Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a small island Caribbean nation, consisting of 32 smaller islands and cays in a chain covering an area of 390 square kilometers. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was originally settled by Amerindian adventurers traveling northward along the Lesser Antillean island chain from South America. They named the island Hairoun, meaning “Land of the Blessed.” The rugged northern portion of the island is the domain of several hundred people who trace their heritage back to the Carib Amerindians who once dominated the Caribbean. Fort Charlotte, a 19th-century British battlement in the capital, features an impressive interpretive display about the Carib culture.