Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe, group of islands in the eastern Caribbean Sea forming an overseas department of France, and part of the French Antilles. Guadeloupe is located off the north-western coast of South America, at the juncture of two archipelagos, the Windward Islands and the Lesser Antilles. There are two principal islands and five island dependencies. The two main islands form a butterfly shape, with Basse-Terre to the west and Grande-Terre on the east. They are separated by the Salée River, a narrow arm of the Caribbean Sea, and linked by a bridge. The islands of Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the small Les Saintes group, which are dependencies of the department of Guadeloupe, are nearby. Two other dependencies, St-Barthélemy and the northern section of the island of St Martin, are located about 250 km (155 mi) to the north-west.

Guadeloupe has an area of 1,780 sq km (687 sq mi), and a population (1990) of about 389,097—giving an average density of 219 people per sq km (566 per sq mi). Basse-Terre (population 1990; 14,107) on the island of Basse-Terre is the capital of Guadeloupe. However, the largest town and economic centre of the department is the port of Pointe-à-Pitre (26,083) on Grande-Terre.

Basse-Terre is the most mountainous of the islands and contains the highest point, Soufrière (1,484 m/4,869 ft), an active volcano. The climate of the islands, though hot and humid, is tempered by the surrounding waters; the mean annual temperature is 25.6° C (78° F).

Guadeloupe is governed by a prefect and a popularly elected general council and regional council. It is represented in the French parliament by four deputies and two senators. About 77 per cent of the population are mulatto, 10 per cent are black, and 10 per cent mestizo. On Marie-Galante, Îles des Saintes, St-Barthélemy and St Martin the population is mainly descended from 17th-century Breton and Norman colonists. Three languages are spoken in Guadeloupe. The official language is French, but two creoles (Lesser Antillean Creole French and Virgin Islands Creole English) are widely spoken.

Guadeloupe's economy is based on agriculture, tourism, and light industry. About 25 per cent of the total land area is under cultivation. The chief products and exports are sugar, bananas, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, and rum. More than three-quarters of Guadeloupe's external trade is with metropolitan France. Tourism has been the principal source of foreign exchange since the late 1980s, but it has not made up for a decline in earnings from exports of sugar and bananas; sales of the latter which have been affected by the loss of special trade advantages with the European Union under the Single European Act. Guadeloupe has traditionally had a large balance of payments deficit, and relies heavily on French aid to make up the shortfall. French aid has also helped finance Guadeloupe's well developed infrastructure. Until the end of 2001, the French franc was the currency of the islands; on January 1, 2002, Guadeloupe, together with several other French territories, adopted the Euro. As at early 2007, 0.77 Euros equalled US$1.

The islands were inhabited by Carib peoples when Christopher Columbus first landed in Guadeloupe on November 3, 1493, and named it after the monastery of Santa Maria de Guadelupe in Extremadura, Spain. The French Company of the Islands of America established settlements in 1635, and gradually conquered the indigenous Caribs. After the failure of four chartered companies to colonize the islands permanently, they were annexed by France in 1674 and made a dependency of Martinique. During the latter half of the 17th century, the French colonists resisted a series of attacks by the British, who finally captured Guadaloupe in 1759, retaining it until 1763, when it again passed to France. In 1784 the French island of St-Barthélemy was ceded to Sweden in exchange for the establishment of a port of entry for French goods at Göteborg, Sweden; it was restored to France in 1877. In 1775 Guadeloupe and Martinique became separate colonies. The British repossessed Guadeloupe in 1794 and again in 1810, the latter occupation lasting for six years. Slavery was abolished in 1848. Guadeloupe was made an overseas department of France in 1946. A movement for independence was active in the 1980s; after a series of bombings in 1984, French authorities banned the Caribbean Revolutionary Alliance, a militant autonomist group.