Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States and CARICOM.

The country speaks English as its official language. The capital, and its main port, is Kingstown.

Its national bird is the Saint Vincent Amazon, an endemic bird of the Saint Vincent island.

Politics
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. The Queen does not live in the islands but she is represented in the country by the Governor-General, currently Sir Frederick Ballantyne.

Control of the government rests with the elected prime minister and his or her cabinet. The current Prime Minister is Ralph Gonsalves.

The country has no formal armed forces, although the police has a Special Service Unit that has a supporting role on the island.

The Parliament is unicameral is formed only by the House of Assembly with 21 seats: 15 representatives elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms and 6 appointed senators. The last elections were held on 13 December 2010 and the next will be held in 2015.

History
The island now known as Saint Vincent was originally named Youloumain  by the native Caribs. The Caribs inhabited Saint Vincent before the Europeans arrived, and it is possible still to find Carib artifacts in the island.

Christopher Columbus explored in 1498 the main island on Saint Vincent's Day. The Caribs did not allowed Europeans to settle in Saint Vincent until 1719 when some French people came from Martinique and began to grow coffee, tobacco, indigo, cotton and sugar cane with the help of African slaves.

In 1763 by the Treaty of Paris, France gave control of Saint Vincent to Britain; France took the island again in 1779, but the British then regained Saint Vincent under the Treaty of Versailles (1783).

In 1834 slavery was abolished and people from the Portuguese island of Madeira and from India came to work as agricultural workers.

In 1871 the group of islands became part of the Windward Islands Colony and in 1956 a member of the Federation of the Windward Islands. In 1958 Saint Vincent joined the Federation of the West Indies and in 1969 it got full internal self-government. Finally in 1979 it became an Independent Sovereign State within the Commonwealt.

Population

Demographics
The estimated population in 2003 was 103,220. The population density is 265 persons per square kilometre.

The ethnic composition was 66% Black, 19% Mixed, 6.0% East Indian, 4.0% European (mainly Portuguese), 2.0% Carib Amerindian, 3.0% others.

Language
The official language of the islands is English but most people use the Vicentian Creole English.

Religion
The people of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was 75% Protestant (47% Anglicans, 28% Methodists), 13% Catholics, 12% other (Hindu, Seventh-Day Adventists, other Protestant).

Geography
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a group of islands of the Caribbean Sea. It lies to the west of Barbados, south of Saint Lucia and north of Grenada in the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.

There are 32 islands and cays, including the main island of Saint Vincent () and the northern two-thirds of the Grenadines (), which are a chain of small islands stretching south from Saint Vincent to Grenada. The largest and most populated Grenadines islands are Bequia, Mustique, Canouan and Union Island.

The main island of Saint Vincent, at , is  long and  wide, and has an area of , or about 88% of the total country area, 19 times that of the country's second largest island Bequia. It is dominated by the highest mountain in the country and an active volcano, La Soufrière (), which erupted violently in 1812 and 1902. The most recent eruption was on April 13, 1979. The island has many mountains and forests. The island is tropical humid, with an average of between 18 and 31 °C depending on the altitude.

The Saint Vincent Passage is between the Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent islands, and the Bequia Channel is between the Grenadines and Saint Vincent islands.

The Grenadines islands lie between the islands of Saint Vincent in the north and Grenada in the south. Neither Saint Vincent nor Grenada are Grenadine islands. The islands north of the Martinique Channel belong to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the islands south of the channel belong to Grenada.

Islands
These islands make up the Grenadines Parish
 Bequia, at , is the largest of the Grenadines. The capital of the Grenadines parish, Port Elizabeth , is here.
 Petit Nevis
 Isle à Quatre
 Bettowia
 Baliceaux
 Mustique
 Petit Mustique
 Savan
 Petit Canouan
 Canouan
 Mayreau
 Tobago Cays
 Union Island
 Petit Saint Vincent
 Palm Island

Administrative divisions
Administratively, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is divided into six parishes. Five parishes are on Saint Vincent, while the sixth is made up of the Grenadine islands. Kingstown is located in the Parish of Saint George and is the capital city and central administrative centre of the country.

 5 parishes on Saint Vincent:
 Charlotte - 149 km² (capital: Georgetown)
 Saint George - 52 km² (capital: Kingstown)
 Saint Andrew - 29 km² (capital: Layou)
 Saint Patrick - 37 km² (capital: Barrouallie)
 Saint David - 80 km² (capital: Chateaubelair)
 1 parish made up of the Grenadine islands:
 Grenadines - 43 km² (capital: Port Elizabeth on the Bequia island)

Climate
Tropical rainforest climate is a type of tropical climate in which there is no dry season - all months have mean precipitation values of at least . Tropical rainforest climates have no pronounced summer or winter; it is typically hot and wet throughout the year and rainfall is both heavy and frequent.

The Köppen climate classification subtype for this climate is Af (Tropical Rainforest Climate).

The average yearly temperature is . The coolest months are between November and February. During the rainy season, May through October, rain is frequent in the mountains of St. Vincent with the annual average rainfall being  away from the coast and  on the coast.

Related pages
 List of rivers of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
 List of Vincentian people
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines at the Olympics
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines national football team

References

 
Current monarchies
Caribbean Community
English-speaking countries
Commonwealth realms