St. Vincent Mainland/Kingstown

Since 1979, St. Vincent & the Grenadines has been an independent island nation within the British Commonwealth. St. Vincent is the biggest island in the group and Kingstown, its harbor town, is the largest economic and political center. The main language is English but, as on Jamaica, many islanders also speak their own local patois.

Around 30,000 people live in Kingstown - roughly a quarter of the entire island state's population. The majority of inhabitants are descended from African slaves transported to the Caribbean as plantation workers. Today, there are almost no traces left of the original ethnic Carib peoples.

Kingstown is renowned for its lively harbor and the oldest Botanical Gardens in the New World.