<P> Representative government came about in 1840 (with universal suffrage from 1953). From 1958 to 1962, the island was a member of the Federation of the West Indies . On 22 February 1979, Saint Lucia became an independent state and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations . Saint Lucia is a mixed jurisdiction, meaning that it has a legal system based in part on both the civil law and English common law . The Civil Code of St. Lucia of 1867 was based on the Quebec Civil Code of 1866, as supplemented by English common law - style legislation . It is also a member of La Francophonie . </P> <P> One of the Windward Islands, Saint Lucia was named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse by the French, who were the island's first European settlers . It is the only country in the world named after a woman . Legend states French sailors were shipwrecked here on 13 December, thus naming the island in honor of Sainte Lucie . </P> <P> In the late 1550s, the French pirate François le Clerc (known as Jambe de Bois, due to his wooden leg) set up a camp on Pigeon Island, from where he attacked passing Spanish ships . In 1605, an English vessel called the Oliphe Blossome was blown off - course on its way to Guyana, and the 67 colonists started a settlement on Saint Lucia, after initially being welcomed by the Carib chief Anthonie . By 26 September 1605, only 19 survived, after continued attacks by the Carib chief Augraumart, so they fled the island . </P> <P> In 1664, Thomas Warner (son of Sir Thomas Warner, the governor of St Kitts) claimed Saint Lucia for England . He brought 1,000 men to defend it from the French, but after two years, only 89 survived with the rest dying mostly due to disease . In 1666, the French West India Company resumed control of the island, which in 1674 was made an official French crown colony as a dependency of Martinique . </P>

Is st lucia a part of the virgin islands