather than by color. Religious affiliation in the late 1980s was directly linked to the islands' British colonial heritage. Most citizens were at least nominal members of the Anglican Church, although exact figures were not available. The remainder of the population belonged to other Protestant denominations, including the Church of God, Methodist, and Baptist churches. Currency The official currency used in St. Kitts and Nevis is the Eastern Caribbean Dollar (ECD) The value of the ECD is set at a fixed rate against the United States Dollar: EC$2.70 = US$1.00 |
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