Abstract
By the early 19th century after a series of wars with France, Spain and the United States of America, Britain jealously guarded every inch of her West Indian colonies. The United States of America’s request for cession of strategic plots of land in The Bahamas for lighthouses was considered by Britain with mistrust. Relations between Britain and its former colony had been strained since the War of Independence and the War of 1812. The ideology of the Monroe Doctrine sought to expand United States territory and economic power but Britain did not want that expansion to be into her sovereign territory. Of further concern to Britain was that one of the areas requested, the Cay Sal Bank, of strategic importance to the United States of America, was at the time contentiously claimed by both the British colony of The Bahamas and the Spanish colony of Cuba.
Highlights
By the early 19th century after a series of wars with France, Spain and the United States of America, Britain jealously guarded every inch of her West Indian colonies
Of further concern to Britain was that one of the areas requested, the Cay Sal Bank, of strategic importance to the United States of America, was at the time contentiously claimed by both the British colony of The Bahamas and the Spanish colony of Cuba
Villiers transmitted to Lord Viscount Palmerston, the reply of Don Francisco Martinez de la Rosa, who stated that: orders have been issued to the captain General of Cuba for the erection of the lighthouse on the spot mentioned but on any other where it may be considered necessary for the safety of navigation; the expenses which are borne by the Royal Treasury of Havana as the Spanish Government confirm the claim set up by the Captain General of Cuba to Cay Sal Bank as a dependency of that
Summary
By the early 19th century after a series of wars with France, Spain and the United States of America, Britain jealously guarded every inch of her West Indian colonies.
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