Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Saint Vincent and the Grenadines fought or stood against, from the first to today.

1. 🇫🇷 Kingdom of France1719 to 1763

   French planters from Martinique settle the leeward coast from around 1719, after an armed expedition against the Garifuna fails. France and Britain dispute the island, agree it is neutral in 1748, and France cedes it to Britain in 1763.

2. 🇬🇧 Great Britain1763 to 1773

   Britain surveys Carib lands for sale to sugar planters. The Garifuna resist, and the First Carib War of 1772 to 1773 ends in a treaty that leaves them a reserve in the north east under British sovereignty.

3. 🇫🇷 Kingdom of France1779 to 1783

   During the American War of Independence a French force, helped by the Garifuna, takes Saint Vincent in 1779 almost without a fight. The Treaty of Versailles returns it to Britain in 1783.

4. 🇬🇧 Great Britain1795 to 1797

   Encouraged by revolutionary France, the Garifuna under their chief Joseph Chatoyer rise in 1795. Chatoyer is killed that March. The Garifuna surrender in 1796 and about five thousand are deported; the survivors reach Roatan, off Honduras, in 1797.

Today

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines now

Resistance from native Caribs prevented colonization on Saint Vincent until 1719. France and England disputed the island for most of the 18th century, but it was ceded to England in 1783. The British prized Saint Vincent because of its fertile soil, which allowed for thriving slave-run plantations of sugar, coffee, indigo, tobacco, cotton, and cocoa. In 1834, the British abolished slavery.

Capital

Kingstown

Government

parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy; a Commonwealth realm

Area

389 km²

Through time

Then and now

• Population101,3002023 · 61,700 in 1950
• Life expectancy71.2 years2023 · 46.9 years in 1950
• Living in cities48%2025 · 37% in 1950
• Literacy96%1970
• Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
• War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 24 October 2026.