<P> Like the French before them , the British also used African slaves to work plantations of sugar , coffee , indigo , tobacco , cotton and cocoa until full emancipation in 1838 . The economy then went into a period of decline with many landowners abandoning their estates and leaving the land to be cultivated by liberated slaves . Life was made even harder following two eruptions of the La Soufriere volcano in 1812 and 1902 when much of the island was destroyed and many people were killed . In 1979 it erupted again , this time with no fatalities . In the same year , St Vincent and The Grenadines gained full independence from Britain , while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations . </P>
<P> Like the French before them , the British also used African slaves to work plantations of sugar , coffee , indigo , tobacco , cotton and cocoa until full emancipation in 1838 . The economy then went into a period of decline with many landowners abandoning their estates and leaving the land to be cultivated by liberated slaves . Life was made even harder following two eruptions of the La Soufriere volcano in 1812 and 1902 when much of the island was destroyed and many people were killed . In 1979 it erupted again , this time with no fatalities . In the same year , St Vincent and The Grenadines gained full independence from Britain , while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations . </P>
when did st vincent and the grenadines became independent
when did st vincent and the grenadines became independent
1979
1979