St. Lucia |
| St. Lucia is one of the most uncommonly beautiful islands in the Caribbean.
Its rich, volcanic soil supports lush, green rain forests that are home to giant ferns, stands of bamboo, and the colorful national bird, the St. Lucia parrot. Two dramatic peaks, Gros Piton and Petit Piton, tower over the southern end of the island. The coastline is dotted with lonely coves and beautiful white- and black-sand beaches, such as spectacular Reduit Beach to the north and secluded Anse Chastanet and Marigot Bay, where Dr. Doolittle was filmed.
The island's early inhabitants were the peaceful Arawak Indians, whose remnants have been unearthed on Pigeon Island, just off the northern tip of St. Lucia. The fierce Carib Indians conquered the Arawaks by the early 16th century and were in turn conquered by Europeans, starting in 1502 with the arrival of Columbus. For the next 300 years, St. Lucia alternated repeatedly between French and British control, until it was ceded to the British in 1814. In 1979, the island was granted sovereignty as a member of the British Commonwealth. Since then, it has gained international recognition, partly for the works of native writer Derek Walcott, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992. Today, St. Lucia retains a beguiling mixture of French and English influences, which can be detected in the seductive rhythms of zouk music heard throughout the island, in the colorful madras-plaid head cloths worn by Lucian women, and in the island's exuberant pre-Lenten Carnival festivities. Since 1842, the island's official language has been English, but the local patois is derived from French, English, and African languages, similar to the creole spoken on the French West Indies. |