2020-02-22 Sat

February 22 is celebrated as Independence Day in Saint Lucia, a small island country in the Caribbean Sea. On this day in 1979, Saint Lucia became a fully independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations.

A permanent British settlement on Saint Lucia was founded in 1635 by colonists from Bermuda. In that same year, another settlement was established by the French. For over two centuries, the French and the English fought over political control of the island, which passed from hand to hand several times.

Finally, the British regained Saint Lucia in 1803. The island was officially ceded to Britain in 1814 and incorporated into the Windward Islands within the British West Indies in 1838. The first half of the 20th century was marked by increasing self-government on the island. Following the adoption of the 1924 constitution, Saint Lucia received its first form of representative government.

As the colonial system began to collapse after World War II, Saint Lucia began to approach its independence. In 1958, Saint Lucia along with other former Caribbean colonies became part of the short-lived West Indies Federation. In 1967, it became an associated state of the UK which ended on 22nd February 1979.

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank issued Eastern Caribbean dollar banknotes in 6 different denominations. The above note was issued in the year 1965 with the denomination of 5 Eastern Caribbean dollars. On the front of this $5 dollar note from the East Caribbean Currency Authority are flying fish and the portrait of a young Queen Elizabeth II. St Lucia harbor is shown on the backside of this green on multicolored five dollars note.

Image Courtesy: banknotebank.com