Saint Lucia (also written as St. Lucia) is an island country in the eastern and southern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of with an officially estimated population of over 184,100 people as of mid 2023. The nation's capital and largest city is Castries.
The first proven inhabitants of the island, the Arawaks, are believed to have been the first to settle on the island in 200–400 AD. In 800 AD, the island was taken over by the Kalinago. The French were the first European colonists to settle on the island, and they signed a treaty with the native Caribs in 1660. The English took control of the island in 1663. In ensuing years, England and France fought 14 times for control of the island; consequently control over this immensely valuable geopolitical position changed frequently. Eventually, the British took complete control in 1814, shortly after the victory over French Emperor Napoleon I. Because the island switched so often between British and French control, Saint Lucia was also known as the "Helen of the West" after the Greek mythological character, Helen of Troy.
Representative government was introduced in 1924 with universal suffrage being established in 1951. From 1958 to 1962, the island was a member of the West Indies Federation. On 22 February 1979, Saint Lucia became an independent state, while remaining as a Commonwealth realm.
Saint Lucia is a member of the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the World Trade Organization, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). It is also a member of the .
Etymology Saint Lucia is named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse (283–304 AD). Legend states that French sailors were shipwrecked on the island on 13 December, the feast day of St. Lucy, and therefore named the island in her honour.
A globe in the Vatican from 1520 shows the island as Sancta Lucia, indicating that the island was instead named by early Spanish explorers. Saint Lucia was first known as Louanalao by the Arawak Indians in 200 AD, meaning "Island of the Iguanas," and then as Hewanorra, in 800 AD, meaning "there where iguanas are found," when the Carib Indians arrived and assimilated their culture into Saint Lucia.
History
Pre-Columbian The first proven inhabitants of Saint Lucia were the Arawaks, though there may have been other native peoples prior to them. The Arawaks are believed to have come from northern South America, sometime around 200–400 AD, as there are numerous archaeological sites on the island where specimens of their pottery have been found.
The Kalinago (Island Caribs) arrived around 800 AD, and seized control from the Arawaks by killing their men and assimilating the women into their own society.
Early European exploration and colonization It is possible that Christopher Columbus may have sighted the island during his fourth voyage in 1502, but he does not mention the island in his log. Juan de la Cosa noted the island on his map of 1500, calling it El Falcon, and another island to the south Las Agujas. A Spanish cédula from 1511 mentions the island within the Spanish domain, and a globe in the Vatican made in 1520, shows the island as Sancta Lucia.
In the late 1550s, the French pirate François le Clerc (known as Jambe de Bois, due to his wooden leg) set up a camp on Pigeon Island, from where he attacked passing Spanish ships. In 1605, an English vessel, Oliphe Blossome, was blown off-course on its way to Guyana. As a result, 67 colonists started a settlement on Saint Lucia, after initially being welcomed by the Carib chief Anthonie. By 26 September 1605, only 19 survived following continued attacks by the Carib chief Augraumart, so the settlers fled the island. The English tried to settle the island again in 1638, but the Caribs continued to be hostile. Eventually, the French successfully claimed the island in 1650 and they signed a treaty with the Caribs in 1660. In 1664, Thomas Warner (son of Sir Thomas Warner, the governor of St Kitts) claimed Saint Lucia for England but the English fled again in 1666, with the French gaining full control of the island after the signing of the Treaty of Breda. Saint Lucia was made an official French crown colony in 1674 as a dependency of Martinique.
18th and 19th centuries
After the slave-based sugar industry developed, both the British and the French found the island attractive. 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 French colony well into the eighteenth century.
In 1722, George I of Great Britain granted both Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent to the 2nd Duke of Montagu. Montagu 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.
During the Seven Years' War, Britain occupied Saint Lucia for a year, but handed the island back to the French in 1763, under the Treaty of Paris. In 1765, the French began to develop the land for the cultivation of sugar cane as a commodity crop on large plantations. During the American Revolutionary War, the British captured the island in 1778, but returned it to France in 1783 under the terms of the Treaty of Paris.
In January 1791, during the French Revolution the National Assembly sent four commissioners to Saint Lucia to counter Royalist sentiments there. By August 1791, slaves began to abandon their estates and Governor Jean-Joseph Sourbader de Gimat fled. Following the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars and proclamation of the French First Republic, in December 1792 Lieutenant Jean-Baptiste Raymond de Lacrosse arrived in Saint Lucia with revolutionary pamphlets and the colony's poor whites and free people of colour began to arm themselves. On 1 February 1793, France declared war on Britain and General Nicolas Xavier de Ricard became governor. The National Convention abolished slavery on 4 February 1794, and on 1 April Saint Lucia was captured by British forces under Vice-admiral John Jervis. However, a combined force of maroons and fugitive white French regulars who called themselves began to fight back, starting the First Brigand War.
In June 1795, French forces under the nominal control of Victor Hugues recaptured the island from the British. However, in 1796 a British expeditionary force landed on Saint Lucia and recaptured it from the French, during which Castries was burned; the recapture became known as the Second Brigand War. The British returned Saint Lucia to France in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens, which ended the French Revolutionary Wars. However, following the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars in May 1803, the British once again recaptured the colony. Much of the Armee Française dans les Bois escaped into the island's interior where they evaded capture and established maroon communities.
Slavery on the island continued for a short time, but anti-slavery sentiment was rising in Britain. The British stopped the import of slaves by anyone, of whatever ethnicity, when they abolished the slave trade in 1807. France and Great Britain continued to contest Saint Lucia until the British secured it in 1814, as part of the Treaty of Paris, ending the Napoleonic Wars. Thereafter, Saint Lucia was considered one of the British Windward Islands colonies.
The institution of slavery was abolished on the island in 1834, as it was throughout the British Empire. After abolition, all former slaves had to serve a four-year "apprenticeship", to accustom them to the idea of freedom. During that period, they worked for their former masters for at least three-quarters of the work week. Full freedom was duly granted by the British in 1838. By that time, people of African ethnicity greatly outnumbered those of ethnic European background. People of Carib descent also comprised a minority on the island.
20th century Saint Lucia's first representative government was introduced in 1924, with the first election taking place in 1925. Many Saint Lucians served during the Second World War, and the conflict visited the island directly during the Battle of the Caribbean, when a German U-boat attacked and sank two British ships in Castries harbour on 9 March 1942. The US used the island as a military hub during the war, including setting up a secondary naval base in Gros Islet and using what is now the island's international airport as an air force base.
Universal suffrage was introduced in 1951 and elections were held the same year. In 1958, Saint Lucia joined the West Indies Federation, although the federation was dissolved just a few years later in 1962. In 1967, Saint Lucia became one of the six members of the West Indies Associated States, with internal self-government. Independence was peacefully gained in 1979 under Sir John Compton of United Workers Party, with the island remaining within the British Commonwealth, keeping then-Queen Elizabeth II as Monarch, represented locally by a Governor-General.
Post-independence era Despite leading the country to independence, Compton's initial term as prime minister lasted only a few months, being defeated by the Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) under Allan Louisy in the 1979 Saint Lucian general election. In 1980, Hurricane Allen struck the island, destroying much of its infrastructure and reducing economic growth. Compton returned to power after the 1982 Saint Lucian general election after much instability during the labour government's term. During Compton's second term as the island's leader, banana exports significantly increased and became the nation's main source of revenue. There were improvements to infrastructure, and education was expanded to rural areas. Saint Lucia was key to the US invasion of Grenada. During the 1990s and 2000s, the nation's economy began shifting from agriculture to tourism under the leadership of Kenny Anthony. The 9/11 attacks in the United States in 2001 killed two Saint Lucians, and caused an economic slowdown, although moderate growth continued until the Great Recession. The recession, as well as the landfall of Hurricane Tomas in 2010, led to slow economic growth during the early 2010s, although the economy picked up during the later part of the decade and avoided contraction until 2020, after the COVID-19 pandemic caused major economic issues globally.
In June 2016, the United Workers Party (UWP), led by Allen Michael Chastanet, won 11 of the 17 seats in the general election, ousting the St Lucia Labour Party (SLP) of the incumbent Prime Minister Kenny Anthony. However, Saint Lucia Labour Party won the next election in July 2021, meaning its leader Philip J Pierre became the ninth Prime Minister of Saint Lucia since independence. St Lucia Labour Party (SLP) of prime minister Philip Pierre kept its majority in the 2025 election.
Geography
Saint Lucia has a total area of . As a volcanic island, Saint Lucia is very mountainous, with its highest point being Mount Gimie, at above sea level. The Pitons, two mountainous volcanic plugs, form the island's most famous landmark. Saint Lucia is also home to the world's only drive-in volcano, the Sulphur Springs. There are a number of small islands off the coast, the largest of which are the Maria Islands, located in the south-east of the island.
Saint Lucia lies at latitude 14° N and longitude 61° W. The population tends to be concentrated around the coast, with the interior more sparsely populated, due to the presence of dense forests.
Flora and fauna