Saint Lucia

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<p>Saint Lucia (UK: (listen), US: (listen); French: Sainte-Lucie) is a sovereign island Nation in the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. </p>The island was previously called Iyonola, the name given to the island by the Amerindians and afterwards, Hewanorra, the name given by the native Caribs. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of south of Martinique and Saint Vincent. It covers a land area of 617 km2 (238 square kilometers ) and reported a population of 165,595 in the 2010 census. Its capital is Castries. The French were the first settlers of the island. They signed a treaty with the Island Caribs. England took control of the island. In ensuing years, it was at war with France fourteen days, and the principle of the island changed regularly (it was ruled seven times each by the British and French ). In 1814, the British took definitive control of the island. Because it switched so often between French and British control, Saint Lucia was also known as the"Helen of the West Indies" after the Greek mythological character, Helen of Troy. Representative government came about in 1840 (universal suffrage was established in 1953). The island was a member of the West Indies Federation. On 22 February 1979, Saint Lucia became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and an independent country. Saint Lucia is a jurisdiction that is mixed, meaning that it has a legal system based in part on the civil law and English common law. The Civil Code of St. Lucia of 1867 was based on the Quebec Civil Code of 1866, as supplemented by English common law-style legislation. It is a member of Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.