In 1631, the Dutch West India Company built a fort on Anguilla, but quickly abandoned it. The fort was destroyed by the Spanish in 1633. English settlers from St Kitts are traditionally said to have begun arriving in Anguilla from 1650. The settlers planted tobacco and cotton, and probably brought the first enslaved Africans with them to the island, although the number of slaves increased significantly when the economy switched to being dominated by sugar. There were a number of French attacks on Anguilla throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, but these were not successful in taking the island permanently.