VIEUX FORT

town and former capital of St. Lucia island in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It lies 19 miles (30 km) south of the harbour of Castries and is situated near the island's extreme southeastern tip on fertile, flat ground overlooking Vieux Fort Bay. Named after a 17th-century fort (Old Fort), it was the site of St. Lucia's first sugar works (1765) and is still the centre of a sugar- and coconut-growing district. Hewanorra International Airport, one of the island's two airports, is nearby. Vieux Fort is also the site of one of the most modern deepwater ports in the Caribbean. Pop. (1992 est.) 13,617.