A brief introduction to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines lie in the Caribbean Sea north of Trinidad and Tobago. The Grenadines are made up of 32 islands, including some smaller islands that are privately owned. The volcanic, mountainous islands reach their highest peak at Soufrière, touching the sky at 4,000 feet. Indigenous people thwarted European settlement until the 18th century when French settlers arrived to cultivate coffee, tobacco, cotton and sugar. Plantations were worked by African slaves; many of the present day population of 118,000 are descendants of these slaves. The French ceded St. Vincent to Britain, only to get it back, only to give it back again, with varying degrees of British colonial status bestowed on the islands until independence in 1979.
The area around Villa and Indian Bay, the most popular for tourists, provides the obligatory beach hotels and resorts with all the fun in the sun you desire. A selection of guest houses and self-catering apartments are also available. Beyond beach fun, the capital of Kingstown has the Kingstown Market, with fresh fruits, vegetables and fish and local arts and crafts in the courtyard. On the west coast of St. Vincent, the Botanical Gardens are the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, founded in 1762. On Berkshire Hill, 600 feet above the bay, Fort Charlotte was constructed in 1806 and eventually supported 600 troops and 34 guns. The old barracks are now a museum.