The island of St. Lucia is steeped in a potpourri of history. Having been used by the superpowers of the 18th century as a political pawn, St. Lucia adapted to and adopted characteristics of each ruling nation. St. Lucians have a rich heritage of Amerindian, African, Spanish, French and English.
The origins of the first inhabitants of St. Lucia is shrouded in mystery, although it is generally thought Indians from the mainland of South America traveled up the island chain in open canoes.
Archaeologists have dated the earliest presence of the kalinago people to around 5,000 BC. The most recognized group of early inhabitants are the Arawak Indians that can be traced back 2,000 years.
The Spanish explorers first encountered the Kalinago Indians in 1500, and it is through that the Kalinago people defeated the Arawaks.
The Kalinagos were highly sought after by the Spanish as slaves, but they gallantly fought against all European invaders for 300 years. In 1650 the French attempted to settle in St. Lucia and were successful for a period of time due to the marriage of the French governor, Rousselan, to the daughter of a Kalinago chief. Following the governor’s death, conflict ensued, and occupation of the small island ping-ponged back and forth between France and Great Britain for several hundred years.
Due to St. Lucia’s geographical location, 14 disputes for occupation took place encompassing five wars during the 18th and 19th centuries. Once peace was restored, and much to the disgust of the British military, Great Britain would always return St. Lucia to the French. The reason for this unusual gesture was that some powerful and wealthy British sugar plantation owners in nearby Barbados were influential in the British Parliament. They had no desire to have a new British colony producing sugarcane that would compete with their own plantations.
It was during this period in history that the profitable slave trade was at its zenith and many captured Africans were brought to the West Indies islands to be used as slave labor.
By 1763 the French began to systematically colonize St. Lucia with the cultivation of cotton, cocoa and coffee and the introduction of sugar.
The following decade a plague of ants invaded the sugar crops in all the French West Indies islands, including St. Lucia. This caused economic turmoil, and once again the French occupation was vulnerable. England took advantage of this weakness and recaptured the French colony in December of 1778. This was done in retaliation for France’s support of the American colonies during their war for independence.
During this period of British occupation, the island was used as a naval headquarters and military garrison, remnants of which are still on the island.
But the tides would turn once more. In 1780 a hurricane destroyed every building on the island and crippled the British garrison. In 1783, as part of the Treaty of Versailles, Great Britain returned St. Lucia to the French.
St. Lucia remained under French rule until the French Revolution. During this 10-year period of unrest in France, the people of St. Lucia longed for their own freedom. In 1794 the British freed all slaves on French-occupied islands including Martinique, St. Lucia and Guadeloupe, and this consequently left France without a secure base in the Antilles.
The British took advantage of France’s vulnerability during the turmoil and took the opportunity to repossess the resilient little island. St. Lucia stayed under British rule until 1979, at which time the longtime ruler finally granted St. Lucians their independence.
St. Lucia’s history can be summarized in its uniquely designed coat of arms, which is the official seal of the government. Each emblem on the seal is representative of a different country that played a role in St. Lucia’s history.
For instance, a rose represents the mother country of England and the fleur-de-lis flower is a reminder of France’s seven different occasions of occupation of the island. Two pieces of bamboo are positioned across the shield, and they represent the national plant of St. Lucia. A small African stool is centered in the middle of the bamboo cross. It represents the first black people brought to St. Lucia. The national bird, the St. Lucia Parrot, stands on both sides of the shield.
Share with others: