Anguilla was colonized by theBritish Empire and used to be part of what is nowSaint Kitts and Nevis, but broke away in 1980 so it could stay part of Great Britain. Saint Kitts and Nevis wanted to beindependent.
It is named after theSpanish word for "eel", because it has such a shape.
Anguilla was first settled by Arawakan-speaking Indians who called it Malliouhana.
The King or Queen of theUnited Kingdom is the ruler of Anguilla, but she works through agovernor. He or she names, orappoints the governor, and he is just working there in place of the monarch. Thelegislature is elected by the people, has 11 members, and is called the House of Assembly.
Anguilla has mostly been part of the British Empire since the17th century. The British brought thousands ofslaves fromAfrica and forced them to work, like they did all over theCaribbean andNorth America. Many of the slaves decided to run away rather than be forced to work.[5] When the British decided toabolish slavery they paid all the slave owners a lot of money,[6] but didn't give anything to the slaves. Now Anguilla gets most of its money fromfishing andtourism.
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