The Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines will officially launch the book “St. Vincent and the Grenadines: A General History to the Year 2025 – Volume One: Native Peoples, Genocide, and African Enslavement in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Circa BP 5000 to 1838” on Friday, March 20, 2026 at the University of the West Indies Global Campus in Frenches.
This important historical work was written by professional historians Adrian Fraser, Garrey Dennie, and Cleve Scott. The book provides a compelling and engaging account that takes readers deep into the historical journey of this small, multi-island nation, exploring its early inhabitants, the impact of genocide, and the era of African enslavement.
Using a combination of primary and contemporary sources, wonderfully illustrated by maps, tables and photographs, the authors take us on a journey along the main contours of the history of St Vincent and the Grenadines – the lives of the Indigenous Peoples before European settlement, war and genocide, enslavement, resistance, emancipation and apprenticeship.
The authors keep the reader engaged by telling the story of Chatoyer and his heroic resistance in the 1790s and the sickening tragedy of the forced removal of approximately five thousand Garifuna men, women, and children to the barren island of Balliceaux, underscoring why strident calls for reparatory justice for native genocide and slavery are still audible in the region today.
Governor General of St. Vincent and the Grenadines His Excellency Stanley Kendrick John, KC said: “our brilliant historians tell of the Garifuna’s resistance and resolve to maintain the integrity and sovereignty of their patrimony, against the incursions by the imperial military might of Europeans, whose objective was the conversion of SVG into a slave society in pursuit of economic gain.”
His Excellency noted that this grim project escalated the prevalent hostilities, resulting in the most horrific infliction of genocide to the Garifuna people, their expulsion to Roatan Island in Central America, followed by the inhumane subjugation of the Africans under the oppressive system of plantation slavery.
This general history, published by Ian Randle Publishers, is highly recommended for students at both the CXC CSEC and CAPE levels, for public servants, and the general reader with a passion for understanding how the past in St Vincent and the Grenadines has shaped the present. Overall, the publication of this general history marks a defining moment in the nation-building process of this multi-island postcolonial state.’
The launch will begin at 6:00 p.m., and members of the public are invited to attend.