The Kalinago Indians were the first people to inhabit St. Kitts about 3000 years prior to Christopher Columbus's arrival in 1493. The British settled on St. Kitts in 1623 and Nevis in 1628. The French settled on St. Kitts in 1627. Believing that the Kalinago were gathering forces to expel the European settlers on the island, the British and the French pulled together and massacred the Kalinago in what was later called the Kalinago Genocide of 1626, at Bloody Point on St. Kitts. A British-French rivalry would ensue after the massacre and would last for more than 100 years. The British won a final victory over the French at Brimstone Hill in 1782 and both islands came under British control. Today, most of the inhabitants of St. Kitts are the descendants of African slaves. St. Kitts and Nevis gained independence from Britain in 1983.