Bequia the Big Little island


Bequia's earliest inhabitants were small group of Amerindians-first the Arawak's, and then later the Carib's, who along with their fellow Carib's in St.Vincent and Dominica successfully resisted the ravages of European colonization which swept through the Caribbean in the 16th and 17th centuries.


There is plenty of evidence of Carib life on the island which has been unearthed, with doubtless still more to be discovered. A small exhibit of artifacts and shards can be seen in the tourism office, providing an intriguing glimpse into Bequia distant past.


By the late 1600s, indigenous("yellow") Carib's had to a great extent merged with runways slaves giving rise to the so-called Black Carib. So fervent was the resistance of these Carib's to European settlement that both the french and the English essentially agreed to leave the Carib of St.Vincent and Dominica in peace, despite both countries desire for further colonization of 'new'lands. A 1659 account of the french Antilles describes bequia as being "too inaccessible to colonize", and used only by Carib's from St.Vincent for fishing and for"cultivating little garden".


But by early 18th century the french were showing renewed interest in the lush and fertile island of St.Vincent. After developing if not an alliance, then at least a working accord with the black Carib's, the french were permitted to develop a small settlement there. Bequia itself was first settled by a handful of french smallholders in 1719 who, for the next forty or so years made their living producing indigo, cotton and sugar. Bequia, as in St.Vincent, has many locations, and indeed families still carrying french names.


The turning point in St.Vincent's colonial history came with the cessation of hostilities between the french and British in the seven years war, marked in 1763 by the treaty of Paris. By this treaty, previously 'neutral' St.Vincent and the Grenadines island were ceded to the British , along with Grenada, Tobago, Dominica and Canada, while British captured Guadeloupe, Martinique, and St.Lucia were returning to the french. Although interrupted briefly by a short lived french seizure of St.Vincent. 1779, the long period of British settlement, colonization and control of St.Vincent & the Grenadines had now truly Begun.