VINCENT, ST., one of the windward West India islands, situated in 13° N. Lat. and 61° W. Long. It is seven miles long from north to south, and ten miles broad. Being discovered by Columbus on the 22d January (1498), which is St Vincent's day in the Spanish calendar, he named it after that saint. It was then inhabited by a warlike race of Caribs. The first settlement of Europeans was made by a body of adventurers from Martinique in 1719. It was a neutral island, but, in 1762, it was taken possession of by the English, and ceded to them by the treaty of Paris the following year. At the instance of some rapacious Caribbers, the English engaged in an unjust war against the Caribbers who inhabited the windward side of the island, and who were forced to consent to a peace, and to cede a large tract of valuable land to the crown. The consequence of this was, that in 1779 they greatly contributed to the reduction of the island when attacked by the French. It was however restored to England at the peace of 1783, and has, since that time, continued in the possession of Britain. The population amounted in 1831, to 27,122, of which 1,301 were whites. The number of registered slaves on the 1st of August 1834, was 22,266; and the amount of compensation paid out of the parliamentary grant was,
L.590,779, or L.26, 10s. 7d. each. The amount of exports in 1836 was, 21,694,512 lbs. of sugar, 242,637 gallons of rum, and 394,830 gallons of molasses. The total value of the exports was, L.349,480, and the imports for the same year, L.155,522. The island has a local legislature, consisting of the lieutenant-governor, a council of twelve members appointed by the crown, and an assembly of nineteen members elected by freeholders of ten acres of land, or of a house of the yearly value of L.20 in the town, or of L.100 in the country.