colony · Mesoamerica and the Caribbean
French Saint Lucia
Origins
After failed English attempts in 1605 and 1639, settlers sent by Jacques Dyel du Parquet of Martinique established a French post on Saint Lucia in 1650 and reached an accommodation with the Kalinago. France claimed the island continuously thereafter, though Britain disputed it, and for long periods it was declared neutral and left to the Kalinago and a few settlers.
Rule and society
Saint Lucia was governed as a dependency of Martinique. Its fine harbour, Le Carénage, renamed Castries in 1785 after the naval minister, made it strategically valuable, and its slopes were planted with sugar, coffee and cacao by settlers and enslaved Africans, mostly after 1763. During the Revolution, slavery was abolished in 1794 and Saint Lucia saw fierce fighting between republicans and the British.
Decline and legacy
Britain captured the island again in 1803 and the Treaty of Paris of 1814 ceded it to Britain, creating the Colony of Saint Lucia. French law, place names, Catholicism and the French-based Kwéyòl language remained a lasting legacy of the French period.
Lineage
On the connections map
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- French Saint Lucia was a colony of French Empire1650 CE – 1814 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). French Saint Lucia. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/french-saint-lucia
- MLA
- “French Saint Lucia.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/french-saint-lucia. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “French Saint Lucia.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/french-saint-lucia.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘French Saint Lucia’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/french-saint-lucia (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻