Bequia ( or ) is the second-largest island in the Grenadines at . It is part of the country of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and lies approximately from the nation’s capital, Kingstown, on the main island, Saint Vincent.
The name Bequia is said to mean "island of the clouds" in the language of the ancient Arawak. The island’s early inhabitants were the Kalinago (Caribs), who lived throughout the Grenadines before the arrival of Europeans.
In the eighteenth century, Bequia was colonised by European powers, first claimed and settled by the French, who established small plantations producing indigo, cotton, and sugar worked by enslaved Africans. Following the Treaty of Paris (1763), France ceded Bequia and the neighbouring islands to Britain, which continued the plantation system and maintained colonial rule until independence in 1979 as part of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Bequia also has a history of whaling, introduced by Yankee whalers in the nineteenth century. Its people are allowed to catch up to four humpback whales per year using traditional hunting methods. The limit is rarely met, with no catches at all in some years.
Geography
thumb|190px|left|Admiralty Bay Bequia in 1966
Bequia is a small island, measuring with a population of approximately 5,300. The native population are primarily a mixture of people of African, Scottish and Kalinago descent. A substantial number of white Barbadians also settled the Mount Pleasant area of Bequia in the 1860s. Many of their descendants still inhabit the area. Other highly populated areas include the island capital, Port Elizabeth, which hosts the ferry terminal and Paget Farm, which hosts the airport. There are also villages at Lower Bay, La Pompe, Hamilton and Belmont. Other prominent areas of Bequia include Spring, the site of a former coconut plantation and home to agricultural animals, Industry Bay and Park Bay, where the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary is located.
The island's hills are much lower than the peaks of St. Vincent, to the north, so they do not receive as many rain showers.
Princess Margaret, who had a home on nearby Mustique, visited Bequia in the 1950s and had a beach renamed in her honour.
Princess Margaret Beach is next to Port Elizabeth and is situated inside Admiralty Bay on the west coast.
The beach was originally known as Tony Gibbons, and continues to be known by that name locally, though the origin of this name is uncertain.
Also on the west coast are the island's main port and a large natural harbour.
right|thumb|220px|Port Elizabeth Bequia in 2005
thumb|Record-setting attendance at 2025’s New Year’s Day Lilo Regatta
Tourism
thumb|Gingerbread House. Bequia. 1967
Bequia is popular among cruising yachts, expats and tourists. One of the busiest times of the year is the annual Easter Regatta and Music Fest.
Two scuba diving stores run dive trips to 28 identified dive sites around Bequia. There are several wrecks and shallow caves accessible to advanced divers. It is not unusual to see Hawksbill turtles, lobsters, moray eels and many kinds of fish when diving around Bequia.
A recent tradition growing in popularity among locals and tourists, is Bequia’s New Year’s Day Lilo Regatta. Starting in 2010, as a means to recover from Old Year’s Night festivities, nearly 100 participants convene at the Frangipani and Whaleboner bars early afternoon for a trip across the bays on any unmotorized device that floats.
History
thumb|220px|right|Map of Bequia
Runaway and shipwrecked enslaved Africans settled on the island of St. Vincent in the 17th century. According to early accounts of the French West Indies, which at the time considered Bequia part of Grenada, the island was regarded as too inaccessible for permanent colonisation. The Kalinago and Arawak peoples used it primarily for fishing and farming. A few Portuguese and Dutch ships transporting enslaved Africans from West Africa to Sint Eustatius were reportedly wrecked on the Grenadine reefs. Following the Treaty of Utrecht (1713–1715), which ended the War of the Spanish Succession and established peace between the Spanish and British Empires, Great Britain secured the monopoly over the asiento slave trade.
In the decades that followed, Bequia and the wider Grenadines became sites of increasing European interest and conflict. French settlers established small plantations cultivating indigo, cotton, and sugar, worked by enslaved Africans brought through the Atlantic slave trade. The island’s Indigenous Kalinago population was gradually displaced or assimilated during this period, a pattern common across the Lesser Antilles as European powers expanded their control. Although the terrain and limited freshwater discouraged large-scale settlement, Bequia’s protected harbours and position along inter-island trade routes made it a useful stopover for colonial shipping and privateers.
Bequia was under French control in the 18th century and during the Seven Years' War with England, the island was used by the fleets of their Spanish and Dutch allies to take on supplies, while British ships were banned. The 1763 Treaty of Paris produced a significant re-alignment in the map of the Caribbean; St. Vincent and the Grenadine islands, including Grenada, were given to the British in exchange for Guadeloupe, Martinique and St. Lucia. The name Petit Martinique comes from this era, as does Petit Saint Vincent. In 1779, the French seized the island, despite the treaty, but were forced to relinquish control to Britain again soon after.
The early 18th century saw the development of a sugar industry and the production of related products including molasses and rum. Other major produce included coffee, indigo and arrowroot. At one point in time, the islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines were the single largest producer of arrowroot starch in the world. Currently, Hairoun and Vincy strong rum are major export products primarily to the European Union.
Under a programme instituted by Great Britain to give land to indigent settlers, James Hamilton, father of Alexander Hamilton, moved from St. Croix to Bequia in 1774 where he remained until 1790. The land granted to Hamilton lies along the shore of Southeast Bay. Despite his son's frequent gifts of money and entreaties to immigrate or at least visit him, neither visited the other.
Some historians believe that the famous pirate Edward Teach had his base in Bequia. The opening shot of the movie Blackbeard, Pirate of the Caribbean, made by the BBC, displays a replica of his first ship off the coast of Bequia in the St. Vincent passage. According to local legend, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was not only Teach's base, but also the place from which Sir Francis Drake planned his attacks on the Spanish admiralty in Don Blas de Lezo's Cartagena. Indeed, it is thought that Henry Morgan may also have anchored in Admiralty Bay, as it was then the safest natural harbour in the Eastern Caribbean during hurricane season. Bequia was used as a repair facility for ships. Beside Nelson's Dockyard on Antigua, and the Carlyle in Bridgetown, Barbados, there were no other drydocks or shipyards in the area. Wooden shipbuilding and ship-repair on Bequia was possible due to the presence of cedar trees on the island and a sufficiently deep and sheltered harbour.
Whaling
thumb|Boy carrying [[whale meat]]
Bequia is one of the few places in the world where limited whaling is still allowed. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) classifies the island's hunt under the regulations concerning aboriginal whaling. Natives of Bequia are allowed to catch up to four humpback whales per year using only traditional hunting methods of hand-thrown harpoons in small, open sailboats, but these methods are regularly abused by using speedboats to chase whales and harpoon guns for the kill. The limit is rarely met, with no catch some years. Bequia engaged into local whaling in the late 19th century and continues today.
At the 2012 meeting of the IWC, the Whaling Commissioners renewed the annual quota of whales for all three groups who submitted joint bids: Alaskan Inupiat, Russian indigenous people in Chukotka in eastern Siberia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines, despite protestations of the delegations from Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Chile, and Costa Rica.
- Sarah Louise Mitchell (1970–), Attorney General Saint Vincent and the Grenadines appointed in 2025 and currently serving. Daughter of former Prime Minister Son Mitchell.
See also
- Moonhole – a private community on Bequia
References
Notes
Bibliography