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87-452: A machete ( / m ə ˈ ʃ ɛ t i / ; Spanish pronunciation: [maˈtʃete] ) is a broad blade used either as an agricultural implement similar to an axe , or in combat like a long-bladed knife . The blade is typically 30 to 66 centimetres (12 to 26 in) long and usually under 3 millimetres ( 1 ⁄ 8  in) thick. In the Spanish language , the word is possibly

174-619: A Governor-General . Kennedy Simmonds went on to win elections in 1984 , 1989 and 1993 , before being unseated when the SKNLP returned to power in 1995 under Denzil Douglas . In Nevis, growing discontent with their perceived marginalisation within the federation led to a referendum to separate from St Kitts in 1998, which though resulting a 62% vote to secede, fell short of the required two-thirds majority to be legally enacted. In late-September 1998, Hurricane Georges caused approximately $ 458,000,000 in damages and limited GDP growth for

261-503: A primary grind , and are more effective on woody vegetation. The tsakat is a similar tool used in Armenia for clearing land of vegetation. Other similar tools include: Blade Blades function by concentrating force at the cutting edge. Design variations, such as serrated edges found on bread knives and saws , serve to enhance this force concentration, adapting blades for specific functions and materials. Blades thus hold

348-611: A unicameral legislature, known as the National Assembly . It is composed of fourteen members: eleven elected representatives (three from the island of Nevis ) and three senators, who are appointed by the Governor-General . Two of the senators are appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister, and one, on the advice of the leader of the opposition. Unlike in other countries, the senators do not constitute

435-458: A 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 4.55/10, ranking it 121st globally out of 172 countries. The national bird is the brown pelican . 176 species of bird have been reported from the country. The national flower is Delonix regia . Common plants include palmetto , hibiscus , bougainvillea , and tamarind . Pinus species are common in the dense forests of islands, and are usually covered by various species of ferns . By

522-486: A Carib plan to expel or kill all European settlers. Thereafter, the English and French established large sugar plantations which were worked by imported African slaves. This made the planter-colonists rich, but drastically altered the islands' demographics as black slaves soon came to outnumber Europeans. A Spanish expedition of 1629 sent to enforce Spanish claims destroyed the English and French colonies and deported

609-417: A body that is tough. Prehistorically, and in less technologically advanced cultures even into modern times, tool and weapon blades have been made from wood, bone, and stone. Most woods are exceptionally poor at holding edges and bone and stone suffer from brittleness making them suffer from fracture when striking or struck. In modern times stone, in the form of obsidian, is used in some medical scalpels as it

696-469: A convex section to avoid getting stuck in the wood where chopping axes can be flat or even concave. A khopesh , falchion , or kukri is angled and/or weighted at the distal end so that force is concentrated at the faster moving, heavier part of the blade maximizing cutting power and making it largely unsuitable for thrusting, whereas a rapier is thin and tapered allowing it to pierce and be moved with more agility while reducing its chopping power compared to

783-594: A defence force of 300 personnel. It is mostly involved in policing and drug trade interception. Male homosexuality has been legal in St. Kitts and Nevis since 29 August 2022. In 2011, the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis said it had "no mandate from the people" to abolish the criminalisation of homosexuality among consenting adults. The federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis is divided into fourteen parishes, nine of them on Saint Kitts and five on Nevis. The capital city

870-602: A diminutive form of the word macho , which was used to refer to sledgehammers. Alternatively, its origin may be machaera , the name given by the Greeks and Romans to the falcata . It is the origin of the English language equivalent term matchet , though this is rarely used. In much of the English-speaking Caribbean, such as Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago, the term cutlass

957-418: A low elastic modulus (is soft) but high yield strain (loosely, can be stretched or squashed by a large proportion without breaking), drawing serrations across the loaf with little downward force will allow each serration to simultaneously cut the bread with much less deformation of the loaf. Similarly, pushing on a rope tends to squash the rope while drawing serrations across it sheers the rope fibers. Drawing

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1044-404: A material into dust along a narrow channel, the kerf , whereas knives and similar act by forcing the material apart. This means that saws result in a loss of material and the serrations of a saw also serve to carry metal swarf and sawdust out of the cut channel.) Fullers are longitudinal channels either forged into the blade or later machined/milled out of the blade though the latter process

1131-423: A material that is about as hard , though usually harder, than the material to be cut. Insufficiently hard blades will be unable to cut a material or will wear away quickly as hardness is related to a material's ability to resist abrasion . However, blades must also be tough enough to resist the dynamic load of impact and as a general rule the harder a blade the less tough (the more brittle) a material. For example,

1218-545: A name for the blow of a machete; the Spanish machetazo is sometimes used in English. In the British Virgin Islands , Grenada , Jamaica , Saint Kitts and Nevis , Barbados , Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago , the word planass means to hit someone with the flat of the blade of a machete or cutlass. To strike with the sharpened edge is to "chop". Throughout the English-speaking islands of

1305-519: A proper cut without an edge, and so in competitive fencing such attacks reward no points. Some variations include: Blades are sometimes marked or inscribed, for decorative purposes, or with the mark of either the maker or the owner. Blade decorations are often realized in inlay in some precious metal (gold or silver). Early blade inscriptions are known from the Bronze Age , a Hittite sword found at Hattusa bears an inscription chiseled into

1392-439: A result, both parties agreed to partition the island into French and English sectors. From 1628 onward the English also began settling on Nevis. The French and English, intent on exploitation of the island's resources, encountered resistance from the native Caribs (Kalinago), who waged war during the first three years of the settlements' existence. The Europeans resolved to rid themselves of this problem. An ideological campaign

1479-675: A separate senate or upper house of parliament, but sit in the National Assembly alongside representatives. All members serve five-year terms. The Prime Minister and the Cabinet answer to the Parliament. Nevis also maintains its own semi-autonomous assembly . Saint Kitts and Nevis has no major international disputes. Saint Kitts and Nevis is a full and participating member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) ,

1566-463: A shallow channel called The Narrows . The British dependency of Anguilla was historically also a part of this union, which was known collectively as Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla . However, Anguilla chose to secede from the union in 1967, and remains a British overseas territory . Saint Kitts and Nevis were among the first islands in the Caribbean to be colonised by Europeans. Saint Kitts

1653-414: A significant place both historically and in contemporary society, reflecting an evolution in material technology and utility. During food preparation, knives are mainly used for slicing, chopping, and piercing. In combat, a blade may be used to slash or puncture, and may also be thrown or otherwise propelled . The function is to sever a nerve, muscle or tendon fibers, or blood vessel to disable or kill

1740-399: A similarly sized sword. A serrated edge, such as on a saw or a bread knife , concentrates force onto the tips of the serrations which increases pressure as well as allowing soft or fibrous material (like wood, rope, bread, and vegetables) to expand into the spaces between serrations. Whereas pushing any knife, even a bread knife, down onto a bread loaf will just squash the loaf as bread has

1827-547: A smooth blade is less effective as the blade is parallel to the direction draw but the serrations of a serrated blade are at an angle to the fibers. Serrations on knives are often symmetric allowing the blade to cut on both the forward and reverse strokes of a cut, a notable exception being Veff serrations which are designed to maximize cutting power while moving the blade away from the user. Saw blade serrations, for both wood and metal, are typically asymmetrical so that they cut while moving in only one direction. (Saws act by abrading

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1914-413: A steel axehead is much harder than the wood it is intended to cut and is sufficiently tough to resist the impact resulting when swung against a tree while a ceramic kitchen knife, harder than steel, is very brittle (has low toughness) and can easily shatter if dropped onto the floor or twisted while inside the food it is cutting or carelessly stored under other kitchen utensils. This creates a tension between

2001-408: A thinner one of similar design while also making it experience more drag while slicing or piercing. A filleting knife will be thin enough to be very flexible while a carving knife will be thicker and stiffer; a dagger will be thin so it can pierce, while a camping knife will be thicker so it can be stronger and more durable. A strongly curved edge, like a talwar , will allow the user to draw the edge of

2088-568: A wide range of physical and chemical properties desirable for blades. For example, surgical scalpels are often made of stainless steel so that they remain free of rust and largely chemically inert; tool steels are hard and impact resistant (and often expensive as retaining toughness and hardness requires expensive alloying materials, and, being hard, they are difficult to make into their finished shape) and some are designed to resist changes to their physical properties at high temperatures. Steels can be further heat treated to optimize their toughness, which

2175-408: Is Basseterre , located on the larger island of Saint Kitts . Basseterre is also the main port for passenger entry (via cruise ships) and cargo. The smaller island of Nevis lies approximately 3 km (2 mi) to the southeast of Saint Kitts, across a shallow channel called The Narrows . The islands of Sint Eustatius , Saba , Saint Barthélemy , Saint-Martin/Sint Maarten and Anguilla lie to

2262-624: Is a sovereign, democratic, and federal state. It is a Commonwealth realm , a constitutional monarchy with the King of Saint Christopher and Nevis , Charles III , as its head of state . The King is represented in the country by a Governor-General , who acts on the advice of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. The Prime Minister is the leader of the majority party of the House, and the cabinet conducts affairs of state. St. Kitts and Nevis has

2349-496: Is a variant used in East and Southern Africa . This name may be of Swahili etymology; not to be confused with the panga fish . The panga blade broadens on the backside and has a length of 41 to 46 cm (16 to 18 in). The upper inclined portion of the blade may be sharpened. Other similar tools include the parang and the golok (from Malaysia and Indonesia ); however, these tend to have shorter, thicker blades with

2436-418: Is applied it them, forming a section like the bottom part of a letter "J". For this reason, straight edge razors are frequently stropped to straighten the edge. Drawing a blade across any material tends to abrade both the blade, usually making it duller, and the cut material. Though softer than glass or many types of stone used in the kitchen, steel edges can still scratch these surfaces. The resulting scratch

2523-414: Is applied to the blade, either from the handle or pressing on the back of the blade. The handle or back of the blade has a large area compared to the fine edge. This concentration of applied force onto the small edge area increases the pressure exerted by the edge. It is this high pressure that allows a blade to cut through a material by breaking the bonds between the molecules, crystals, fibers, etc. in

2610-461: Is capable of being formed into an exceedingly fine edge. Ceramic knives are non-metallic and non-magnetic. As non-metals do not corrode they remain rust and corrosion free but they suffer from similar faults as stone and bone, being rather brittle and almost entirely inflexible. They are harder than metal knives and so more difficult to sharpen, and some ceramic knives may be as hard or harder than some sharpening stones. For example, synthetic sapphire

2697-494: Is common to see people using machetes for other jobs, such as splitting open coconuts , yard work, removing small branches and plants, chopping animals' food, and clearing bushes. Machetes are often considered tools and used by adults. However, many hunter–gatherer societies and cultures surviving through subsistence agriculture begin teaching babies to use sharp tools, including machetes, before their first birthdays. People in uprisings sometimes use these weapons. For example,

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2784-640: Is derived from a Spanish name Nuestra Señora de las Nieves , meaning " Our Lady of the Snows ", a reference to the 4th-century Catholic miracle of a summertime snowfall on the Esquiline Hill in Rome . It is not known who chose this name for the island, but it is thought that white clouds which usually wreath the top of Nevis Peak reminded someone of the miracle. Today, the Constitution refers to

2871-448: Is full of very fine particles of ground glass or stone which will very quickly abrade the blade's edge and so dull it. In times when swords were regularly used in warfare, they required frequent sharpening because of dulling from contact with rigid armor, mail, metal rimmed shields, or other swords, for example. Particularly, hitting the edge of another sword by accident or in an emergency could chip away metal and even cause cracks through

2958-717: Is harder than natural sharpening stones and is as hard as alumina sharpening stones. Zirconium dioxide is also harder than garnet sharpening stones and is nearly as hard as alumina. Both require diamond stones or silicon carbide stones to sharpen and care has to be taken to avoid chipping the blade. As such ceramic knives are seldom used outside of a kitchen and they are still quite uncommon. Plastic knives are difficult to make sharp and poorly retain an edge. They are largely used as low cost, disposable utensils or as children's utensils or in environments such as air travel where metal blades are prohibited. They are often serrated to compensate for their general lack of sharpness but, as evidenced by

3045-477: Is important for impact blades, or their hardness, which allows them to retain an edge well with use (although harder metals require more effort to sharpen). It is possible to combine different materials, or different heat treatments, to produce desirable qualities in a blade. For example, the finest Japanese swords were routinely made of up to seven sections of metals and even poorer quality swords were often made of two. These would include soft irons that could absorb

3132-454: Is less desirable. This loss of material necessarily weakens the blade but serves to make the blade lighter without sacrificing stiffness. The same principle is applied in the manufacture of beams such as I-beams . Fullers are only of significant utility in swords. In most knives there is so little material removed by the fuller that it makes little difference to the weight of the blade and they are largely cosmetic. Typically blades are made from

3219-710: Is manufactured by Indústria de Material Bélico do Brasil ( IMBEL ). The machete was used as a weapon during the Mau Mau rebellion , in the Rwandan Genocide, and in South Africa , particularly in the 1980s and early 1990s when the former province of Natal was wracked by conflict between the African National Congress and the Zulu -nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party . Good machetes rely on

3306-418: Is particularly true of acute blades and those made of soft materials. Dulling usually occurs due to contact between the blade and a hard substance such as ceramic, stone, bone, glass, or metal. The more acute the blade, the more easily it will dull. As the blade near the edge is thinner, there is little material to remove before the edge is worn away to a thicker section. Thin edges can also roll over when force

3393-440: Is poorly suited for working stone. Bronze is superior in this regard, and was taken up by later civilizations. Both bronze and copper can be work hardened by hitting the metal with a hammer. With technological advancement in smelting, iron came to be used in the manufacturing of blades. Steel , a range of alloys made from iron, has become the metal of choice for the modern age. Various alloys of steel can be made which offer

3480-512: Is used for these agricultural tools. In various tropical and subtropical countries, the machete is frequently used to cut through rainforest undergrowth and for agricultural purposes (e.g. cutting sugar cane ). Besides this, in Latin America a common use is for such household tasks as cutting large foodstuffs into pieces—much as a cleaver is used—or to perform crude cutting tasks, such as making simple wooden handles for other tools. It

3567-590: The Arawak peoples , or Taíno , around 1000 BC. The Island Caribs invaded around 800 AD. Christopher Columbus was the first European to sight the islands in 1493. The first settlers were the English in 1623, led by Thomas Warner , who established a settlement at Old Road Town on the west coast of St Kitts after achieving an agreement with the Carib chief Ouboutou Tegremante . The French later also settled on St Kitts in 1625 under Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc . As

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3654-610: The Boricua Popular Army are unofficially called macheteros because of the machete-wielding laborers of sugar cane fields of past Puerto Rico . Many of the killings in the 1994 Rwandan genocide were performed with machetes, and they were the primary weapon used by the Interahamwe militias there. Machetes were also a distinctive tool and weapon of the Haitian Tonton Macoute . In 1762,

3741-710: The British captured Havana in a lengthy siege during the Seven Years' War . Volunteer militiamen led by Pepe Antonio, a Guanabacoa councilman, were issued with machetes during the unsuccessful defense of the city. The machete was also the most iconic weapon during the independence wars in Cuba, although it saw limited battlefield use. Carlos Manuel de Céspedes , owner of the sugar refinery La Demajagua near Manzanillo , freed his slaves on 10 October 1868. He proceeded to lead them, armed with machetes, in revolt against

3828-548: The Caribbean , the term 'cutlass' refers to a laborers' cutting tool. The Brazilian Army 's Instruction Center on Jungle Warfare developed a machete-style knife with a blade 25 cm (10 in) in length and a very pronounced clip point . This machete is issued with a 13 cm (5 in) Bowie knife and a sharpening stone in the scabbard; collectively called a "jungle kit" ( Conjunto de Selva in Portuguese ); it

3915-741: The Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis , is an island country consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis , both located in the West Indies , in the Leeward Islands chain of the Lesser Antilles . With 261 square kilometres (101 sq mi) of territory, and roughly 48,000 inhabitants, it is the smallest sovereign state in the Western Hemisphere, in both area and population , as well as

4002-551: The Köppen climate classification , St Kitts has a tropical savanna climate ( Köppen Aw ) and Nevis has a tropical monsoon climate ( Köppen Am ). Mean monthly temperatures in Basseterre varies little from 23.9 °C (75.0 °F) to 26.6 °C (79.9 °F). Yearly rainfall is approximately 2,400 millimetres (90 in), although it has varied from 1,356 millimetres (53.4 in) to 3,183 millimetres (125.3 in) in

4089-690: The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), and the Organisation of American States (OAS). St Kitts & Nevis entered the OAS system on 16 September 1984. At a CARICOM meeting, representative of St. Kitts and Nevis Kennedy Simmons signed the Double Taxation Relief (CARICOM) Treaty 1994, on 6 July 1994. The representatives of seven CARICOM countries signed similar agreements at Sherbourne Conference Centre, St. Michael, Barbados. The countries whose representatives signed

4176-480: The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. The islands' economy, already shattered by war, was further harmed by natural disasters: In 1690 an earthquake destroyed Jamestown, capital of Nevis, forcing the construction of a new capital at Charlestown . Further damage was caused by a hurricane in 1707. The colony had recovered by the turn of the 18th century, and St Kitts had become the richest British Crown Colony per capita in

4263-488: The dança dos facões (machetes' dance) in which the dancers, who are usually men, bang their machetes against various surfaces while dancing, simulating a battle. Maculelê , an Afro-Brazilian dance and martial art, can also be performed with facões . This practice began in the city of Santo Amaro, Bahia , in the northeastern part of the country. In the Philippines , the bolo is used in training in eskrima ,

4350-413: The 17th century. The first English colonists kept the English translation of this name, and dubbed it St. Christopher's Island . In the 17th century, a common nickname for Christopher was Kit(t) ; hence, the island came to be informally referred to as Saint Kitt's Island , later further shortened to Saint Kitts . Columbus gave Nevis the name San Martín ( Saint Martin ). The current name Nevis

4437-518: The Caribbean as result of its slave-based sugar industry by the close of the 1700s. The 18th century also saw Nevis, formerly the richer of the two islands, being eclipsed by St Kitts in economic importance. Alexander Hamilton , the future U.S. secretary of the Treasury, was born on Nevis in 1755 or 1757. As Britain became embroiled in war with its American colonies , the French decided to use

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4524-517: The Caribbean. From St Kitts the British settled the islands of Antigua , Montserrat , Anguilla and Tortola , and the French settled Martinique , the Guadeloupe archipelago and Saint Barthélemy . During the late 17th century, France and England fought for control over St Kitts and Nevis, fighting wars in 1667 , 1689–90 and 1701–13 . The French renounced their claim to the islands with

4611-641: The PAM and the Nevis-based Concerned Citizens' Movement under the ' Team Unity ' banner. In June 2020, Team Unity coalition of the incumbent government, led by Prime Minister Timothy Harris, won general elections by defeating Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP). In snap general elections held in August 2022 , the SKNLP again won, and Terrance Drew became the fourth prime minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis. Saint Kitts and Nevis

4698-737: The Spanish government. The first cavalry charge using machetes as the primary weapon was carried out on 4 November 1868 by Máximo Gómez , a sergeant born in the Dominican Republic , who later became the general in chief of the Cuban Army . The machete is a common side arm and tool for many ethnic groups in West Africa . Machetes in this role are referenced in Chinua Achebe 's Things Fall Apart . Some countries have

4785-648: The adversary. Severing a major blood vessel typically leads to death due to exsanguination . Blades may be used to scrape, moving the blade sideways across a surface, as in an ink eraser , rather than along or through a surface. For construction equipment such as a grader , the ground-working implement is also referred to as the blade, typically with a replaceable cutting edge. A simple blade intended for cutting has two faces that meet at an edge. Ideally, this edge would have no roundness but in practice, all edges can be seen to be rounded to some degree under magnification either optically or with an electron microscope. Force

4872-414: The blade across the opponent's body and back. For straight-edged weapons, many recorded techniques feature cleaving cuts, which deliver the power out to a point, striking directly in at the target's body, done to split flesh and bone rather than slice it. That being said, there also exist many historical slicing techniques for straight-edged weapons. Hacking cuts can be followed by a drawing action to maximize

4959-420: The blade against an opponent even while close to the opponent where a straight sword would be more difficult to pull in the same fashion. The curved edge of an axe means that only a small length of the edge will initially strike the tree, concentrating force as does a thinner edge, whereas a straight edge could potentially land with the full length of its edge against a flat section of the tree. A splitting maul has

5046-541: The blade. Soft-cored blades are more resistant to fracturing on impact. Folding pocket knives often have a groove cut in the side of the blade near the spine. This is called a nail pull and allows the fingernail to be inserted to swing the blade out of the holder. Some of the most common shapes are listed below. The sharp edges of a sword may be either curved or straight. Curved blades tend to glide more easily through soft materials, making these weapons more ideal for slicing. Techniques for such weapons feature drawing

5133-440: The bronze, stating that the blade was deposited as an offering to the storm-god by king Tuthaliya . Blade inscriptions become particularly popular in the 12th century knightly sword , based on the earlier, 9th to 11th century, the tradition of the so-called Ulfberht swords . Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis ( /- ˈ k ɪ t s  ...   ˈ n iː v ɪ s / ), officially

5220-506: The colony from 1966 to 1978; he sought to gradually bring the sugar-based economy under greater state control. The more conservative-leaning People's Action Movement party (PAM) was founded in 1965. After a brief period as part of the West Indies Federation (1958–62), the islands became an associated state with full internal autonomy in 1967. Residents of Nevis and Anguilla were unhappy with St Kitts's domination of

5307-528: The constitutionally-protected right to unilaterally secede if a referendum on independence resulted in a two-thirds majority in favour. St Kitts and Nevis achieved full independence on 19 September 1983. Kennedy Simmonds of the PAM, Premier since 1980, duly became the country's first Prime Minister . St Kitts and Nevis opted to remain within the British Commonwealth , at that time retaining Queen Elizabeth as Monarch , represented locally by

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5394-441: The cut's effectiveness. For more information see Western Martial Arts or kenjutsu . Some weapons are made with only a single leading edge, such as the sabre or dusack . The dusack has a 'false edge' near the tip, which only extends down a portion of the blade's backside. Other weapons have a blade that is entirely dull except for a sharpened point, like the épée or foil , which prefer thrusts over cuts. A blade cannot perform

5481-427: The energy of impact without fracturing but which would bend and poorly retain an edge, and hard steels more liable to shatter on impact but which retained an edge well. The combination provided a sword that would resist impact while remaining sharp, even though the edge could chip if abused. Pattern welding involved forging together twisted bars of soft (bendable) low carbon and hard (brittle) higher carbon iron. This

5568-408: The fact they can cut food, they are still capable of inflicting injury. Plastic blades of designs other than disposable cutlery are prohibited or restricted in some jurisdictions as they are undetectable by metal detectors. Native copper was used to make blades by ancient civilizations due to its availability. Copper's comparative softness causes it to deform easily; it does not hold an edge well and

5655-518: The federation, and Anguilla unilaterally declared independence in 1967. In 1971 Britain resumed full control of Anguilla, but it was formally separated in 1980. Attention then focused on Nevis, with the Nevis Reformation Party seeking to safeguard the smaller island's interests in any future independent state. Eventually it was agreed that the island would have a degree of autonomy with its own Premier and Assembly , as well as

5742-437: The first European to see the islands in 1493, named the larger island San Cristóbal , after Saint Christopher , his patron saint and that of travellers. New studies suggest that Columbus named the island Sant Yago ( Saint James ), and that the name San Cristóbal was in fact given by Columbus to the island now known as Saba , 32 km (20 mi) northwest. Saint Kitts was well documented as San Cristóbal by

5829-647: The first few decades of the 20th century economic hardship and lack of opportunities led to the growth of a labour movement; the Great Depression prompted sugar workers to go on strike in 1935. The 1940s saw the founding of the St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla Labour Party (later renamed the Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party, or SKNLP) under Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw . Bradshaw later became Chief Minister and then Premier of

5916-551: The indigenous martial art of the Philippines. In the Jalisco region of Mexico , Los Machetes is a popular folk dance. This dance tells the story of cutting down sugar cane during the harvest. Los Machetes was created by Mexican farm workers who spent a great amount of time perfecting the use of the tool, the machete, for harvesting. Traditionally, real machetes are used while performing this dance. The panga or tapanga

6003-411: The intended use of the blade, the material it is to be made from, and any manufacturing processes (such as heat treatment in the case of steel blades that will affect a blade's hardness and toughness). A balance must be found between the sharpness and how well it can last. Methods that can circumvent this include differential hardening . This method yields an edge that can hold its sharpness as well as

6090-643: The largest body of water, the Great Salt Pond . To the southeast, in The Narrows, lies the small isle of Booby Island . There are numerous rivers descending from the mountains of both islands, which provide fresh water to the local population. Nevis, the smaller of the two main islands and roughly circular in shape, is dominated by Nevis Peak 985 metres (3,232 ft). Saint Kitts and Nevis contains two terrestrial ecoregions: Leeward Islands moist forests and Leeward Islands dry forests. The country had

6177-440: The material. This necessitates the blade being strong enough to resist breaking before the other material gives way. The angle at which the faces meet is important as a larger angle will make for a duller blade while making the edge stronger. A stronger edge is less likely to dull from fracture or have the edge roll out of shape. The shape of the blade is also important. A thicker blade will be heavier and stronger and stiffer than

6264-555: The materials used and the shape. In the past, the most famous manufacturer of machetes in Latin America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean was Collins Company of Collinsville , Connecticut . The company was founded as Collins & Company in 1826 by Samuel W. Collins to make axes . Its first machetes were sold in 1845 and became so famous that a machete was called un collin . In the English-speaking Caribbean, Robert Mole & Sons of Birmingham, England,

6351-465: The north-northwest of the country. To the east and northeast are Antigua and Barbuda , and to the southeast is the small uninhabited island of Redonda (part of Antigua and Barbuda) and the island of Montserrat . The country consists of two main islands, Saint Kitts and Nevis , separated at a distance of 2 miles (3 km) by The Narrows strait. Both are of volcanic origin, with large central peaks covered in tropical rainforest . The majority of

6438-595: The opportunity to re-capture St Kitts in 1782; however St Kitts was given back and recognised as British territory in the Treaty of Versailles (1783) . The African slave trade was terminated within the British Empire in 1807, and slavery outlawed completely in 1834. A four-year "apprenticeship" period followed for each slave, in which they worked for their former owners for wages. On Nevis 8,815 slaves were freed, while St Kitts freed 19,780. Saint Kitts and Nevis, along with Anguilla, were federated in 1882. In

6525-442: The period 1901–2015. The population of Saint Kitts and Nevis is around 53,000 (July 2019 est.) and has remained relatively constant for many years. At the end of the nineteenth century there were 42,600 residents, the number slowly rising to a little over 50,000 by the mid-twentieth century. Between 1960 and 1990, the population dropped from 50,000 to 40,000, before rising again to its current level. Approximately three-quarters of

6612-564: The population live along the flatter coastal areas. St Kitts contains several mountain ranges (the North West Range, Central Range and South-West Range) in its centre, where the highest peak of the country, Mount Liamuiga 1,156 metres (3,793 ft) can be found. Along the east coast can be found the Canada Hills and Conaree Hills. The land narrows considerably in the south-east, forming a much flatter peninsula which contains

6699-577: The population live on Saint Kitts, with 15,500 of these living in the capital, Basseterre. Other large settlements include Cayon (population 3,000) and Sandy Point Town (3,000), both on Saint Kitts, and Gingerland (2,500) and Charlestown (1,900), both on Nevis. It ranks number 209 on the list of countries and dependencies by population. The population is primarily Afro-Caribbean (92.5%), with significant minorities of European (2.1%) and Indian (1.5%) descent (2001 estimate). As of 2021 , there were 47,606 inhabitants; their average life expectancy

6786-425: The settlers back to their respective countries. As part of the war settlement in 1630, the Spanish permitted the re-establishment of the English and French colonies. Spain later formally recognised Britain's claim to St Kitts with the Treaty of Madrid (1670) , in return for British cooperation in the fight against piracy. As Spanish power declined, Saint Kitts became a key base for English and French expansion in

6873-406: The state as both Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Christopher and Nevis ; the former is the one most commonly used, but the latter is generally used for diplomatic relations. Passports list the nationality of citizens as St. Kitts and Nevis . The name of the first inhabitants, pre-Arawakan peoples who settled the islands perhaps as early as 3,000 years ago, is not known. They were followed by

6960-442: The technique of differential hardening by covering their sword blades in different thicknesses of clay before quenching . Thinner clay allowed the heated metal to cool faster, particularly along the edge. Faster cooling resulted in a finer crystal structure, resulting in a blade with a hard edge but a more flexible body. European sword makers produced similar results using differential tempering . Blades dull with use and abuse. This

7047-657: The treaties in Barbados were: Antigua & Barbuda, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago. This treaty covered income, residence, tax jurisdictions, capital gains, business profits, interest, dividends, royalties and other areas. On 30 June 2014, St. Kitts and Nevis signed a Model 1 agreement with the United States of America in relation to Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Saint Kitts and Nevis has

7134-414: The world's smallest sovereign federation . The country is a Commonwealth realm , with Charles III as King and head of state . The capital city is Basseterre , located on the larger island of Saint Kitts . Basseterre is also the main port for passenger entry (via cruise ships) and cargo. The smaller island of Nevis lies approximately 3 km (2 mi) to the southeast of Saint Kitts, across

7221-486: The year and beyond. Meanwhile, the sugar industry, in decline for years and propped up only by government subsidies, was closed completely in 2005. In 2012, Saint Kitts and Nevis was declared free of malaria , according to the World Health Organization . The 2015 Saint Kitts and Nevis general election was won by Timothy Harris and his recently formed People's Labour Party , with backing from

7308-508: Was done because furnaces of the time were typically able to produce only one grade or the other, and neither was well suited for more than a very limited use blade. The ability of modern steelmakers to produce very high-quality steels of various compositions has largely relegated this technique to either historical recreations or to artistic works. Acid etching and polishing blades made of different grades of steel can be used to produce decorative or artistic effects. Japanese sword makers developed

7395-487: Was home to the first British and French Caribbean colonies, and thus has also been titled "The Mother Colony of the West Indies". It is also the most recent British territory in the Caribbean to become independent, gaining independence in 1983. The Kalinago , the pre-European inhabitants of Saint Kitts, called the island Liamuiga , roughly translating as 'fertile land'. It is thought that Christopher Columbus ,

7482-399: Was long considered the manufacturer of agricultural cutlasses of the best quality. Some Robert Mole blades survive as souvenirs of travellers to Trinidad, Jamaica, and, less commonly, St. Lucia. Colombia is the largest exporter of machetes worldwide. The flag of Angola features a machete, along with a cog-wheel . The southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul has a dance called

7569-575: Was waged by colonial chroniclers, dating back to the Spanish, as they produced literature which denied the Kalinagos' humanity (a literary tradition carried through the late-seventeenth century by such authors as Jean-Baptiste du Tertre and Pere Labat). In 1626 the Anglo-French settlers joined forces to massacre the Kalinago at a place that became known as Bloody Point , allegedly to preempt

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