A fond welcome to locals and visitors!
Each and every visit to the Caribbean is like no other. There is always something new to learn, places to go or things to do. Sculpted by nature, the islands are ever-changing and evolving. With so many islands to choose from it is never easy to decide on where to stop.
We want to introduce you to our beautifully unique islands. Make sure you stay a while, take your time! In the Caribbean there’s no rush, let’s just ‘go with the flow’.
The more you learn, the more you will want to know, so relax and discover
the wonderful St. Vincent & the Grenadines
- TIME ZONE: ATLANTIC STANDARD TIME
- CAPITAL CITY: THE VALLEY
- LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
- INDEPENDENCE: BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORY
- ETHNICITY: BLACK 90.1% MULTI RACIAL 4.6%
- POPULATION: 15,000 (2011)
- NATIONAL DISH: PIGEON PEAS & RICE
- CURRENCY: EASTERN CARIBBEAN DOLLAR (XCD)
The flag of St. Vincent and the Grenadines was officially adopted in October 1985. The blue on the flag represents the sea and the tropical sky. Yellow symbolises the golden sands and abundance of sunshine. The green on the flag depicts the land’s vegetation. In the centre of the flag are three green diamonds arranged in a V pattern, for St. Vincent. The diamonds represent the Grenadine Islands which fall under the government of St. Vincent.
The coat of arms of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is surmounted by a cotton plant and bears the text “Peace and Justice” in Latin.
The centrepiece is based on the colonial badge in use from 1907 to 1979 and features two women in classical Roman dress. The one on the heraldic right stands holding an olive branch, and the one on the left holds scales of justice and kneels before a gold altar situated between them.
Saint Vincent! Land so beautiful,
With joyful hearts we pledge to thee
Our loyalty and love, and vow
To keep you ever free.
CHORUS:
Whate’er the future brings,
Our faith will see us through.
May peace reign from shore to shore,
And God bless and keep us true.
Hairoun! Our fair and blessed Isle,
Your mountains high, so clear and green,
Are home to me, though I may stray,
A haven, calm, serene.
CHORUS:
Our little sister islands are
Those gems, the lovely Grenadines,
Upon their seas and golden sands
The sunshine ever beams.
SUSAN DOUGAN
GOVERNOR GENERAL
RALPH GONSALVES
PRIME MINISTER
Governors
SIR SYDNEY GUN-MUNRO
(1916–2007)
TOOK OFFICE: 27/10/1979 – LEFT OFFICE: 28/02/1985
SIR JOSEPH EUSTACHE
(1908–1996)
TOOK OFFICE: 28/02/1985 – LEFT OFFICE: 29/02/1988
HENRY WILLIAMS (acting)
(1917–2004)
TOOK OFFICE: 29/02/1988 – LEFT OFFICE: 20/09/1989
SIR DAVID EMMANUEL JACK
(1918–1998)
TOOK OFFICE: 20/09/1989 – LEFT OFFICE: 01/06/1996
SIR CHARLES ANTROBUS
(1933–2002)
TOOK OFFICE: 01/06/1996 – LEFT OFFICE: 03/06/2002
MONICA DACON (acting)
(1934–)
TOOK OFFICE: 03/06/2002 – LEFT OFFICE: 02/09/2002
SIR FREDERICK BALLANTYNE
(1936–2020)
TOOK OFFICE: 02/09/2002 – LEFT OFFICE: 01/08/2019
SUSAN DOUGAN
(1954–)
TOOK OFFICE: 01/08/2020 – INCUMBENT
Premiers
MILTON CATO
(1915–1997)
TOOK OFFICE: 27/10/1979 – LEFT OFFICE: 30/07/1984
SIR JAMES FITZ-ALLEN MITCHELL
(1931–)
TOOK OFFICE: 30/07/1984 – LEFT OFFICE: 27/10/2000
ARNHIM EUSTACE
(1944–)
TOOK OFFICE: 27/10/2000 – LEFT OFFICE: 29/03/2001
RALPH GONSALVES
(1946–)
TOOK OFFICE: 29/03/2001 – INCUMBENT
ST. VINCENT & THE GRENADINES MUST STOPS
Built in the 1790s, Fort Duvernette, also known as rock fort, towers over Calliaqua Bay and Indian Bay. Its guns sit on a 190ft volcanic plug which sticks out of the sea on the Windward side of St Vincent. The fort was built to protect the colonial hub of Calliaqua where sugar was loaded onto ships bound for English ports. There are many mysteries surrounding Fort Duvernette which you can try to answer while exploring the site. Why does it have a French name but British cannon? Who built the stairs up to the top of the fort? And how did they get the cannon all the way to the top?
Information courtesy of svgnationaltrust
Stay in your own private stone bungalow or eco-friendly glamping tent on this breathtaking 22 acre property. Take a dip in Salt Whistle Bay’s pristine, 80°F water just steps away. On the windward side, our beautiful, unspoiled beach is perfect for morning walks or snorkeling in the acclaimed Mayreau Gardens reef. Or kite surf right from our own dedicated kite beach, one of the top spots in the Grenadines and perhaps the most beautiful in the Caribbean.
Official Website: www.saltwhistlebay.com
The Volcano is the highest park on St. Vincent and dominates the northern portion of the island. It is aca active volcano which last erupted in 1979. There are many hiking routes to access the mountain, the most popular starts from Rabacca on the windward coast. The trail passes through rainforest and cloud forest before arriving at the rim of the magnificent crater.
The Tobago Cays Marine Park (TCMP) provides a home to a wide variety of animals and plants that thrive on the Cays and in the protected waters of the TCMP. The systems of coral reefs found in the TCMP contain many of the species native to this part of the Caribbean biogeographic region. Sea turtles, conchs, lobsters, and iguanas all take refuge in the protected area.
Official Website: www.tobagocays.org
History of St. Vincent & the Grenadines
Saint Vincent, one of the last islands colonised by Europeans. The aboriginal Caribs existed there in sufficient force to hold off European incursions until the eighteenth century. African slaves escaping from St. Lucia and Grenada or from shipwrecks, sought refuge in St. Vincent and intermarried with the Caribs to become known as “black Caribs”.
The Carib lands in the northern part of the island had been excluded from expropriation by the British, but the promise of profitable sugar cultivation led to encroachment by planters and eventually to two Carib wars.
Slavery was abolished in 1834; the resulting labour shortages on the plantations attracted Portuguese immigrants in the 1840s and east Indians in the 1860s. Conditions remained harsh for both former slaves and immigrant agricultural workers, as depressed world sugar prices kept the economy stagnant until the turn of the century. The importation of Africans by Europeans established the basic Afro-European foundation of Vincentian society.
During the labour shortage from 1763 until independence, St. Vincent passed through various stages of colonial status under the British. A representative assembly was authorized in 1776, Crown Colony government installed in 1877, a legislative council created in 1925, and universal adult suffrage granted in 1951. In the latter half of the twentieth century, Vincentians gradually came to have more control over their own political life. Universal suffrage granted by the British Crown in 1951 gave common people a measure of power that was formerly possessed by the planters. Independence was granted on 27th October 1979.