Fast Facts About Saint Lucia:

• Language – English is the official language, but French Patois is also spoken by the majority of the local population.
• Religion – The major religion in Saint Lucia is Roman Catholic, followed by Protestant.
• Location – Saint Lucia is situated in the West Indies region of the Caribbean.
• Size – Saint Lucia is one of the smallest countries in the world, with a length of 43 kilometres (23 miles) and a width of around 23 kilometres (14 miles).
• Flag – The country’s flag is blue with a distinctive emblem in the centre that includes black and white, as well as both a yellow and black triangle. Blue represents the Caribbean Sea, while black and white is indicative of harmony between the local communities. As for the two triangles, the yellow represents sunshine and the black depicts the Pitons, the famous volcanic cones of the island.
• National bird – The Saint Lucia Parrot is the national bird of Saint Lucia and is an endangered species (due to the deforestation of its natural habitat) exclusively found on the island.
• Weather – Saint Lucia has a tropical climate with a dry season and a rainy season and average temperatures of around 27.3oC (81oF). Its hurricane season is from June through November and the best time to visit it is between December and April (also the high season), when it is the driest and sunniest for the island.
• Things to do – Countless activities and experiences await visitors, from water sports, such as kayaking, snorkelling, and diving, to hiking, trekking, mountain biking, fine dining, joining street parties featuring live music, freshly-caught grilled fish and lots of rum, and luxury accommodation.

Origins of its Name

Saint Lucia got its name from French sailors whose ship, Saint Lucy of Syracuse, crashed in 1502 off the shores of the island. This makes Saint Lucia the only nation in the world that has been named after a woman.

However, before the French baptised Saint Lucia, the Arawaks, and the Carib people, the earliest settlers of the island called Saint Lucia Iyanola and Hewanorra, respectively. Translated into English, both names mean “the island of the iguanas”!

Settling Saint Lucia

According to archaeological evidence, Saint Lucia was first settled by the Arawaks between 1000 BC and 500 BC. Europeans first laid eyes on it, though, in 1501 when Christopher Columbus came across Saint Lucia while exploring the ocean.

When the attempts to possess Saint Lucia were made by the Europeans, it took 150 years of conflict between Britain and French during the 17^th and 18^th century before the island was finally ceded to the UK. In total, though, Saint Lucia changed ownership 14 times before it became part of the British Windward Islands colony. Things changed for the nation in 1967, when it became self-governing, and completely independent a few years later, in 1979.

As for Pigeon Island in Saint Lucia, it is believed to have been the location of Jambe de Bois (aka Wooden Leg), the island’s first French settler, who used it as a pirate base in the 1550s and his favourite lookout spot when wanting to plunder a Spanish ship passing from the area.

Natural Wonders & Wildlife

Saint Lucia is widely known for the Pitons, its twin volcanic spires rising from the Caribbean Sea. The two mountains are Petit Pitons and Gross Pitons which are 743 metres (2,437 feet) and 798 metres (2,619 feet) high, respectively. The Pitons have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and hold the sceptres for being the only site with such a denomination on the island. As for the Pitons Management Area, it also includes the Piton Mitan ridge (besides the two mountain cones mentioned above), which connects Gros Pitons and Petit Pitons, as well as hot springs and a geothermal field.

What is also extraordinary and worth mentioning about the island’s natural scenery is that it is home to the only drive-in volcano in the world, which is known as Sulphur Springs. The Sulphur Springs is not like any other volcano you might have seen, though, as it lacks magma or a crater. Instead, it consists of pools of boiling mud that emit sulphur gas clouds.

Regarding the Saint Lucia wildlife, it should be mentioned that the Pitons are a hugely diverse habitat for flora and fauna. In fact, it is home to 27 bird species in total (5 of them being endemic species), along with:

• 168 finfish species
• 3 amphibians
• 8 reptiles
• 3 bats
• 1 opossum
• 3 indigenous rodents
• 148 plant species
• 60 cnidaria species
• 8 annelid worms
• 15 arthropods
• 11 echinoderms
• 14 sponges
• 8 molluscs

Plus, the Saint Lucia whiptail lizard, the world's rarest lizard, is also found in Saint Lucia’s forests. It was discovered in 1958 and is only seen in two Caribbean islands, one of them being Saint Lucia, as it is the only species of its kind that has survived in the region.

Interesting Facts About Saint Lucia:

• Before tourism became Saint Lucia’s major source of income, its economy was sustained by the production of sugar cane. When that stopped in 1964, it relied on banana exports to make money. However, a fall in the price of bananas in 1993 resulted in a significant drop in Saint Lucia’s resources, forcing it to look for alternative sources of income and turn to tourism.
• Slavery was abolished in Saint Lucia in 1834. Before that, African slaves were used by the British to work on sugar plantations. This makes the majority of the local population descendants of that enslaved population of the early 19^th century.
• Saint Lucia has the most Nobel Prize Laureates per capita, making it a world record holder, with a rate of 10.81 per 1.000.000 people.
• Two Saint Lucians have already won a Nobel Prize – Sir Arthur Lewis and Derek Walcott, who won the 1979 Nobel for Economics and the 1992 Nobel Prize for Literature, respectively.
• Saint Lucia’s Black Bay is believed to have been the place where the infamous pirate Blackbeard used to stash his treasures.