Country Saint Lucia Area 79 km2 | Population 11,092 (2001) | |
Points of interest Pigeon Island, Marigot Bay, Morne Fortune, Vigie Beach, Beausejour Stadium | ||
Castries , population 20,000, aggl. 53,639, is the capital and largest city of Saint Lucia, a country in the Caribbean. The quarter with the same name had a population of 70,000 on 22 May 2013 and stretches over an area of 30.5 square miles (79 km2).
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Map of Castries
Castries is in a flood gut and is built on reclaimed land. It houses the seat of government and the head offices of many of foreign and local businesses. The citys design is in a grid pattern similar to a metropolitan city like New York but on a much smaller scale. Its sheltered harbour receives cargo vessels, ferry boats, and cruise ships. It houses duty-free shopping facilities such as Point Seraphine and La Place Carinage. Many restaurants offer menus from local to Chinese. Supermarkets and other shopping facilities provide goods. The city is well served by a bus system and taxi service.
St Lucias main post office is in Castries. Because most parts of the country do not use standard street addresses, mail is largely sent to P.O. boxes. Any mail sent without a town name ends up in the Castries post office.
Castries is the birthplace of Arthur Lewis, winner of the 1979 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics.
History
Castries was founded by the French in 1650 as "Carénage" (meaning "safe anchorage") when St. Lucia was purchased by Jacques Dyel du Parquet, the governor of Martinique. It was renamed in 1756 after Charles Eugène Gabriel de La Croix, marquis de Castries, commander of a French expeditionary force to Corsica that year. The earlier settlement across the harbour at Vigie, started in 1651, was abandoned after a devastating hurricane in 1780. From 1803 to 1844, the British made the town a major naval port and built fortifications on Morne Fortune, the mountain that overlooks this important harbour. By 1844, Castries had a population of 4,000. By the end of the century it had become a major coaling station, because it was the only port in the Caribbean capable of accommodating the Royal Navy.
During World War II, a German U-boat sailed into Castries harbor and sank two allied ships in 1942, including the Canadian ocean liner RMS Lady Nelson, which was subsequently refloated in the harbour and taken to Canada to be converted to a hospital ship. Castries has been rebuilt many times, following major fires in 1796 and 1813, and most notably on June 19, 1948.
Tourism
One of the major tourist areas in St. Lucia, Castries is a port of call for cruise ships. They dock at Pointe Seraphine, to the north of the harbour, which is also a duty-free shopping centre. A taxi service is readily available to take visitors on tours of the rest of the country or the city. A water taxi takes passengers from there to the city. The greatest concentration of hotels, resorts, and restaurants are near Castries and the islands other main towns: Gros Islet, Soufrière, and Rodney Bay. The city maintains three tourist offices and one at the airport. There are many duty-free shops, several restaurants, and other eating establishments, including Burger King, Dominos pizza, and KFC.
Castries has landmarks, such as the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Derek Walcott Square (renamed from Columbus Square to honor the islands Nobel Prize-winning poet, Derek Walcott), the City Library, the Government House, and Fort Charlotte, at the top of Morne Fortune (an 845-foot or 258 m hill). Beaches are a major draw for tourists, and there are several in or very near Castries. Vigie Beach, Malabar Beach, Choc Beach, and La Toc Beach are all within easy reach.