Brief History
The Windward Islands was a colony existing between 1833 and 1960 consisting of the islands of Barbados (until 1885), Dominica (from 1940), Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and Tobago (until 1889 when it was joined to Trinidad)

The colony was known as the Federal Colony of the Windward Islands from 1871 to June 1956, and then as the Territory of the Windward Islands until its dissolution in 1960.

The capital was Bridgetown on Barbados, from 1871 to 1885, and thereafter Saint George's on Grenada. The islands were not a single colony, but a confederation of separate colonies with a common governor-in-chief, while each island retained its own institutions. The Windward Islands had neither legislature, laws, revenue nor tariff in common. There was, however, a common court of appeal for the group composed of the chief justices of the respective islands, and there was also a common audit system and the islands united in maintaining certain institutions of general utility.

Flag
Flag of Leeward Islands
Map
1844 Map of Windward Islands
1895 Map of Windward Islands
Historical Leeward Island Images
National Archive Images of Windward Islands
Administrators of Windward Islands
1671 - 1970
Suggested Reading
The West Indies Before and Since Slave Emancipation: Comprising the Windward and Leeward Islands' Military Command
by Davy, John

The Sugar Barons
by Parker, Matthew


Armed Forces | Art and Culture | Articles | Biographies | Colonies | Discussion | Glossary | Home | Library | Links | Map Room | Sources and Media | Science and Technology | Search | Student Zone | Timelines | TV & Film | Wargames


by Stephen Luscombe