St.
Vincent & the Grenadines is a nation of 32 islands located in the
Caribbean in the Lesser Antilles between St. Lucia (24 miles to the
north) and Grenada (75 miles to the south). The nation is probably best
known for the sailing to and among the islands of the Grenadines, not
all of which are populated. St Vincent is the largest of the islands
being approximately 133 square miles.
The Grenadine islands are to the
south of St Vincent and the populated ones consist of:
Bequia - 7 sq. miles and 9 miles from Sr Vincent
Mustique - 2 sq. miles and 17 miles from St Vincent
Canouan - 3.2 square miles and 29 miles from St Vincent
Mayreau - 1 square mile and 35 miles from St Vincent
Union - 3 square miles
and 36 miles from St Vincent
Palm Island - 0.2 square miles and 41 miles from St Vincent
Petit St Vincent -
0.2 square miles and 44
miles from St Vincent
Among the uninhabited islands are the Tobago Cays which consist of 5
islands with sheltered lagoons and coral reefs and is a marine park.
There is also Young Island which is not considered part of the
Grenadines; it is a small private island just 200 yards off the
shore of Kingstown the capital. It is said that the Carib Chief gave
the island to the British Governor, Sir William Young, in exchange
for a horse.
The main island of St Vincent is dominated by the 4,000 foot active
La Soufriere volcano. This volcano which has erupted twice in the
recent past gives St Vincent much of its character. The rich
volcanic soil has resulted in a mountainous interior that is heavily
forested and dotted with waterfalls. As a result hiking, especially
to the peak of La Soufriere is one of the activities undertaken by
visitors to the island. The
volcanic soil has also given rise to a combination of black sand
beaches, yellow sand beaches and white sand beaches.
Were you intrigued by the scenes from the movie, Pirates of the
Caribbean - Curse of the Black Pearl? Well St Vincent was the
location for that movie and at Wallilabou
and Black Point you can wander among the film sets used in the
movie.
St Vincent is also home to the Garifuna people. It is said that in
the 17th century a slave ship from Biafra in Nigeria was shipwrecked
near to St Vincent and the indigenous Kalinago people (known by some
as the Caribs) on St Vincent rescued some of the slaves. The
inter-marriage of the Kalinago with the Aficans and the interweaving
of the two cultures created a black Carib race called the Garifuna
which means cassava eating people. The Garifuna fiercely resisted
the Europeans and fought the British to a standstill in the First
Carib War. In the Second Carib War the Garifuna only surrendered in
1796 when their leader, Satuye,
was killed. Unfortunately
for the Garifuna the British deported 5.000 to the island of Roatan
off the coast of Honduras. The British however allowed those who
were less African looking to remain on the island of St Vincent.
Today the Indigenous
Garifuna and Kalinago communities are located on the Windward coast
north of the Rabacca River at Orange Hill, Overland, Sandy Bay,
Point, Owia and Fancy.
St Vincent is also home to the oldest Botanic Gardens in the Western
hemisphere having been founded in 1765. When the gardens were
founded seeds and plants came from tropical India and from North
Borneo, Sabah, and Sarawak in the East Indies. Other species came
from French and Caribbean sources, such as cinnamon from Guadeloupe
and Grenada. Kew Gardens in England sent seeds from China. Probably
the most famous of the plants in the Gardens are the breadfruit. In
1787 Captain William Bligh sailed to Tahiti to collect breadfruit to
bring to the West Indies and ultimately there was a mutiny on board
his ship which led to the books and movie called Mutiny on the
Bounty. Eventually Bligh went back to the Pacific collected his
plants and in 1793 he landed in St Vincent with the breadfruit which
today has spread through the Caribbean and in the St Vincent Botanic
Gardens there are plants from that original voyage.
You can learn more about St Vincent by
visiting our other St Vincent pages
