Saint Kitts and Nevis
island sovereign state in the Caribbean Sea
Saint Kitts and Nevis (SKN), officially the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, is an island country located in the Caribbean consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, in the Leeward Islands chain of the Lesser Antilles. With 261 square kilometres (101 sq mi) of territory, and roughly 48,000 inhabitants, it is the smallest sovereign state in the Western Hemisphere, in both area and population, as well as the world's smallest sovereign Federation. The country is a Commonwealth realm, with Charles III as king and head of state.
The capital city is Basseterre, located on the larger island of Saint Kitts. Basseterre is also the main port for passenger entry (via cruise ships) and cargo. The smaller island of Nevis lies approximately 3 km (1.6 nmi; 1.9 mi) to the southeast of Saint Kitts, across a shallow channel called the Narrows.
The British dependency of Anguilla was historically also a part of this union, which was known collectively as Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla. However, Anguilla chose to secede from the union in 1967, and remains a British overseas territory.
Saint Kitts and Nevis were among the first islands in the Caribbean to be colonised by Europeans. Saint Kitts was home to the first British and French Caribbean colonies, and thus has also been titled "The Mother Colony of the West Indies".
“Saint Kitts and Nevis” enters the record as island sovereign state in the Caribbean Sea. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Saint, Kitts and Nevis can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Saint Kitts and Nevis” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Saint, Kitts and Nevis provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q763. VIAF identifies the subject as 141898513. The Library of Congress control number is n81008539. Authority coordinates are 17.272, -62.667. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1967.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Saint Kitts and Nevis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.