Sir Thomas Warner (1580 – 10 March 1649) was a captain in the guards of James I of England who became an explorer in the Caribbean.
In 1620 he served at the brief-lived English settlement of Oyapoc in present-day Guyana of South America, which was abandoned the same year.
After checking each island, Warner decided that Saint Kitts would be the best-suited site for an English colony.
He noted its strategic central position ideal for expansion, friendly native population, fertile soil, abundant fresh water, and large salt deposits.
He and his family landed on the island and made peace with the local Kalinago people, whose leader was Ouboutou Tegremante.
Warner left his family on the island and returned to England to gather more men to officially establish a colony.
Warner accepted the French to gain more Europeans on the island, as he thought the local Kalinago were becoming less enthusiastic about the newcomers.
As the European population on Saint Kitts continued to increase, Tegremante grew suspicious of the foreigners.
In 1626, after a secret meeting with Kalinago heads from neighbouring Waitikubuli (Dominica) and Oualie, the natives decided to ambush the European settlements on the night of the next full moon.
According to the French historian Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre, she despised the Kalinago and had fallen in love with Warner.
He did not estimate the number of Caribs killed, but said the fallen Amerindians on the beach were piled high into a mound.
After the Kalinago Genocide of 1626 and the subsequent partitioning of the island, Warner imported many thousands of African slaves for labour.
They were forced to develop and work on large sugar and tobacco plantations to raise commodity crops for export.
As the years passed, Sir Thomas Warner amassed a wealth that would amount to over £100 million in today's terms.