Both the British, with their headquarters in Barbados, and the French, centered on Martinique, found Saint Lucia attractive after the sugar industry developed, and during the 18th century the island changed ownership or was declared neutral territory a dozen times, although the French settlements remained and the island was a de facto a French colony well into the 18th century.
He in turn appointed Nathaniel Uring, a merchant sea captain and adventurer, as deputy-governor. Uring went to the islands with a group of seven ships, and established settlement at Petit Carenage.
Unable to get enough support from British warships, he and the new colonists were quickly run off by the French. Like the English and Dutch on other islands, the French began to develop the land for the cultivation of sugar cane as a commodity crop on large plantations in Colonists who came over were mostly indentured white servants serving a small percentage of wealthy merchants or nobles.
Near the end of the century, the French Revolution occurred. A revolutionary tribunal was sent to Saint Lucia, headed by captain La Crosse.
Prior to this, the slaves had heard about the revolution and walked off their jobs in to work for themselves. Bringing the ideas of the revolution to Saint Lucia, La Crosse set up a guillotine used to execute Royalists. In , the French governor of the island declared that all slaves were free, as also happened on Saint-Domingue.
A short time later, the British invaded in response to the concerns of the wealthy plantation owners, who wanted to keep sugar production going. On 21 February , a group of rebels, led by Victor Hugues, defeated a battalion of British troops. For the next four months, a group of recently freed slaves known as the Brigands forced out not only the British army, but every white slave-owner from the island coloured slave owners were left alone, as in Haiti.
In Castries was burned as part of the conflict. In , the British finally regained control of the island and restored slavery. Many of the rebels escaped into the thick rain forests, where they evaded capture and established maroon communities.
The new leaders of Haiti declared its independence in , the first black republic in the Caribbean, and the second republic in the Western Hemisphere. The British abolished the African slave trade in ; they acquired Saint Lucia permanently in It was not until that they abolished the institution of slavery. They achieved full freedom in By that time, people of African ethnicity greatly outnumbered those of ethnic European background.
Some people of Carib descent also comprised a minority on the island. Also in , Saint Lucia was incorporated into the British Windward Islands administration, headquartered in Barbados. This lasted until , when the capital was moved to Grenada. A constitution gave the island its first form of representative government, with a minority of elected members in the previously all-nominated legislative council. Universal adult suffrage was introduced in , and elected members became a majority of the council.
Ministerial government was introduced in , and in St. Lucia joined the short-lived West Indies Federation, a semi-autonomous dependency of the United Kingdom. After the second failure, the United Kingdom and the six windward and leeward islands—Grenada, St. Vincent, Dominica, Antigua, St. Kitts and Nevis and Anguilla, and St. Lucia—developed a novel form of cooperation called associated statehood.
As an associated state of the United Kingdom from to , St. Lucia had full responsibility for internal self-government but left its external affairs and defense responsibilities to the United Kingdom. This interim arrangement ended on February 22, , when St. Lucia achieved full independence. Lucia continues to recognize Queen Elizabeth II as titular head of state and is an active member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The national flag of Saint Lucia was adopted on March 1, , upon achieving self government. The flag was designed by Dunstan St. Sometimes you might want to venture away from the beach, and take a break from hiking, and spend a night out barhopping or enjoying an event like Gros Islet Friday Night. There are tons of clothing options for nightlife. Casual dresses, glittery dresses, jumpsuits, and rompers are all great pick.
At the same time, short pants, skinny jeans, skirts, crop tops, and blouses are also optional. There is no set code for nightlife. A pair of jeans or shorts is good for a night out. Most St. Lucian men wear t-shirts for these types of events, and so you would blend right in. Nightlife in St. Lucia involves a lot of music, dancing — and sometimes drinking.
Be sure to pack clothes that will allow for maximum comfort. Making sure your skin is protected from the mosquito bites that may haunt you depending on where you stay in St. Lucia is just as important as what you wear on your trip to St.
The weather in St. Lucia varies during the year. A raincoat or poncho can also come in very handy. The dry season from December to May can be extremely hot. Aside from sunscreen, you should bring along sunhats or caps to ward off the heat. Sunglasses come in especially handy during this season. The general rule of thumb is always to wear light, breathable clothing when in St.
Cotton is ideal. However, toward the end of the year, the weather can become a little more chilly than usual, and a light jacket might be necessary at night.
Lucia ». Recommended: A Fun Weekend in St. Currently you have JavaScript disabled. In order to post comments, please make sure JavaScript and Cookies are enabled, and reload the page. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your browser.
From St. Sign up for our FREE newsletter below and don't miss out! Yes Please! Sign up for our FREE newsletter below to not miss out! Remember me. Lost your password? The commonly held notion that Columbus sighted the island on Saint Lucy's Day, 13 December , is dubious, for there is no good evidence of his "discovery.
It appears that the original designation was "Sainte Alousie," the name used in Father DuTetre's volume on the Antilles. Saint Lucians identify by this name, distinguishing themselves from residents and nationals of neighboring islands. Although many thousands have emigrated to various parts of the Americas and Europe, especially during the twentieth century, this identification remains strong, even among those born in the diaspora.
The question of a shared culture is contentious, for Saint Lucians are divided along many lines, yet there is a sense of belonging to a place, a locality, of which they have a sense of possession. Location and Geography. Saint Lucia has an area of square miles square kilometers. It is 27 miles 43 kilometer long on its north-south axis and 14 miles 22 kilometer at its widest east-west dimension.
Saint Lucia lies between Saint Vincent to the south and Martinique to the north. It is a mountainous island born of ancient volcanic activity, some of which remains in the form of a sulphur springs area near the southwest coastal town of Soufriere. Rainfall is plentiful but variable, with heaviest precipitation in the mountainous interior and drier regions at the north and south extremities.
There is also an annual wet-dry cycle, but it is not pronounced. The island is ringed by a number of settlements, many of which had their origins as fishing villages and residential areas associated with plantations. The capital, Castries, is in the northwest. Castries is situated on a natural harbor that accounts for its preeminence from earliest colonial times. In recent decades there has been a substantial growth of some interior settlements associated with banana cultivation.
The census puts Saint Lucia's population at ,; the population estimate was , This represents a Population growth is slowed only by a substantial outward migration. Nearly 40 percent of the population lives in the greater Castries area, a percentage that did not change much in the 20 years between and However, the Castries population has shifted from the central city and its densely populated residential areas to more dispersed suburban neighborhoods as new housing has been built.
The area of most rapid growth is the Gros-Islet region in the north of the island, the center of tourism development and upper middle-class and expatriate housing construction.
Most of the population, approximately 90 percent, is of African or African-mixed descent, reflecting Saint Lucia's history of slavery. A small minority, less than 10 percent, has East Indian ancestry—descendants of indentured workers brought to the island after This minority has dispersed in the Saint Lucia last forty years, but is still concentrated in a few rural villages.
There remain a few old families of European origin, but there are no settlements of poor whites like those found in some neighboring islands. A more recently arrived Middle-Eastern population is mostly settled in the city.
Linguistic Affiliation. Most Saint Lucians are functionally bilingual, especially those under 40 years of age. English is the language of instruction in the schools and the language used in business, governmental institutions, and most formal settings. Some older Saint Lucians, especially in rural areas, have only rudimentary skills in English. The use of the two languages represents socioeconomic differences.
The language issue reflects the cultural struggle of a mini-state, only recently emerging from its colonial past, to define and identify itself. Until the s most of what passed for national symbols in Saint Lucia were of European derivation. The large square in central Castries was named Columbus Square, and the cricket ground, Victoria Park.
An annual event was held on Morne Fortune above Castries to recognize the recapture of the island from the French by English forces in and incidentally, the reimposition of slavery. With the establishment of constitutional independence in , a movement to give recognition to local figures and cultural expression, and to redefine Saint Lucian identity, took on great significance. When the island attained internal self-government in , some symbols of national status appeared—a flag, an anthem, and a crest.
But the task of creation or recreation of national symbols and national identity is still in process, and is frequently controversial. Emergence of the Nation. Saint Lucia had a long colonial history under both French and British rule. During a turbulent period of the eighteenth century, the island changed hands fourteen times and was finally ceded to the British in British colonialism came to an end in after a succession of constitutional changes involving increasing degrees of self-rule and autonomy, especially after The African population was brought to the island as slaves, mostly during the last half of the s.
Saint Lucia's formal institutions are evidence of the European colonial heritage, but the vital folk culture is a product of the African population. National Identity. The search for a national identity is ongoing.
Independence for Saint Lucia, as for most of her neighbors only recently emerged from a profoundly colonial experience, has involved an examination of cultural traditions that were suppressed in the past.
Because culture is conflated with class and color, this is sometimes a difficult exercise. Ethnic Relations. Ethnic relations in Saint Lucia are a product of the economic history of the island. The virtual demise of the Amerindian population and the establishment of an export-driven plantation economy dependent on African slave labor determined the fundamental social formation.
Colonial domination by a European minority over an enslaved African majority established the social dynamic.
The basic black-white opposition is complicated by the addition of other populations: East Indians from the sub-continent arrived in the s as indentured labor for the plantations, and more recently a small number of "Syrians," mostly Christian Lebanese, have settled in urban areas as merchants.
Unlike some larger Caribbean societies where there have been serious political divisions along ethnic lines, Saint Lucian race relations mostly reflect a continuing black-white tension. In recent times urban-rural divisions have been reduced. The island is small enough that, with improvements in roads and the proliferation of motor vehicles, especially public transport mini-buses, the capital Castries and the southern urban center of Vieux-Fort are within easy reach from nearly all localities.
The consequence is that many now live outside these centers but commute daily to jobs. The days of rural isolation have ended. Architecture reflects changes in materials and styles over time. The graceful tropical house styles characteristically made of wood, with steep-pitched roofs with dormers, jalousied windows, and filigreed trim, typical of upper-class dwellings four decades ago, are now things of the past.
Cinder block construction has become ubiquitous, resulting in houses that are heavy in appearance, hot in the tropical climate, and occasionally given to collapse in a hurricane. Some public buildings are in the old colonial style, resembling British municipal construction throughout the Empire, but a disastrous fire in Castries in reduced three-fourths of the town to rubble and most new construction was box-like and utilitarian.
Newer public construction has followed the same pattern. Private homes with sufficient space used to have a sitting room, used only on rare occasions. Family heirlooms such as china and tapestries were kept in sideboards there, to be displayed on special occasions.
Many of these spaces have been given over to the television set in the last two decades, as Saint Lucians have moved leisure time indoors from the stoop and veranda where neighborhood gatherings once took place after dark. New private homes incorporate kitchens with electric appliances and full bathrooms, replacing backyard cook sheds and outdoor latrines. It should be noted that many Saint Lucians still live in quarters much sparer than these, an indication of a continuing serious housing problem; in the modal dwelling size was two rooms.
Food in Daily Life. Food habits reflect the plantation past: the typical diet contains a lot of starches, animal protein content that varies by location, and until recently, little in the way of green vegetables. Starches include various kinds of yams, dasheen, eddos, bananas and plantains, sweet potatoes, and breadfruit.
Most of these are boiled, served with some kind of stewed fish or meat, and accompanied by a sauce. Pepper capsicum sauce is always present at the table, as most dishes are not prepared spicy hot. Animal protein sources reflect the historical scarcity of this element: pork hocks, pig tail, chicken back, and saltfish cod have been staples. Imported processed foods have been available for decades, but more recently account for larger parts of many meals. Food Customs at Ceremonial Occasions.
Ceremonial observances are occasions for celebration and lavish food and drink consumption. Celebrations usually mark rites of passage in the lives of Saint Lucians—christenings, first communions, confirmations, weddings, and funerals—while calendrical events are not especially marked.
A first communion celebration, for example, usually includes a significant outlay in food and drink for guests, who come from around the island. Hosts try to serve prestigious drinks—whiskey, brandy, gin, rum—and a sumptuous meal centered on meat—chicken for the poorest and as much as a side of beef for the more affluent. Everyone in attendance must leave satisfied, and one never can be sure how many might stop in. Basic Economy. Throughout Saint Lucia's colonial and post-colonial history, agricultural production has been export-oriented.
More than some of its neighbors, Saint Lucia has undergone a series of booms and busts. Agricultural production under colonial rule focused on sugar cane, only giving way to bananas as a principal cash crop in the s.
Cane was grown under a number of systems—plantation, sharecropping metayage , and smallholder—reflecting changing market conditions and capital investment over time. The shift to bananas opened up the market for large numbers of rural small producers, and ushered in an era of prosperity that lasted from to the early s.
The focus on commercial export-driven production has meant that agriculture for local consumption has suffered. Research and development of locally consumed foodstuffs has received scant attention, credit facilities for food production have been non-existent, and storage and preservation of local foods has never been on the agenda of economic planners.
One recent consequence of this bias has been that imported foods, mass-produced in countries like the United States, have often been cheaper for consumers than locally-produced alternatives. Land Tenure and Property. This is a tenure and transfer practice that exists outside the legal system, although it is partially supported by the old French legal system the Napoleonic Code which is still extant. Briefly, the principles of the system are these: land is held not individually, but communally by family members; transfer, when one dies intestate, is in undivided parcel to all descendants; sale is proscribed, that is, land is retained by the family; rights in land are inherited without legal division.
Family land exists alongside individual tenure and land transfers are often accomplished through wills. Commercial Activities.
Much commercial activity is concerned with importing goods from industrial economies. Trading in locally produced goods is largely in foodstuffs. The Castries marketplace is a daily market established and regulated by government where vegetables, fruits, meat and fish are sold. The market also has an area where locally produced crafts and utility items are sold to tourists and local customers. Major Industries.
Industrial growth during the last thirty years has been largely in the area of export processing plants producing garments, electronics assembly, paper products, and leather goods.
These employ local labor but are often foreign-owned. Local industries are small-scale and involve food processing and craft production. In recent years the growth of tourism, mostly associated with the development of facilities in the Castries-Gros-Islet corridor, has overtaken banana production as the most important earner of foreign exchange.
Employment generation attributed to tourism has been significant, with more than twelve thousand full-time jobs in the industry. The Saint Lucia Tourist Board has promoted tourist-oriented events, including a jazz festival featuring international and local talent. Trade, which in colonial times was dominated by exchange with Great Britain, has shifted to the United States, from which a variety of finished goods are imported, and Japan, which supplies motor vehicles and electronics.
By far the most important export is bananas, an economic mainstay for the past forty years. The market for Saint Lucian bananas is in the European Union, primarily Great Britain, and depends on preferential treatment. This trade is currently threatened by regulations imposed by the World Trade Organization. Division of Labor. The division of labor is very much like that of any modernizing economy, with workers hired based on skills and education.
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