Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a sovereign federated state located in the Lesser Antilles in the east Caribbean. The nation consists of the island of Saint Vincent and a chain of smaller islands within the Windward Islands group called the Grenadines. First human settlers arrived from South America, namely the Ciboney, Arawaks, and finally Carib people, before Christopher Columbus discovered Saint Vincent in 1498. The Spanish showed no interest in colonising the islands, and it wasn't until 1719 that the French established plantations at Barrouallie, on the west coast of Saint Vincent. Following the 1783 Treaty of Versailles, ownership of the islands were transferred to the British. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines were declared a Crown Colony in 1877, within the British Windward Islands, and later a member of the West Indies Federation from 1958 to 1962. Self-government was achieved in 1969, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines were granted full independence within the Commonwealth of Nations in 1979. The capital and largest city is Kingstown. Estimated population of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 2013 was 103,000.