Island Hopping St. Lucia History

ISLAND HPPING

The first known inhabitants of St. Lucia were Arawaks who arrived on the island from the Orinoco delta region of Venezuela around 200 AD. Hot on their heels, between 800 and 1200 AD, were the Caribs who, immediately upon arrival, proceeded to decimate the Arawak population by killing the men, enslaving their women, and castrating and fattening the young boys for later consumption until by the turn of the 16th century the Arawaks were but a footnote in St. Lucia’s history. The Caribs named the island Iouanalao, or Land of the Iguanas, and this name was later corrupted to Hiwanarau, and finally to Hewanorra, which is now the name of St. Lucia’s International Airport.

Although it has been suggested that Columbus “discovered” St. Lucia on his fourth and final voyage to the New World in 1502, no reference to the island exists in the Admiral’s records leaving some critics to speculate whether or not he actually ever viewed the island. The island is named after St. Lucie, an Italian saint whose feast day is December 13, and this date was celebrated for years as St. Lucia’s Discovery Day. Columbus’ log reveals that the great discoverer was elsewhere on Dec. 13, 1502. The man that actually discovered St. Lucia may well have been Juan de la Cosa, a Spaniard who accompanied Columbus on his first two voyages. During an independent expedition in 1504, de la Cosa sighted St. Lucia and named it El Falcón on his famous map of the New World. Although the Spanish never attempted to colonize the St. Lucia, the island later appeared on a Spanish Royal Cedula of Population as St. Lucia in 1511, and later was included on a Vatican map of the New World in 1520. St Lucia has also been called the Fair Helen of the West Indies, after Helen of Troy.

The Spanish claimed St. Lucia in absentia after Juan de la Cosa’s visit in 1504, but the first non-Amerindian settler is reputed to be a pirate, Francois le Clerc, also known as Jambe de Bois (Wooden Leg), who is said to have used Pigeon Island as a base for attacking Spanish ships. 1600, the Dutch set up a reprovisioning outpost at Vieux Fort, which was soon destroyed by the Caribs and the survivors driven from the island. In 1605, and quite by accident, British settlers established a colony at the southern end of the island. The settlers were on a ship called the Olive Branch (sometimes shown as the Olive Blossom) and were bound for Guyana when they were blown off course, landing on St. Lucia. The 67 settlers met with the Caribs to arrange shelter and were shortly thereafter attacked. After a month of battle, 19 of the colonists survived by fleeing in stolen Carib canoes. In 1625, the Dutch built a fort in the same vicinity, which eventually led to the name of the present day town of Vieux Fort. The British again attempted to colonize the island in 1639 under the leadership of Sir Thomas Warner, and actually lasted almost two years before being wiped out by the Caribs. For the next dozen years St. Lucia was the site of many skirmishes between Caribs and settlers, with the Caribs coming out on the winning end in each instance.

In 1651, Governor du Parquet of Martinique purchased the island and the French, or to be more precise, the French West India Company, attempted to colonize St. Lucia. The French built a fort on the Vigie peninsula just to the north of what is now the capital city, Castries. The French encampment, Le Carenage, was on the banks of a small creek that led into the bay. The French fought many battles with the Caribs, but were finally able to come to terms with their enemy and signed a peace treaty with them in 1660.

A dispute soon arose over ownership of the island between the French and the British (who were firmly entrenched in Barbados), both of whom were intent on increasing their holdings in the Caribbean. A long era of hostility persevered between the two nations as both used the Caribs as mercenaries in their conflicts. Missionaries attempted to convert the Caribs and those who would not convert were often killed as a systematic annihilation of the Caribs was undertaken by the British who captured as many as they could find and shipped them off to Dominica. During this period St. Lucia was like a ping-pong ball, changing hands 14 times in the next 150 years. France settlers moved in along the southern coast at Soufrière in 1743 (which later became the capital of St. Lucia in 1746) and began setting up vast sugarcane plantations and importing large numbers of West African slaves to work their fields.

While all this was going on, the American colonies were rebelling against British rule, and France, taking sides with the rebels, earned even more disfavor with the British who attacked the settlements of St. Lucia in 1778. After four long years of fighting, British Admiral George Rodney established a fort and naval base at Pigeon island from which he attacked French forces at Iles de Saintes. The British victory at what is known as the Battle of the Saints, was the beginning of the end of French domination in the Caribbean although the French in St. Lucia was not yet ready to relinquish their island.

The Treaty of Paris in 1783 secured French control of the island and within six years the French Revolution changed the island forever. Most of the settlements were renamed, French nobles were guillotined in the streets, and the Republicans freed the slaves, the work force of the plantation owners. As if this was not enough, the British and the French were still fighting on the island and the slaves were drawn into the struggle. Although some slaves opted to stay on the plantations, many fled into the interior and formed loose-knit guerrilla-style freedom fighters known as the Brigands. The Brigands were a thorn in the side of the British, attacking and destroying their plantations, and generally terrorizing the British settlers. After a slave rebellion in 1748, a group of Brigands, fled to the mountains in the vicinity of Fond Gen Libres, (Valley of the Free People) where their descendants still live today. In 1795, a group of Brigands captured Pigeon Island and were able to hold it for several weeks before being overpowered by the superior British forces. During these years, most of the island’s settlements were destroyed, and a great center of conflict revolved around Ft. Charlotte in the hills above Castries. Tough British troops attacked the fort in 1796 and after a fierce two-day battle, captured the fort that marked that would rapidly bring about the end of French rule on St. Lucia. By 1798, many of the Brigands, their numbers reduced and their supplies depleted, also surrendered to the British and returned to a life of slavery.

The Treaty of Paris in 1814 brought St. Lucia under permanent British control as a Crown Colony. British law was established in 1827, and later, in 1838, St. Lucia became a member of the British Windward Islands. English was established as the official language of the island and the official seat of government was moved to Barbados. During these years of peace, the economy of St. Lucia fostered until the abolition of slavery in 1834. Although many slaves stayed on as indentured servants, there was not enough of a work force to successfully work the plantations and the St. Lucian economy fell apart until the 1860s when Castries came into its own as a coal supply center for ships in the Caribbean. Indentured servants from India were brought in to bolster the work force and St. Lucia thrived for about 70 years. Before World War II, diesel fuel replaced the coal used by the older steamers and St. Lucia’s coal warehousing went belly-up as the economy took a downward turn again. Trade unions were formed and these led to political parties that were to shape the future of St. Lucia.

By the 1950’s, independence from Britain was a hot topic on the island and in 1958 St. Lucia joined other British colonies in the West Indies Federation, a political grouping whose aim was to win independence for its members. After the withdrawal from the federation of the more economically stable islands of Jamaica, Trinidad, and Tobago, the federation dissolved in 1962, but St. Lucia kept plodding along on the road to independence. In 1967, St. Lucia was granted full self-government and a two-party governmental system developed, the United Worker’s Party (UWP), and the more liberal St. Lucia Labour Party (SLP).

Britain was besieged by years of lobbying and finally granted independence to St. Lucia on February 22, 1979. Today St. Lucia remains a Commonwealth country and a constitutional monarchy with the British sovereign as the titular head of state. St. Lucia now enjoys a more balanced economy, thanks in no small part by tourism, the nation’s number one employer with one out of three workers involved in the field.