Originally called Pall Mall Square. It was renamed on the occasion of St. Kitts & Nevis achieving political independence on September 19th, 1983. The Government first acquired Pall Mall Square in 1750 and it rapidly became the administrative, commercial and social center of Basseterre. The Square was the site of the slave market. Slaves arriving from Africa were temporarily quartered in the basement of a building on the south side of the Square.

The Carib Petroglyphs can be found towards the entrance to the Wingfield Manor Estate. The drawing shows two of the original carvings drawn by the Caribs, depicting perhaps images of their Zemi or gods.

By 1626 both the British and the French settlements were expanding at such a rate that the Carib community began to perceive a threat to its very existence on the island. Joining forces with Caribs from a number of other islands, Chief Tegremare prepared to attack the European settlements. In the meanwhile, despite growing animosity between the French and the British, the two communities put aside their differences in order to mount a combined, pre-emptive attack on the Carib. As a result, over 2,000 Carib Indians were massacred here at Bloody Point.

This memorial to the former president of the General Legislative Council, Thomas Berkeley, stands at the center of the Circus.

Early in 1625, Thomas Warner's small colony greeted the unexpected arrival of a French ship, probably in the shallow bay on which Basseterre now sits. The French had suffered an unfortunate encounter with a Spanish warship, and they limped into St. Kitts in order to make much-needed repairs. The ship's captain, Pierre Belain d'Esnambue, must have been favorably impressed with what he found, as he returned shortly afterward with a small group of colonists. Warner and the English, like the Caribs before them, at first accepted the newcomers in friendship--or at least toleration. In order to avoid later disputes, the two groups of European colonists chose the great tamarind tree of Half Way Tree Village to mark the border between the French and British territories on St. Kitts. As the colonies grew and became increasingly prosperous, this border was sorely tested. War was narrowly averted during the first decade of the 18th century, for example, when it was discovered that the tamarind had thrown out new roots--and in theory extended to the British authority over many of the village's French houses.

It was here at Old Road Bay that Sir Thomas Warner, along with his family and 14 others began the first permanent European settlement in the Leeward Islands. The settlers were at first on good terms with the island's Carib inhabitants, though such friendship lasted only a very few years. Rather than cultivating sugar, it was tobacco that had drawn Warner to the island, and it was the island's tobacco crop that first supported the settlement. The Warner family estate served as the capital of St. Kitts until 1727, when it was moved to Basseterre. Outside of Old Road bay are found a number of interesting Carib petroglyphs.