Union Island, St Vincent & the Grenadines

This picturesque island with its dramatic peaks lies forty miles from St. Vincent. Union Island, the hub of the southern Grenadines, is the stopping point for yachtsmen and visitors heading to the smaller islands. The small, commercial town of Clifton is built around the harbor and is the main entry point to the island. Union Island features several beachfront inns, all with a simple, relaxed lifestyle.

Due to its dramatic silhouette, Union is also called by some the Tahiti of the West Indies. Its location just a few miles from the Tobago Cays, Mayreau and Petit St. Vincent has made it the ideal starting point for day charters to these islands.

Union offers great hiking, beautiful deserted beaches and a bustling town. The island has a small airport and is easily accessible from Barbados, Carriacou, Grenada and Martinique.

History

After the original settlers, Indians from South America, the Island has been in the possession of French and English slave traders and plantation owners. They brought hundreds of people to the island, mostly from Cameroon and Angola. When slavery was abolished, little materially changed for the population, people still relied on farming and fishing. As a result, a lot of men went to sea to work on freighters to support their families.

Now the day chartering business provides a lot of jobs, there are numerous boutiques and supermarkets, excellent bars and restaurants to suit every budget, internet cafes, a dive operator, in short, a nice place to spend at least part of your vacation.

The first Colonists of note were two Frenchmen, Jean Augier and Antoine Regaud, who settled in Union Island before 1763 with 350 slaves. After their departure, Samuel Span, a wealthy merchant from Bristol, England set up a trading post - S & J Span & Company. Although the Span family was involved in general maritime trade they were also heavily active in the slave trade. They brought with them hundreds of slaves who most likely originated from Cameroon and Angola. The Spans were the first owners of Union Island.

A 1778 report states that the population of Union comprised of 16 Europeans and 430 African slaves. The Colonists grew cotton and their substantial harvests yielded 250,000 pounds per year. Slavery was abolished in 1834, and sixteen years later Span sold Union Island to Major Collins from St. Vincent.

Collins himself did not engage in any trade and leased the island to a Scotsman, Charles Mulzac. Sharecropping replaced the regime of slavery but life changed very little for the people of Union Island. Apart from a little trade in poultry, turtle shells and wood to the neighbouring islands, most inhabitants relied on subsistence farming for survival.

In 1893 Mulzac died and his son Richard took over the leases. Richard's son, Hugh was the pride of Union Island in 1940 when he became the first black man to command a ship of the American Navy. The 1898 hurricane, coupled with poor cotton harvest, forced Mulzac to sell Union Island to a Vincentian - Mr. Richards.

His ownership was not a successful one and the workers’ protest caught the attention of the British Crown, who bought the island in 1910 and set up the Union Island Land Settlement Scheme. The Island was divided into two and four-acre parcels and sold on credit to the local population at concessionary rates, bringing the subjection of the people of Union Island to a definitive end. People began to build their own homes which were huts with straw roofs.

In 1939, a steady flow of emigrants headed towards the USA and the larger neighbouring islands. The first car was unloaded in 1956, the first school was opened in 1972 and the airport was opened in 1974.

Today the Island is attracting an ever increasing number of visitors to its shores.

Union Island Links

Official website http://www.unionitesunite.com/

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