St Christopher, popularly ST KITTS, one of the Leeward group of the West India Islands, belonging to Great Britain, lies 45 miles NW. of Gnadeloupe. It is long (23 miles) and narrow (5 miles), and is traversed by a chain of rugged mountains (Mount Misery, 4100 feet); area, 68 sq. m. The capital is Basse-terre (q.v.), with a population of about 7000. Principal products are sugar, molasses, rum, and salt, with some coffee, cocoa, tobacco, and cattle. Administratively St Kitts is united with Nevis (q.v.) and the little island of Anguilla; the government rests with a governor, an executive council appointed by the crown, and a legislative council of ten official and ten unofficial nominated members, three of the latter from Nevis. The imports for the three islands together average about £175,500 annually, not quite one-half from Great Britain; the exports vary between £159,970 (1886) and £119,361 (1896). Pop. of all three islands (1891) 47,622, of St
Kitts (1891) 30,876. This island, whose native Carib name meant the 'fertile island,' was discovered in 1493 by Christopher Columbus, who named it from a fanciful resemblance of its outline to statues of his patron saint, St Christopher. Colonised by French and British settlers simultaneously in 1625, it passed wholly into the possession of England in 1713, though the French both before and after that date seized it and held it for short periods.