A short description of The West Indian Federation

1. The British West Indian Federation
The British West Indies has always shared a common social, economic and political background.
Besides, they also have common problems and interest. In order to strengthen themselves and
deal with these challenges the idea of a federation was put forward by leaders such as Grantley
Adams and Norman Manley of the Caribbean. This federation it was believed would enable them
to operate as a unit rather than small entities.
A Federation can be defined as the bringing of people of different racial, ethnic or national
groups into equal associations. The British West Indian Federation was established in 1598. It
was comprised of ten countries. These countries included: Antigua, Barbuda, Barbados,
Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, the then St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, St Lucia, St Vincent
and Trinidad and Tobago. The Federation sought to unite the people of the Caribbean as, it was
argued that they all shared a common historical background as well as the same geographical
space. The federation also sought to create a political unit that would later become independent
from Britain as a single state. Economically the federation was foreseen to bring about a degree
of economic integration in the areas of: Free trade, Customs Union, Common Market and
Economic and monetary union. The main premise however was the common need of
independence.