Quarters of Saint Lucia

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Districts of Saint Lucia since at least 2001 Saint Lucia, administrative divisions - fr - monochrome.svg
Districts of Saint Lucia since at least 2001

The island nation of Saint Lucia is divided into 10 districts (formerly called Quarters). The name Quarters or Quartiers originally came from the French period in Saint Lucia (Sainte Lucie in French). The 2001 and 2010 Census of Saint Lucia refers to the first level administrative divisions as districts. The FIPS and ISO standards regularly called these divisions quarters or quartiers in French. The former district of Dauphin Quarter was merged into Gros Islet District and the former district of Praslin Quarter was merged into Micoud District. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

History

1758 map of Saint Lucia 1758 Bellin Map of Saint Lucia (Sainte Lucie), West Indies - Geographicus - SaintLucia-bellin-1758.jpg
1758 map of Saint Lucia

After the French claimed title of Saint Lucia in 1744, commandant de Rougueville divided Saint Lucia into districts and parishes. Quarters were administrative districts for the control of settlors and slaves. The French Surveyor General of Saint Lucia, M. Raussaim, initially divided Saint Lucia into seven quarters. [5]

In 1844, Henry Breen describes how Saint Lucia was divided into two districts, the eastern district on the leeward side of Saint Lucia facing the Atlantic Ocean and the western district on the windward side facing the Caribbean Sea. It was further divided into eleven quarters or parishes, i.e. Castries, Anse Laraye, Soufriere, Choiseul, Laborie, Vieux Fort, Micoud, Praslin, Dennery, Dauphin, and Gros-ilet. Each quarter or parish had a town in the coastal bay within its territory that was named the same as the quarter. Breen further talks about stipendiary magistrates introduced during the period of the apprenticeship system. [6] These magistrates were as follows:

  1. Castries, Gros-ilet, Daughpin, and Anse Laraye
  2. Soufriere, Choiseul, Laborie
  3. Vieux Fort, Micoud, Praslin, Dennery

Still later the number of stipendiary magistrates was increased to five:

  1. Castries and Anse Laray
  2. Gros-ilet and Sauphin
  3. Soufriere and Choiseul
  4. Vieux Fort and Laborie
  5. Micoud, Dennery, and Praslin

The magistrates did not survive. However, the quarters or parishes did survive, as such, with some mergers and changes in the names.

Districts

Since the 2001 Census of Saint Lucia there have been 10 districts in Saint Lucia. [3]

2010 Census Population and area of Saint Lucia Districts [1] [4]
#DistrictPopulation [1] Households [4] Land Area [1] Population density [1]
1 Anse la Raye 6,0602,17137.6 km2 (14.52 sq mi)161 per km2, 417 per mi2
2 Canaries 2,04478924.3 km2 (9.38 sq mi)84 per km2, 218 per mi2
3 Castries [7] 65,65623,296102.7 km2 (39.65 sq mi)639 per km2, 1,656 per mi2
4 Choiseul 6,1282,07725.9 km2 (10.00 sq mi)237 per km2, 612 per mi2
5 Dennery 12,7674,41972.3 km2 (27.93 sq mi)177 per km2, 457 per mi2
6 Gros Islet 20,8729,804100.3 km2 (38.73 sq mi)208 per km2, 539 per mi2
7 Laborie 7,3632,18933.8 km2 (13.05 sq mi)218 per km2, 564 per mi2
8 Micoud 16,2845,623112.1 km2 (43.29 sq mi)145 per km2, 376 per mi2
9 Soufrière 7,6572,88658.4 km2 (22.55 sq mi)131 per km2, 340 per mi2
10 Vieux Fort 14,7545,66549.8 km2 (19.22 sq mi)296 per km2, 768 per mi2
Saint Lucia165,59658,919617.00 km2 (238.23 sq mi)268 per km2, 695 per mi2

Notes

Dauphin Quarter Dauphin in Saint Lucia.svg
Dauphin Quarter
Praslin Quarter Praslin in Saint Lucia.svg
Praslin Quarter

Political divisions

Electoral boundaries of Saint Lucia Electoral boundaries of Saint Lucia.svg
Electoral boundaries of Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia electoral boudaries are based, generally, on the districts. There are 17 constituencies in Saint Lucia that are represented in the House of Assembly of Saint Lucia. A study was done in 2014 to look into variations in census and boudaries and possible expansion of the number of constituencies. [9] [10]

DistrictConstituency NamePopulation
Gros IsletGros Islet23242
Castries Babonneau 12,844
CastriesCastries East11782
CastriesCastries South9463
CastriesCastries Central7274
CastriesCastries South East14516
CastriesCastries North11463
Anse la Raye and CanariesAnse la Raye and Canaries8363
SoufrièreSoufrière8424
LaborieLaborie8588 [11]
Vieux FortVieux Fort North7201
Vieux FortVieux Fort South9336
MicoudMicoud North7173
MicoudMicoud South7330
DenneryDennery South4896
DenneryDennery North7570
ChoiseulChoiseul6130 [11]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Map of each district". The Central Statistical Office of Saint Lucia. Retrieved August 12, 2021.
  2. Law, Gwillim (2015). "Districts of Saint Lucia". Statoids. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "2001 Census" (PDF). Government of Saint Lucia. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Saint Lucia 2010 Census". Government of Saint Lucia. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
  5. "About Soufriere". Soufriere Foundation. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  6. Breen, Henry H (1844). St Lucia Historical Statistical and Descriptive. London.
  7. The 2010 Census breaks the population of Castries into city (1,831), suburbs (10,373), and rural (67,478) for persons and the households of Castries into city (751), suburbs (3,648), and rural (23,296) for households.
  8. "Saint Lucia 2010 Population and Housing Census, Preliminary Report" (PDF). United Nations. April 1, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
  9. "House of Assembly". Government of Saint Lucia. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
  10. "Report of the Constituency Boundaries Commission for Saint Lucia" (PDF). 2014. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  11. 1 2 The figures for Laborie & Choiseul are inaccurate as the section of the Choiseul constituency which falls within the Quarter of Laborie (Piaye, Londonderry, Saltibus, etc) was incorrectly included to the list for the Laborie constituency.

Additional bibliographic references: