SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES

island nation lying within the Lesser Antilles, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It consists of the island of Saint Vincent and of the northern Grenadine Islands, which stretch southward toward Grenada. The island of Saint Vincent lies about 21 miles (34 kilometres) southwest of Saint Lucia and 100 miles west of Barbados. It is 18 miles long and has a maximum width of 11 miles, and its area is 134 square miles (347 square kilometres). Some of the larger islands of the Grenadines are Bequia, Canouan, Mayreau, Mustique, and Union Island. Including the Grenadines, the territory comprises a total area of about 150 square miles. The capital and major port is Kingstown, on Saint Vincent. The country is a member of the Commonwealth. island nation in the eastern Caribbean Sea within the Lesser Antilles. The island of Saint Vincent lies about 21 miles (34 km) southwest of Saint Lucia and about 100 miles (160 km) west of Barbados. The rest of the nation is made up of the northern Grenadine Islands, which stretch southward from Saint Vincent toward Grenada. Saint Vincent is 18 miles (29 km) long and has a maximum width of 11 miles (18 km); the total area of the nation is 150 square miles (388 square km), of which Saint Vincent constitutes 134 square miles (347 square km). The capital and chief port, on the southwestern coast, is Kingstown. The nation's main islands in the Grenadines are Bequia, Balliceau, Canouan, Mayreau, Mustique, Isle D'Quatre, Petit Saint Vincent, and Union Island. The population in 1990 was estimated to be 116,000. For information about regional aspects of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, see West Indies: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Additional reading There are few works that treat all the islands of the Lesser Antilles or describe a particular island comprehensively, although a number of broad overviews are listed in the earlier section on the region. An informative geologic survey, covering locations from both the Lesser Antilles and the Netherlands Antilles, is offered in J.H. Westermann and H. Kiel, The Geology of Saba and St. Eustatius, with Notes on the Geology of St. Kitts, Nevis, and Montserrat, Lesser Antilles (1961). Guy Lasserre, La Guadeloupe: tude gographique, 3 vol. (1978), is a detailed geography. Studies of flora include Clarissa Thrse Kimber, Martinique Revisited: The Changing Plant Geographies of a West Indian Island (1988); and David Watts, Man's Influence on the Vegetation of Barbados, 1627 to 1800 (1966).The people of Barbados are discussed in Jill Sheppard, The Redlegs of Barbados, Their Origins and History (1977), which explores the history of indentured servants; Farley Brathwaite (ed.), The Elderly in Barbados (1986), a survey of social and economic conditions of the elderly; and Graham M.S. Dann (ed.), Everyday in Barbados: A Sociological Perspective (1976), which discusses social structures and recreational activity. Jean Benoist (ed.), L'Archipel inachev: culture et socit aux Antilles franaises (1972), is an anthropological study of the French islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe, La Dsirade, Marie-Galante, and Saint-Barthlemy. Stuart B. Philpott, West Indian Migration: The Montserrat Case (1973), explores the impact of migration on village population. Bonham C. Richardson, Caribbean Migrants: Environment and Human Survival on St. Kitts and Nevis (1983), focuses on migration as a response to degradation of environment. Karen Fog Olwig, Cultural Adaptation and Resistance on St. John: Three Centuries of Afro-Caribbean Life (1985), examines the society of one of the Virgin Islands.Analyses of economic conditions include Delisle Worrell (ed.), The Economy of Barbados, 19461980 (1982), a study of the trends of the major sectors; Bonham C. Richardson, Panama Money in Barbados, 19001920 (1985), which discusses the impact of remittances on a wide range of economic activities and social attitudes; Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Peasants and Capital: Dominica in the World Economy (1988), which explores patterns of land ownership and agricultural production; and C. Bourne, E.R. Lefranc, and F. Nunes (compilers), Small Farming in the Less Developed Countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean (1980), which provides information on Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, and Antigua. Studies of individual island-state economies include John S. Brierley, Small Farming in Grenada, West Indies (1974); Deirdre M. Kelly, Hard Work, Hard Choices: A Survey of Women in St. Lucia's Export-Oriented Electronics Factories (1987); and Hymie Rubenstein, Coping With Poverty: Adaptive Strategies in a Caribbean Village (1987).Historical works which concentrate mostly on slavery and plantation life include the following: Vincent T. Harlow, A History of Barbados, 16251685 (1926, reprinted 1969), an examination of the period of the early British colonies; Gary A. Puckrein, Little England: Plantation Society and Anglo-Barbadian Politics, 16271700 (1984), a revisionist economic history, particularly strong on the creolizing process; Hilary Beckles, Black Rebellion in Barbados: The Struggle Against Slavery, 16271838 (1984), a provocative interpretation of slave resistance. Jerome S. Handler, The Unappropriated People: Freedmen in the Slave Society of Barbados (1974), which fills a gap in historiography; Karl Watson, The Civilised Island, Barbados: A Social History, 17501816 (1979), a study of the mature slave society; Claude Levy, Emancipation, Sugar, and Federalism: Barbados and the West Indies, 18331876 (1980), on postslavery adjustments; Gordon C. Merrill, The Historical Geography of St. Kitts and Nevis, the West Indies (1958), which discusses the colonial period on the islands; Lennox Honychurch, The Dominica Story: A History of the Island, 2nd ed. (1984), a well-illustrated study covering developments up to the 1980s and benefiting from the author's personal involvement in the constitutional changes leading to independence; and George Brizan, Grenada, Island of Conflict: From Amerindians to People's Revolution, 14981979 (1984), the work of a Grenadian historian and politician.