Product Code Database
Bequia ( or ) is the second-largest island in the Grenadines at . It is part of the country of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and lies approximately from the nation’s capital, Kingstown, on the main island, Saint Vincent.
The name Bequia is said to mean "island of the clouds" in the language of the ancient Arawak. The island’s early inhabitants were the Kalinago (Caribs), who lived throughout the Grenadines before the arrival of Europeans.
In the eighteenth century, Bequia was colonised by European powers, first claimed and settled by the French, who established small plantations producing indigo, cotton, and sugar worked by enslaved Africans. Following the Treaty of Paris (1763), France ceded Bequia and the neighbouring islands to Britain, which continued the plantation system and maintained colonial rule until independence in 1979 as part of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Bequia also has a history of whaling, introduced by Yankee whalers in the nineteenth century. Its people are allowed to catch up to four per year using traditional hunting methods. The limit is rarely met, with no catches at all in some years.
The island's hills are much lower than the peaks of St. Vincent, to the north, so they do not receive as many rain showers.
Princess Margaret, who had a home on nearby Mustique, visited Bequia in the 1950s and had a beach renamed in her honour. Princess Margaret Beach is next to Port Elizabeth and is situated inside Admiralty Bay on the west coast. The beach was originally known as Tony Gibbons, and continues to be known by that name locally, though the origin of this name is uncertain. Also on the west coast are the island's main port and a large natural harbour.
Two scuba diving stores run dive trips to 28 identified dive sites around Bequia. There are several wrecks and shallow caves accessible to advanced divers. It is not unusual to see Hawksbill turtles, lobsters, moray eels and many kinds of fish when diving around Bequia.
A recent tradition growing in popularity among locals and tourists, is Bequia’s New Year’s Day Lilo Regatta. Starting in 2010, as a means to recover from Old Year’s Night festivities, nearly 100 participants convene at the Frangipani and Whaleboner bars early afternoon for a trip across the bays on any unmotorized device that floats.
In the decades that followed, Bequia and the wider Grenadines became sites of increasing European interest and conflict. French settlers established small plantations cultivating indigo, cotton, and sugar, worked by enslaved Africans brought through the Atlantic slave trade. The island’s Indigenous Kalinago population was gradually displaced or assimilated during this period, a pattern common across the Lesser Antilles as European powers expanded their control. Although the terrain and limited freshwater discouraged large-scale settlement, Bequia’s protected harbours and position along inter-island trade routes made it a useful stopover for colonial shipping and privateers.
Bequia was under French control in the 18th century and during the Seven Years' War with England, the island was used by the fleets of their Spanish and Dutch allies to take on supplies, while British ships were banned. The 1763 Treaty of Paris produced a significant re-alignment in the map of the Caribbean; St. Vincent and the Grenadine islands, including Grenada, were given to the British in exchange for Guadeloupe, Martinique and St. Lucia. The name Petit Martinique comes from this era, as does Petit Saint Vincent. In 1779, the French seized the island, despite the treaty, but were forced to relinquish control to Britain again soon after.
The early 18th century saw the development of a sugar industry and the production of related products including molasses and rum. Other major produce included coffee, indigo and arrowroot. At one point in time, the islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines were the single largest producer of arrowroot starch in the world. Currently, Hairoun and Vincy strong rum are major export products primarily to the European Union.
Under a programme instituted by Great Britain to give land to indigent settlers, James Hamilton, father of Alexander Hamilton, moved from St. Croix to Bequia in 1774 where he remained until 1790. The land granted to Hamilton lies along the shore of Southeast Bay. Despite his son's frequent gifts of money and entreaties to immigrate or at least visit him, neither visited the other.
Some historians believe that the famous pirate Edward Teach had his base in Bequia. The opening shot of the movie Blackbeard, Pirate of the Caribbean, made by the BBC, displays a replica of his first ship off the coast of Bequia in the St. Vincent passage. According to local legend, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was not only Teach's base, but also the place from which Sir Francis Drake planned his attacks on the Spanish admiralty in Don Blas de Lezo's Cartagena. Indeed, it is thought that Henry Morgan may also have anchored in Admiralty Bay, as it was then the safest natural harbour in the Eastern Caribbean during hurricane season. Bequia was used as a repair facility for ships. Beside Nelson's Dockyard on Antigua, and the Carlyle in Bridgetown, Barbados, there were no other drydocks or shipyards in the area. Wooden shipbuilding and ship-repair on Bequia was possible due to the presence of cedar trees on the island and a sufficiently deep and sheltered harbour.
At the 2012 meeting of the IWC, the Whaling Commissioners renewed the annual quota of whales for all three groups who submitted joint bids: Alaskan Inupiat, Russian indigenous people in Chukotka in eastern Siberia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines, despite protestations of the delegations from Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Chile, and Costa Rica. Dominican Republic delegate Peter Sanchez said the St Vincent and the Grenadines hunt was "artisanal whaling out of control," and that the hunters have "repeatedly broken the rules—hunting for young whales and pregnant females." Other delegates pointed out that St. Vincent and the Grenadines' bid "should not qualify under ASW Aboriginal rules because the Bequians, the group that maintains the hunt, are not truly indigenous." The Whaling Commissioner for Monaco, Frederic Briand, argued that whaling "started by a settler's family as recently as 1875 does not qualify as 'aboriginal'." Louise Mitchell, speaking on behalf of the Eastern Caribbean Coalition of Environmental Awareness stated that there was no documented history of whaling in the islands, and that "there have been many archaeological excavations conducted, and there was no evidence found whatsoever of whale hunting by aboriginal peoples. Neither whale remains nor weapons that could have been used to kill such a large mammals were ever found; neither are any images of whales inscribed on our petroglyphs."
There is a small whaling museum on the island chronicling local whaling's history. A feature of the Port Elizabeth waterfront is the Whaleboner Bar & Restaurant. This bar has an entrance onto the beach consisting of an arch of two whale ribs, as well as whale vertebrae mounted on the bar seats and a whale rib running the length of the bar.
The ferry pier is located 45 minutes' drive from Argyle International Airport and is served by two companies, Bequia Express and Admiralty Transport. Bequia Express uses a family-owned ferry that is long with a cargo space measuring of which is sheltered with a ceiling. The approximate capacity of the ship is 28 cars or 10 to 20 containers and is licensed for 400 passengers. The Admiral II is a similarly sized vessel with a capacity for 250 passengers. Travellers on the Admiral II have a choice between air-conditioned indoor seating or covered outdoor seating. The passage between Kingstown and Port Elizabeth is a trip taking approximately one hour.
Pedestrians such as hitchhikers and backpackers have the option of the Grenadines mail boat which travels to Port Elizabeth at irregular intervals. The mail boat calls at Canouan, Mayreau and Union islands although boarding at Mayreau can be difficult, as the vessel remains in deeper waters, with passengers being required to embark and leave through the use of smaller craft, which land on the nearby beach.
Notes
Bibliography
|
|
