22nd February: Saint Lucia

Today is the anniversary of St Lucia's independence from the UK in 1979. Here are 10 things you might not know about St Lucia:

1. Saint Lucia was named after St Lucy of Syracuse.
2. The first European settlers on the island were Dutch. Later, in 1605, an English ship called the Olive Branch was blown off-course on route to Guyana. The 67 colonists started a settlement on Saint Lucia, but it only lasted five weeks, thanks to disease and conflicts with the indigenous population. In 1660, the French arrived - they signed a treaty with the locals. However, both Britain and France wanted the island thanks to the sugar industry and were often at war over it. It changed hands 14 times between Britain and France, with each country possessing it seven times each, so that it became known as the "Helen of the West Indies". On 22 February 1979, Saint Lucia became an independent state of the Commonwealth of Nations associated with the United Kingdom.
3. St Lucia's national dish is green figs and saltfish.
4. The capital city is Castries. Castries was founded by the French in 1650 as "Carénage" (meaning "safe anchorage") - although this proved, in 1942, not to be an entirely appropriate name when a German U-boat sailed into Castries harbour and sank two allied ships, including the Canadian ocean liner RMS Lady Nelson, which was re-floated and taken to Canada to be converted to a hospital ship.
5. The highest point is Mount Gimie, at 950 metres (3,120 feet) above sea level; but the country's most famous mountains are the Pitons - twin volcanic cones in the south west of the island - Gros Piton and Petit Piton.
6. The Pitons are a national symbol of Saint Lucia and are represented on the national Flag, which consists of a Yellow triangle on a blue background topped by a white edged Black arrowhead. The triangle represents the Pitons. The blue background represents sea and sky, the black and white harmony between races and the yellow represents sunshine and prosperity.
7. Saint Lucia is home to the world's only drive in volcano. This tourist attraction is known as Sulphur Springs and is located near the town of Soufrière, whose name, appropriately enough, is French for sulphur. Visitors can drive right up to the edge of the volcanic springs, and view the crust from a viewing platform. Before the 1990s it was possible to walk right up to it, but an unfortunate tour guide fell through, creating "Gabriel's Hole" and getting second degree burns from his waist down.
8. Saint Lucia boasts the highest ratio of Nobel laureates produced with respect to the total population of any sovereign country in the world. As the population is only around 174,000, two Nobel Prize winners were enough to achieve this distinction. They are Sir Arthur Lewis, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1979, and the poet Derek Walcott, who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992.
9. Another famous person to hail from the island is Emile Ford (Michael Emile Telford Miller) of Emile Ford and the Checkmates fame. He was born in Castries.
10. There are two historic fraternal societies in Saint Lucia - The Rose and the Marguerite. The Rose was based on Rosicrucianism, and its traditional rival, The Marguerite is similar to Freemasonry. Both of these hold festivals - The Rose in August and The Marguerite in October.