Soufrière, Saint Lucia


Soufrière is a town on the West Coast of Saint Lucia, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The town and the surrounding district has a population of 7,935. It was colonized by the French and was the original capital of the island.

History

There were large estates run by colonizers of French origin and their descendants still live in the area. The French Revolution of 1789 resulted in many Royalslaved Africans were released from enslavement. However, Napoleon reintroduced enslavement when he came to power.
The British invaded St Lucia shortly after, but the Enslaved Africans and French deserters fought them in a guerrilla campaign until 1803 when they were defeated and St Lucia became a British colony. Also, during that time, Castries became the capital of St Lucia.
Over the years, Soufrière has had to deal with hurricanes in 1780, 1817, 1831, 1898 and 1980, a major fire in 1955 and an earthquake in 1991. Many of these events have had to result in the town being rebuilt several times.
Soufrière inhabitants have included the future Empress of France Joséphine de Beauharnais, and GeoSt Lucia in 1966, she landed at Soufrière rather than Castries.
Today, Soufrière is more dependent on tourism rather

Tourism

Soufrière was the filming location for most of the 1985 film Water, set on the fictional British colony of Cascara.

Gallery for Town of Soufrière