Saint Lucia was first settled by the aborigines from South America long before Christopher Columbus set foot in the New World. The first Europeans to visit the island were unknown Spaniards. The first definite date of a landing here was in 1605 when a party of 67 Englishmen attempted a settlement but were killed or driven off by the Caribs. All attempts at colonization were unsuccessful until 1650, when the island was purchased from the French West Indians by two Frenchmen, along with the island of Grenada and Martinique for the princely sum of 1,660 sterling.

​For the next 150 years, the island changed hands 14 times between the English and French, finally being acquired by the British in 1814. Constitutionally, Saint Lucia is now an independent country and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The island attained its independence from Britain on February 22nd, 1979. In May 1979, Saint Lucia joined the Organization of American States (OAS) and in September of that year, the island was admitted into the United Nations as the 42nd Member.

The island’s constitution provides for a legislature consisting of Her Majesty the Queen (represented in Saint Lucia by a Governor General), a Senate comprising eleven (11) members, including a president. Six (6) of these members are Government nominees, three (3) are Opposition members.

​The House of Assembly comprises a Speaker and seventeen (17) elected members. The Prime Minister is appointed by the Governor General from among the majority party members of the House.