The first draft of a comprehensive history of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) was handed over to the Government of SVG today. The first of a two volume compilation charts the history of this country dating back 5 thousand years to contemporary times.
Four historians tasked with the project are Professor G Micheal Dennie, Dr. Adrian Fraser, Dr Cleve Scott and Dr. Arnold Thomas.
Speaking at a press briefing today where the handing over took place at the Carnival Development Corporation conference room, Professor G. Michael Dennie said it was a task they took with pride and Vincentians should be proud that their history is a story of resistance from colonial rule for over 300 years which virtually ushered in a “Pan- Caribbean consciousness”.
“In fact, the truly astonishing aspect about the indigenous peoples in St. Vincent is that resistance to European presence lasted in St Vincent longer than anywhere else, this was a 300-year fight…it’s a history that has not really been told,” Dr. Dennie said.
Volume 1 (one) of the draft publication is divided into three sections, the first is “The Rise and Fall of Indigenous Civlisations in SVG”; section 2 (two), “Slave Plantations and the Colonial State”; and section 3 is titled “Fighting Back: Nationalism in the Colonial State”.
Dr. Dennie stressed that Vincentian history is so rich and unique that “In fact, the first human being to set foot on this land, did so 5 thousand years ago, and it seems to me that Vincentians need to have a certain kind of astonishment that we live on a land where human beings have been walking 5 thousand years and that kind of recognition is not always with us and …. this book sets out to give us that sense of wonder, that comes with this kind of history.”