Castries

The French founded a settlement on the harbour in 1650, when a group of forty men under de Rousselan built a fort by the Carénage river. They called the place Carénage, "safe anchorage", after its deep and sheltered harbour. In 1769 the governor, Baron de Micoud, moved the capital to the south side of the harbour, and the town was later renamed in honour of the marquis de Castries, the French Minister of the Navy and Colonies. Above it the French built a citadel on Morne Fortune, completed in 1784, which changed hands repeatedly as Britain and France fought over the island — captured by the British in 1794, retaken by the French in 1795, taken again in 1796 and finally secured by the British in 1803.

Under British rule Castries grew as a coaling port. A western wharf was built for the coal trade, the first steamship, the RMS Solway, arrived in 1841, and the port became a coaling station in 1888, defended by new batteries on the hill. The market building opened in 1894 and the cathedral in 1897. On 9 March 1942 the German submarine U-161 slipped into the harbour at night and sank two Allied ships, among them the Canadian liner Lady Nelson, which was later refloated and converted into a hospital ship.

Fire has shaped the town as much as war. Castries burned in 1805 and 1813, and most notably on 19 June 1948, and was rebuilt after each fire; its centre is laid out in a grid of streets. The town now hosts the secretariat of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States and the headquarters of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.

Castries is the birthplace of both of Saint Lucia's Nobel laureates — the economist Sir Arthur Lewis and the poet Derek Walcott — and the town's main square, once the Place d'Armes and then Columbus Square, has carried Walcott's name since 1993. The square, with the cathedral and the central library beside it, is the civic heart of the town and one of the stages of the Saint Lucia Jazz and Arts Festival, whose "Jazz on the Square" brings performances into the centre.

The town shares the island's Creole culture. Kwéyòl is the language of the street and the market, and Jounen Kwéyòl, on the last Sunday of October, celebrates it with local food, dress and music. The rival flower societies of La Woz and La Magwit hold their festivals on 30 August and 17 October, and carnival, moved from before Lent to mid-July in 1999 to avoid clashing with Trinidad's, fills the streets in summer. Calypso, soca, zouk and reggae are the everyday soundtrack.

The large Catholic cathedral reflects the French legacy that remains strong across the island. Cricket has deep roots: Mindoo Phillip Park, renamed in 1979 after the island's most celebrated cricketer, hosted international matches before the first-class game moved to the newer ground near Gros Islet.

The urban area of Castries has about 20,000 people, and the wider Castries district just under 70,000, according to 2013 figures. It is the seat of government and the base of the head offices of many local and foreign businesses and of a number of embassies and consulates, and is also a regional centre for the Eastern Caribbean.

The harbour is the town's other engine. Cruise ships berth at Pointe Seraphine, where duty-free shops wait for their passengers, while cargo ships, ferries to Martinique and visiting yachts use the same inlet. The market and its arcade are the daily meeting place for farmers, vendors and shoppers.

Beyond the flat centre, the hill of Morne Fortune to the south is a residential area, where the Saint Lucia campus of the University of the West Indies and Sir Arthur Lewis Community College are also found. Privately run minibuses link the town with every district of the island, with their green number plates starting with M.

Castries eats the island's Creole food. The national dish is green figs — green bananas — with saltfish, and bouyon, a thick one-pot soup of red beans, meat, ground provisions and vegetables, is another speciality. Accra (saltfish fritters), callaloo soup, breadfruit, green fig salad and bakes (fried bread) are popular local dishes, and the cooking draws on French, East Indian and British influences, with spices such as garlic, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice.

The market is the best place to see the raw materials — fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices — and the Vendor's Arcade beside it, together with the small eateries in the alley running down to Jeremie Street, serves cheap plates of local food to workers and shoppers. Breadfruit and saltfish is a favourite alternative to the national dish.

Cocoa is grown on the island, and cocoa tea, a spiced hot breakfast drink, is a local tradition, along with juices of local fruit. Piton, the pilsner brewed on the island since 1992, and rum are the drinks of the evening.