Saint Lucia
Capital: Castries · Caribbean
Saint Lucia (also written as St. Lucia) is an island country in the eastern and southern Caribbean.
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Piton Valley, St. Lucia, seen from the Ladera Hotel restaurant
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Vigie Beach, Saint Lucia.
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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.
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Port of Castries , Saint Lucia , West Indies
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Petit Piton, St. Lucia, seen from the Ladera Hotel restaurant. UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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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.
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History
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.
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Geography
Saint Lucia has a total area of 617 km2 (238 sq mi). As a volcanic island, Saint Lucia is very mountainous, with its highest point being Mount Gimie, at 950 m (3,120 ft) 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.
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Government and politics
Like most Caribbean countries, Saint Lucia is a unitary state with a parliamentary system. It is a Commonwealth realm and a constitutional monarchy, with the current monarch being Charles III, who is represented on the island by a governor-general, currently Errol Charles. The prime minister (currently Philip J. Pierre) is the head of government, the head of the cabinet, and is normally the leader of the largest party in the House of Assembly. The house has 17 seats, with each member being elected via a plurality of votes in their constituency. The upper chamber of Parliament is the Senate which has 11 appointed members, the majority of which are appointed by the prime minister.
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Economy
Saint Lucia is a Small Island Developing State, a designation similar to a developing country with a few substantial differences due to Saint Lucia's island nature. The service sector is the largest sector of the economy, accounting for 86.9% of GDP in 2020, followed by industrial and agricultural sectors at 10.9% and 2.2%, respectively.
Saint Lucia has been able to attract foreign business and investment due to its educated workforce and improvements in roads, communications, water supply, sewerage, and port facilities.
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Demographics
A census is normally held in Saint Lucia every 10 years. In the 2010 census, Saint Lucia reported a population of 165,595 in 58,920 households. This was a 5.1% increase from the 157,490 recorded at the previous census in 2001. Ages 0–14 made up 24.1% of the population while those 65 and over made up 8.6%. Nearly 40% of the island's population lived in the District of Castries, where the nation's capital of the same name is located.
Saint Lucia had a fertility rate of 1.4 children per woman in 2021, the lowest in the Americas.
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Culture
The culture of Saint Lucia has been influenced by African, East Indian, French, and English heritage. The main secondary language of the island is Saint Lucian Creole (Kwéyòl), a French-based creole spoken by most of the population. The island boasts the highest ratio of Nobel laureates produced with respect to the total population of any sovereign country in the world. Two winners have come from Saint Lucia: Sir Arthur Lewis, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1979, and the poet Derek Walcott, who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992.
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