Mustique

Mustique
—  Private Island  —
Location of Mustique
Map showing the location of Mustique within the Grenadines
Coordinates: 12°52′N 61°11′W / 12.867°N 61.183°W / 12.867; -61.183
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 (5.7 km2)
Population
- Total	500
- Peak season	1,300
Website	The Mustique Company

Mustique is a small private island in the West Indies where the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean meet. The island is one of a group of islands called the Grenadines, most of which (including Mustique) form part of the country of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

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

The island of Mustique is "owned" (actually is on a long-term lease from the government of St. Vincent & the Grenadines) by the Mustique Company, which in turn is owned by the island's home owners. The island has approximately 90 private villas, many of which are rented out by the Mustique Company. There is also one privately-owned hotel on the island (The Firefly).

Residents and guests

Because of its luxury and isolation, Mustique has over the years attracted a number of the rich and famous: Amy Winehouse, Noel Gallagher, Princess Margaret, Mick Jagger, Bryan Adams, Shania Twain, Kate Moss, David Duchovny and Tea Leoni, Felix Dennis, David Bowie, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugh Grant, Kate Middleton, Prince William, Robert Worcester, Jack Diamond, Pierce Brosnan, Alex Beard and Nigella Lawson.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip made a private visit to Mustique in the 1960s [1]

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 utilized by European planters to grow sugar cane. This lucrative industry lasted until the nineteenth 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.'

Recent history

Mustique was purchased in 1958 by Lord Glenconner, Colin Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner, under whose guidance the island began to be developed. Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, the sister of Queen Elizabeth II, accepted his gift of a 10-acre (40,000 m²) plot of land as a wedding present in 1960, and she built a residence called Les Jolies Eaux. In 1989 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.

Basil's Bar and Basil Charles

The island has one nightspot which is attended both by Vincentians and the "jet set", and that is Basil's Bar, which is well-known internationally (Coordinates:12°52′51″N 61°11′18″W / 12.8807°N 61.1882°W / 12.8807; -61.1882). Local entrepreneur Basil Charles has been on the island for over 30 years, and in addition to the bar, Basil owns the clothing boutique, the antique shop and the wine store. Basil's Bar is also home to the Mustique Blues Festival which features artists in many modern music genres from all over the world. Proceeds from the sale of the festival's CDs and t-shirts fund the Basil Charles Educational Fund, an organization that gives educational chances to children in St. Vincent and the Grenadines who would otherwise not be able to afford school.

Mustique pictures

Mustique International Airport

The general store

Beaches on the east coast

A villa

References

For many years the artist Stefan Szczesny has been working on the island. He produced several art works and books about Mustique.

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

External links

Look up mustique in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• The Mustique Company
• Mustique Blues Festival
• Stefan Szczesny

Coordinates: 12°52′N 61°11′W / 12.867°N 61.183°W / 12.867; -61.183