Castries

Sister cities

• Taipei

History

In 1650, the fort auprès du Petit Cul-de-Sac et de la rivière du Carénage was founded by a group of 40 Frenchmen led by de Rousselan, when St. Lucia was purchased by Capt. du Parquet and Monsieur Houel from the French West India Company. The capital was moved to the south side of the harbor in 1769 by Gov. Baron de Micoud. In 1785, the village of Carénage was renamed Castries, after Charles Eugène Gabriel de La Croix, marquis de Castries, the French Minister of the Navy and Colonies. In 1835, the British built the western wharf in 1642 to facilitate the coal trade and the first steamship arrived in 1841, the RMS Solway. including the Canadian ocean liner RMS Lady Nelson, which was subsequently refloated in the harbour and taken to Canada to be converted to a hospital ship. Castries has been rebuilt many times, following major fires on 15 October 1805, 6 April 1813, and most notably on 19 June 1948.

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Magpie

  Pica pica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,497
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  7,383
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  7,210
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  6,750
• European Robin

  Erithacus rubecula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,247
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  5,894
• European Goldfinch

  Carduelis carduelis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,671
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,653

Most recent

• M 4.3 — 2011-08-03
  4 km ESE of Barjac, France
• M 2.6 — 2008-11-26
  1 km WSW of Creissan, France
• M 2.5 — 2007-09-02
  9 km ESE of Gruissan, France
• M 2.6 — 2007-08-03
  1 km NE of Jonquières-Saint-Vincent, France
• M 2.5 — 2007-01-20
  16 km NW of Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, France
• M 2.6 — 2007-01-04
  2 km W of Sorgues, France