ABSTRACT
In 1945, at the end of World War II, what is now known as the Commonwealth Caribbean was a group of British colonies rimming the Caribbean Sea and commonly called the West Indies. The group consisted of some twelve island governments, principal among them being Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, as well as the two coastal states of British Honduras (now Belize) in Central America and British Guyana (now Guyana) in South America. The total population at the time was approximately 3 million; the total area is 272,000 square kilometres (105,000 square miles). For several years, these colonies had been agitating for self-government. In response, Britain had set up the Development and Welfare Commission under Sir Frank Stockdale in preparation for handing over the reins of government to a new Federation of the West Indies.
