Castries, << ka STREE or KAHS trees >> (pop. 52,868), is the capital and largest city of St. Lucia, an island country in the Caribbean Sea. The city borders a well-protected harbor on the northwest coast of the country. Castries has a busy port, which handles most of the nation’s trade and serves cruise ships. Fires in 1948 and 1951 destroyed many of Castries’s buildings, which were made of wood. Today, modern glass and concrete buildings line the streets of the city’s business and government district.
French settlers founded Castries in 1651. From the 1600’s to 1814, control of St. Lucia alternated many times between Britain and France. Britain governed the island from 1814 to 1979, when St. Lucia became an independent nation.
