Mustique

Mustique
Private Island
Location of Mustique Location of Mustique
Map showing the location of Mustique within the Grenadines Map showing the location of Mustique within the Grenadines
Coordinates:
Country	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Island chain	The Grenadines
Owner	The Mustique Company
European Discovery	15th century by Spanish sailors
Area
• Total	2.2 sq mi (6 km2)
Population
• Total	500
• Peak season	1,300
Website	Mustique Island

Mustique /mʌˈstiːk/ is a small private island that is part of St Vincent and the Grenadines. The island is one of a group of islands called the Grenadines, most of which are part of St Vincent and the Grenadines, in the West Indies. The island is located within Grenadines Parish, an administrative area of the country.

The island covers 1,400 acres (5.7 km²; 2.2 sq mi) and it has several coral reefs. The land fauna includes tortoises, herons and many other species. Its year-round population of about 500 mostly live in the villages of Lovell, Britannia Bay, and Dover.

The island of Mustique is owned by the Mustique Company, which in turn is owned by the island's home owners. The island has approximately 100 private villas, many of which are rented out through the Mustique Company. In addition there is one hotel called the Cotton House, owned by the Mustique Company, and one privately owned seven-bedroom hotel called Firefly.

Residents and guests

Mustique has, over the years, attracted a number of celebrities such as Farida Khelfa and her husband Henri Seydoux (CEO of Parrot SA), Léa Seydoux who is Henri Seydoux's daughter and an actress, Amy Winehouse, Jeremy Clarkson, Sir Paul McCartney. Queen Elizabeth II, the head of state of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Prince Philip have made private visits to Mustique in 1966, 1977, and 1985. Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, who is second-in-line to the Throne of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Duchess of Cambridge vacation in Mustique often. On 7 July 2014, Cheryl Cole married Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini in a private ceremony after 3 months of dating. The artist Stefan Szczesny regularly works on the island.

Early history

The history of the island of Mustique, and of the Grenadines in general, dates back to the 15th century, when Spanish sailors first sighted this more or less linear group of small rocky islands and named them "Los Pájaros" or "the birds", because they resembled a small flock of birds scattered across the sea in flight. During the 17th century the islands were renamed the Grenadines by pirates, who used the sheltered bays to hide their ships and treasure. The islands were later used by European planters to grow sugar cane. This lucrative industry lasted until the 19th century, when the extraction of sugar from European-grown sugar beet dramatically lessened the worldwide demand for tropical sugar.

Mustique's sugar plantations were abandoned and eventually swallowed up by scrub, leaving remnants such as the sugar mill at "Endeavor" and its "Cotton House". The Plantation House was built in the 18th century.

Later history

Mustique was purchased in 1958 by Colin Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner, under whose guidance the island began to be developed. In 1960, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, the sister of Queen Elizabeth II, accepted as a wedding present his gift of a 10-acre (40,000 m²) plot of land, where she built a residence called Les Jolies Eaux. In 1979, Mustique Island was transformed from a family estate into a private limited company with the homeowners as shareholders.

In 1971, the SS Antilles struck a reef not far off of the island, and sank.

Mustique pictures

• Mustique Airport.jpg

  Mustique International Airport

• Mustiquefoodstore.jpg

  The general store

• 

  Beaches on the east coast

• Mustiquevilla.jpg

  A villa

Further reading

• Stefan Szczesny: Szczesny. Mustique. teNeues Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Kempen 47906, ISBN 3-8238-5591-3

External links

• Mustique
• The Cotton House Hotel
• Firefly Hotel