Saint Lucia is an island nation in the eastern Caribbean, among the Windward Islands between Martinique and Saint Vincent. Famous for the twin volcanic peaks known as the Pitons that rise dramatically from the sea, it is one of the most scenically beautiful islands in the Caribbean and a popular destination for tourists. Fought over so many times by the French and the British that it was nicknamed the Helen of the West Indies, after the Helen of Troy whose beauty launched a war, it blends English and French cultural influences and has produced, remarkably for so small a place, two Nobel laureates.
The island was home to indigenous Arawak and then Kalinago peoples, who resisted European settlement, before the French and British began their long struggle for control in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. So often did the island change hands between the two powers, fourteen times by tradition, that it earned its nickname the Helen of the West Indies. Under colonial rule, plantations worked by enslaved Africans produced sugar. The island finally settled under British control, and after the abolition of slavery and a long road to self-rule, Saint Lucia gained independence from Britain in 1979.
Saint Lucia is a mountainous, volcanic island of great natural beauty, with a forested interior rising to high peaks and falling to a coastline of bays and beaches. Its most famous feature is the Pitons, two towering volcanic spires that rise side by side directly from the sea on the southwestern coast, a World Heritage site and the very symbol of the island. Nearby lies the Sulphur Springs, a geothermal area with bubbling pools and steaming vents, sometimes called a drive-in volcano. Rainforest, waterfalls, and the dramatic peaks give the island its celebrated scenery.
The flag of Saint Lucia has a light blue field bearing a central device of a golden triangle in front of a white-edged black triangle, the shapes evoking the twin Pitons rising from the sea. The blue represents the sky and the surrounding ocean, the gold the sunshine and prosperity, and the black and white the cultural influences of the African and European peoples living together in harmony. The stylised image of the Pitons makes the island's most famous natural landmark the central emblem of the nation.
Saint Lucia is a strongly Christian country, and, reflecting its long French colonial influence, it is predominantly Roman Catholic, a faith deeply woven into the culture, calendar, and festivals of the island, with patron-saint celebrations and church traditions central to community life. A range of Protestant denominations, including Seventh-day Adventist, Pentecostal, and others, are also present and growing. The strong Catholic heritage, unusual among the English-speaking islands and shared with neighbours that passed through French hands, is one of the cultural legacies of Saint Lucia's much-contested colonial past.
Saint Lucian cuisine blends African, French, British, and Caribbean influences, making good use of fresh local produce and seafood. The national dish is green figs and saltfish, green figs being unripe bananas, boiled and served with seasoned salted cod. Callaloo, ground provisions, breadfruit, and an abundance of tropical fruit feature throughout, along with fresh fish and the local catch, and the French heritage shows in the island's creole cooking and its love of well-seasoned, flavourful dishes. Bouyon, a hearty one-pot stew, and spicy local seasonings round out the island's food.
Agriculture has long been important to Saint Lucia, and for much of its modern history the dominant crop was the banana, which became the mainstay of the rural economy and the leading export after the decline of sugar, though it has been buffeted by hurricanes and by changes in international trade. The island also grows coconuts, cocoa, tropical fruits, and vegetables, much of it on small farms, and fishing supplies the local market. As tourism has grown into the leading sector of the economy, agriculture has declined in relative weight but remains significant in rural life.
The fierce indigenous resistance, the long tug-of-war between France and Britain that gave the island its nickname, and the plantation era shaped Saint Lucia's history, with independence arriving in 1979. The island's most extraordinary distinction, however, is cultural: despite its tiny size, it has produced two winners of the Nobel Prize, the economist Sir Arthur Lewis and the poet Derek Walcott, an achievement that gives Saint Lucia, by some measures, more Nobel laureates per person than almost any nation on Earth, a source of immense national pride.
Saint Lucia has a population of around 180,000 people, the great majority of African descent, descendants of those brought to the island in slavery, with minorities of mixed, Indian, and European heritage. English is the official language, but most Saint Lucians also speak a French-based creole known as Kwéyòl, a living legacy of the island's French colonial past. The population is concentrated along the coasts, especially in and around the capital, Castries, in the north, while the mountainous interior is more thinly settled. A significant Saint Lucian community lives abroad.
