The country has no formal armed forces, although the police has a Special Service Unit that has a supporting role on the island.
The Parliament is unicameral is formed only by the House of Assembly with 21 seats: 15 representatives elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms and 6 appointed senators. The last elections were held on 13 December 2010 and the next will be held in 2015.[1]
History
The island now known as Saint Vincent was originally named Youloumain[4] by the native Caribs. The Caribs inhabited Saint Vincent before the Europeans arrived, and it is possible still to find Carib artifacts in the island.
In 1763 by the Treaty of Paris, France gave control of Saint Vincent to Britain; France took the island again in 1779, but the British then regained Saint Vincent under the Treaty of Versailles (1783).
In 1871 the group of islands became part of the Windward Islands Colony and in 1956 a member of the Federation of the Windward Islands. In 1958 Saint Vincent joined the Federation of the West Indies and in 1969 it got full internal self-government. Finally in 1979 it became an Independent Sovereign State within the Commonwealt.[5]
Population
Demographics
The estimated population in 2003 was 103,220. The population density is 265 persons per square kilometre.
There are 32 islands and cays, including the main island of Saint Vincent (344 square kilometres (133 sq mi)) and the northern two-thirds of the Grenadines (45 square kilometres (17 sq mi)), which are a chain of small islands stretching south from Saint Vincent to Grenada. The largest and most populated Grenadines islands are Bequia, Mustique, Canouan and Union Island.[7]
The main island of Saint Vincent, at 13°15′N61°12′W / 13.250°N 61.200°W / 13.250; -61.200 (Saint Vincent), is 18 kilometres (11 mi) long and 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) wide, and has an area of 344 square kilometres (133 sq mi), or about 88% of the total country area, 19 times that of the country's second largest island Bequia. It is dominated by the highest mountain in the country and an active volcano, La Soufrière (1,234 metres (4,049 ft)), which erupted violently in 1812 and 1902. The most recent eruption was on April 13, 1979. The island has many mountains and forests. The island is tropical humid, with an average of between 18 and 31 °C depending on the altitude.
The Saint Vincent Passage is between the Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent islands, and the Bequia Channel is between the Grenadines and Saint Vincent islands.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
The Grenadines islands lie between the islands of Saint Vincent in the north and Grenada in the south. Neither Saint Vincent nor Grenada are Grenadine islands. The islands north of the Martinique Channel belong to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the islands south of the channel belong to Grenada.
Administratively, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is divided into six parishes. Five parishes are on Saint Vincent, while the sixth is made up of the Grenadine islands. Kingstown is located in the Parish of Saint George and is the capital city and central administrative centre of the country.
Tropicalrainforest climate is a type of tropical climate in which there is no dry season - all months have mean precipitation values of at least 60 millimetres (2.4 in). Tropical rainforest climates have no pronounced summer or winter; it is typically hot and wet throughout the year and rainfall is both heavy and frequent.[8]
The average yearly temperature is 27 °C (81 °F). The coolest months are between November and February. During the rainy season, May through October, rain is frequent in the mountains of St. Vincent with the annual average rainfall being 380 centimetres (150 in) away from the coast and 200 centimetres (79 in) on the coast.[7]
Climate data for Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
↑Historic Account of Saint Vincent, the Indian Youroumayn, the island of the Karaÿbes.- Frere. Adrien Le Breton SJ. (1662-1736) - Museum of Natural History, Fonds Jussieu, Paris
