Districts of Saint Lucia

The island nation of Saint Lucia is divided into 10 districts (formerly called Quarters). The name Quarters or Quartiers originally came from the French period in Saint Lucia (Sainte Lucie in French). The 2001 and 2010 Census of Saint Lucia refers to the first level administrative divisions as districts. The FIPS and ISO standards regularly called these divisions quarters or quartiers in French. The former district of Dauphin Quarter was merged into Gros Islet District and the former district of Praslin Quarter was merged into Micoud District.[1][2][3][4]

Districts of Saint Lucia since at least 2001

History
1758 map of Saint Lucia

After the French claimed title of Saint Lucia in 1744, commandant de Rougueville divided Saint Lucia into districts and parishes. Quarters were administrative districts for the control of settlors and slaves. The French Surveyor General of Saint Lucia, M. Raussaim, initially divided Saint Lucia into seven quarters.[5]

In 1844, Henry Breen describes how Saint Lucia was divided into two districts, the eastern district on the leeward side of Saint Lucia facing the Atlantic Ocean and the western district on the windward side facing the Caribbean Sea. It was further divided into eleven quarters or parishes, i.e. Castries, Anse Laraye, Soufriere, Choiseul, Laborie, Vieux Fort, Micoud, Praslin, Dennery, Dauphin, and Gros-ilet. Each quarter or parish had a town in the coastal bay within its territory that was named the same as the quarter. Breen further talks about stipendiary magistrates introduced during the period of the apprenticeship system.[6] These magistrates were as follows:

  1. Castries, Gros-ilet, Daughpin, and Anse Laraye
  2. Soufriere, Choiseul, Laborie
  3. Vieux Fort, Micoud, Praslin, Dennery

Still later the number of stipendiary magistrates was increased to five:

  1. Castries and Anse Laray
  2. Gros-ilet and Sauphin
  3. Soufriere and Choiseul
  4. Vieux Fort and Laborie
  5. Micoud, Dennery, and Praslin

The magistrates did not survive. However, the quarters or parishes did survive, as such, with some mergers and changes in the names.

Districts

Since the 2001 Census of Saint Lucia there have been 10 districts in Saint Lucia.[3]

2010 Census Population and area of Saint Lucia Districts[1][4]
# District Population[1] Households[4] Land Area[1] Population density[1]
1 Anse la Raye 6,060 2,171 37.6 km2 (14.52 sq mi) 161 per km2, 417 per mi2
2 Canaries 2,044 789 24.3 km2 (9.38 sq mi) 84 per km2, 218 per mi2
3 Castries[7] 65,656 23,296 102.7 km2 (39.65 sq mi) 639 per km2, 1,656 per mi2
4 Choiseul 6,128 2,077 25.9 km2 (10.00 sq mi) 237 per km2, 612 per mi2
5 Dennery 12,767 4,419 72.3 km2 (27.93 sq mi) 177 per km2, 457 per mi2
6 Gros Islet 20,872 9,804 100.3 km2 (38.73 sq mi) 208 per km2, 539 per mi2
7 Laborie 7,363 2,189 33.8 km2 (13.05 sq mi) 218 per km2, 564 per mi2
8 Micoud 16,284 5,623 112.1 km2 (43.29 sq mi) 145 per km2, 376 per mi2
9 Soufrière 7,657 2,886 58.4 km2 (22.55 sq mi) 131 per km2, 340 per mi2
10 Vieux Fort 14,754 5,665 49.8 km2 (19.22 sq mi) 296 per km2, 768 per mi2
Saint Lucia 165,596 58,919 617.00 km2 (238.23 sq mi) 268 per km2, 695 per mi2

Notes
Dauphin Quarter
Praslin Quarter
  • A former quarter, Dauphin Quarter was merged into Gros Islet Quarter. It was not enumerated separately in the 2010 Census. The 2001 Census shows Daphin as part of Gros Islet.[3][4]
  • A former quarter, Praslin Quarter was merged into Micoud Quarter. It was not enumerated separately in the 2010 Census. The 2001 Census shows Praslin as part of Micoud District.[3][4]
  • The Central Forest Reserve with an area of 78 km2 (30 sq mi) was not included in the 2010 Census. Without this region, the area of Saint Lucia is 540 km2 (208 sq mi).[4]
  • The final population numbers are used in the table above. Preliminary results published in April 2011 were different.[4][8]

Political divisions
Electoral boundaries of Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia electoral boundaries are based, generally, on the districts. There are 17 constituencies in Saint Lucia that are represented in the House of Assembly of Saint Lucia. A study was done in 2014 to look into variations in census and boundaries and possible expansion of the number of constituencies.[9][10]

District Constituency Name Population
Gros Islet Gros Islet 23242
Castries Babonneau 12,844
Castries Castries East 11782
Castries Castries South 9463
Castries Castries Central 7274
Castries Castries South East 14516
Castries Castries North 11463
Anse la Raye and Canaries Anse la Raye and Canaries 8363
Soufrière Soufrière 8424
Laborie Laborie 8588[11]
Vieux Fort Vieux Fort North 7201
Vieux Fort Vieux Fort South 9336
Micoud Micoud North 7173
Micoud Micoud South 7330
Dennery Dennery South 4896
Dennery Dennery North 7570
Choiseul Choiseul 6130[11]

See also

References
  1. "Map of each district". The Central Statistical Office of Saint Lucia. Retrieved August 12, 2021.
  2. Law, Gwillim (2015). "Districts of Saint Lucia". Statoids. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
  3. "2001 Census" (PDF). Government of Saint Lucia. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  4. "Saint Lucia 2010 Census". Government of Saint Lucia. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
  5. "About Soufriere". Soufriere Foundation. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  6. Breen, Henry H (1844). St Lucia Historical Statistical and Descriptive. London.
  7. The 2010 Census breaks the population of Castries into city (1,831), suburbs (10,373), and rural (67,478) for persons and the households of Castries into city (751), suburbs (3,648), and rural (23,296) for households.
  8. "Saint Lucia 2010 Population and Housing Census, Preliminary Report" (PDF). United Nations. April 1, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
  9. "House of Assembly". Government of Saint Lucia. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
  10. "Report of the Constituency Boundaries Commission for Saint Lucia" (PDF). 2014. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  11. The figures for Laborie & Choiseul are inaccurate as the section of the Choiseul constituency which falls within the Quarter of Laborie (Piaye, Londonderry, Saltibus, etc) was incorrectly included to the list for the Laborie constituency.

Additional bibliographic references:

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