Soufrière, Saint Lucia Soufrière, Saint Lucia Soufrière is a town on the West Coast of Saint Lucia, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The town and the surrounding district has a population of 7,935. It was founded by the French and was the original capital of the island. There were large estates run by plantation owners of French origin and their descendants still live in the area. The French Revolution of 1789 resulted in many Royalists being executed and the slaves freed. However, Napoleon reintroduced slavery when he came to power. The British invaded St Lucia shortly after, but the slaves and French deserters
Saint Lucia his map of 1500, calling it El Falcon, and another island to the south Las Agujas. A Spanish Cedula from 1511 mentions the island within the Spanish domain, and a globe in the Vatican made in 1520, shows the island as Sancta Lucia. A 1529 Spanish map shows S. Luzia. One of the Windward Islands, "Saint Lucia" was named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse. The French, were the island's first European settlers around 1550. It is the only country in the world named after a historical woman (Ireland is named after the Celtic goddess of fertility Eire). Legend states French