The Helen of the West Indies: Kalinago, French and British, and independence in 1979

St Lucia’s volcanic peaks and deep harbours made it a prize. France and Britain fought over it for 150 years, and it changed hands so often that it was called the Helen of the West Indies. It ended up British, but its people still speak Kwéyòl, a French-based Creole, and its heritage blends African, French, British and Caribbean roots.

At a glance

Population: around 170,000 (Central Statistical Office of Saint Lucia, 2022 Population and Housing Census).

Names: Hewanorra or Iouanalao in the Kalinago language; Sainte-Lucie in French.

Languages: English is official; Kwéyòl (St Lucian Creole French) is widely spoken.

UNESCO World Heritage: the Pitons Management Area (2004).

Hewanorra

Arawak-speaking peoples settled the island from around the first centuries AD, followed by the Kalinago, sometimes called Caribs, who knew it as Hewanorra or Iouanalao. They resisted early European settlers fiercely.

France and Britain

From the seventeenth century France and Britain fought for St Lucia. It is often said to have changed hands fourteen times, and was finally ceded to Britain in 1814. Sugar plantations worked by enslaved Africans covered the valleys; slavery was abolished in 1834. Pigeon Island, with its British fort and views over Rodney Bay, recalls the naval wars.

Kwéyòl

Despite British rule, French influence never left: in place names such as Soufrière, Vieux Fort and Gros Islet, in the Catholic faith of most St Lucians, and above all in Kwéyòl, celebrated every October on Jounen Kwéyòl, Creole Day.

Two Nobel laureates

For its size, St Lucia has an extraordinary record: the economist Sir Arthur Lewis won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1979, and the poet Derek Walcott the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992. Both share the same birthday, 23 January, celebrated in Nobel Laureate Week.

So often fought over, it was called the Helen of the West Indies.

Independence

St Lucia became independent on 22 February 1979. The Pitons, two volcanic spires rising from the sea near Soufrière, were inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage in 2004, with the drive-in volcano of the Sulphur Springs nearby.

Our advice: visit Pigeon Island for the history and the view, drive south to Soufrière for the Pitons and the Sulphur Springs, and if you can, be on the island for Jounen Kwéyòl in October.

Sources

Population: Central Statistical Office of Saint Lucia, 2022 Population and Housing Census. History: Saint Lucia National Trust; UNESCO World Heritage Centre (Pitons Management Area); Nobel Prize Outreach (nobelprize.org); Saint Lucia Tourism Authority.