Page "History of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines" Paragraph 3

While the English were the first to lay claim to St. Vincent in 1627, the French would be the first European settlers on the island when they established their first colony at Barrouallie on the Leeward side of St. Vincent in 1719.

The French settlers cultivated coffee, tobacco, indigo, corn, and sugar on plantations worked by African slaves.

St. Vincent was ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Paris ( 1763 ), after which friction between the British and the Caribs led to the First Carib War.

The island was restored to French rule in 1779 and regained by the British under the Treaty of Versailles ( 1783 ).