Saint Lucia Saint Lucia Saint Lucia (; ) is a sovereign island country in the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of and reported a population of 165,595 in the 2010 census. Its capital is Castries. The French were the island's first European settlers. They signed a treaty with the native Island Caribs in 1660. England took control of the island from 1663 to 1667. In ensuing
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