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Archipelago

    Bequia

    13°01′N 61°14′W

    Bequia ( BEK-wee or BEK-way) is the second-largest island in the Grenadines at 7 square miles (18 km2). It is part of the country of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and lies approximately 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the nation's capital, Kingstown, on the main island, Saint Vincent.

    Admiralty Bay on Bequia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Eastern Caribbean, is a favorite anchorage for cruising yachts.
    Admiralty Bay on Bequia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Eastern Caribbean, is a favorite anchorage for cruising yachts.

    David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada. / CC BY 2.0

    Terrain

    13°01′N 61°14′W

    Terrain exaggerated for relief. Drag to look around.

    Overview

    Bequia ( BEK-wee or BEK-way) is the second-largest island in the Grenadines at 7 square miles (18 km2). It is part of the country of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and lies approximately 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the nation's capital, Kingstown, on the main island, Saint Vincent. The name Bequia is said to derive from the Carib word becouya, meaning "island of the clouds". 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.

    From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

    Chart

    Nearest islands

    Also in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

    Also in Grenadines

    Also in French West Indies

    Also in Southern Caribbean

    Also in Windward Islands

    Also in Windward Antilles

    Also in Lesser Antilles

    Also in Antilles

    Also in Caribbean

    Sources

    Facts

    • Geometry, areas and high points: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Copernicus GLO-30, via Talus.
    • Talus
    • Wikidata
    • Wikipedia

    Photographs