Saint Lucia - Historical Timeline - Orbitrock

2025 - Focus on diversifying beyond tourism (agri-processing, creative industries), climate adaptation (coastal defenses, water security), and sports development leveraging recent international successes.

2024 - Sprinter Julien Alfred becomes World Indoor 60 m champion, elevating Saint Lucia's profile in global athletics.

2023 - Visitor arrivals rebound toward pre-pandemic levels; infrastructure upgrades target roads, ports, and climate resilience.

2021 - Philip J. Pierre (SLP) becomes Prime Minister after a general election; agenda includes cost of living, governance, and tourism recovery.

2020 - COVID-19 impacts tourism-dependent GDP; health protocols, income support, and tourism "bubble" strategies roll out.

2018 - Levern Spencer takes Commonwealth Games high jump gold, a first athletics gold for Saint Lucia at the Games.

2016 - Death of Sir K. Dwight Venner, long-serving ECCB Governor and noted Saint Lucian economist.

2016 - West Indies, captained again by Daren Sammy, secure a second World T20 crown; the national stadium is renamed in his honor.

2015 - Death of Sir Dunstan St. Omer, national artist and designer of the Saint Lucian flag.

2015 - Launch of Citizenship by Investment program as a new revenue stream; debates focus on due-diligence and competitiveness.

2012 - Saint Lucian captain Daren Sammy leads West Indies to the ICC World T20 title.

2010 - Hurricane Tomas triggers deadly landslides and severe agricultural and infrastructural damage.

2007 - Death of Sir John Compton, independence-era leader and multiple-term PM.

2007 - Hosts matches for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, boosting sports tourism and facilities.

2003 - Death of George Odlum, veteran politician and diplomat.

2002 - Beausejour Cricket Ground opens (later Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium), positioning the island for major fixtures.

1992 - Derek Walcott wins the Nobel Prize in Literature — a landmark cultural win for Saint Lucia and the Caribbean.

1984 - UWP wins; economic strategy leans on agriculture, tourism, and light manufacturing.

1982 - Government alternation; policy debates center on diversification beyond bananas and sugar.

1980 - Hurricane Allen devastates housing, crops, and infrastructure; long recovery follows.

1979 - Independence; John Compton becomes first Prime Minister (UWP).

1967 - Associated State status with full internal self-government; the UK retains defense and external affairs.

1962 - Federation dissolves; constitutional talks shift to associated statehood.

1958 - Joins the West Indies Federation.

1956 - Ministerial government expands local executive authority.

1951 - Universal adult suffrage adopted; mass politics and trade-union organizing accelerate.

1924 - New constitution introduces a (limited) elected element to the Legislative Council.

1860 - Immigration schemes bring new labor (including from Madeira and East India) to sustain the plantation economy.

1838 - Administration folded into the British Windward Islands colony.

1834 - Slavery abolished across the British Empire (apprenticeship to 1838).

1814 - Treaty of Paris cedes permanent British control.

1803 - Britain retakes Saint Lucia for the last time.

1796 - French abolish slavery; British seize the island again amid the French Revolutionary Wars.

1783 - Treaty of Paris returns the island to France.

1778 - Britain captures Saint Lucia during the American War of Independence.

1760 - Britain and France fight repeatedly for control; plantations and forts expand under alternating flags.

1660 - A short-lived Anglo–French/Carib accommodation is proclaimed, but rivalry continues.

1650 - French adventurers and the Compagnie des Îles d'Amérique claim the island; small, shifting footholds form.

1605 - A group of English settlers (from the Oliphe Blossome) attempts a colony; conflict with the Kalinago forces abandonment.

1502 - Europeans record the island on Caribbean charts during Spanish voyages.

1500 - Arawak and later Kalinago communities inhabit the island; canoe trade links Saint Lucia to the wider Lesser Antilles.