St Pierre and Miquelon

St Pierre and Miquelon, territorial collectivity of France, in the North Atlantic Ocean south of the coast of Newfoundland Island, Canada. It consists of two small groups of islands, with a total area of 242 sq km (93 sq mi). The main islands are St Pierre, Miquelon, and Langlade, the latter two connected by a low, sandy isthmus. A relatively mild maritime climate prevails. The islands are mostly barren and rocky but are important for cod-fishing. The leading exports are fish, shellfish, fishmeal, and fox and mink pelts. Tourism is also important. Until the end of 2001, the French franc was the legal currency; on January 1, 2002, St Pierre and Miquelon, together with several other French territories, adopted the Euro. The capital is St Pierre, on the southernmost island of the same name, where about 90 per cent of the collectivity’s population resides.

The population, largely descended from French settlers, enjoys full French citizenship. The islands are an overseas department of France and are governed by a prefect and an elected general council of 19 members who serve five-year terms. The islands are represented in the French National Assembly by one senator and one deputy. As the last remaining French holdings in North America, the islands are heavily subsidized by the French government, which employs about half of the islands’ working population.

The Portuguese explorer João Alvarez Fagundes is believed to have sighted the islands in 1520. The first permanent settlement was made by French fishermen in 1604. In 1713, following a British victory in Queen Anne’s War, France ceded St Pierre and Miquelon to Great Britain. By the Treaty of Paris of 1763 they were returned to France. Thirty years later, during the French Revolutionary Wars, they were seized by Great Britain but were permanently restored to France by the Treaty of Paris in 1814. During World War II the Free French troops of General Charles de Gaulle occupied the islands. The islands became the overseas department of St Pierre and Miquelon in 1976 and attained the status of a territorial collectivity in 1985. In 1987 a long-standing dispute on coastal limits with Canada was handed over to international arbitration and finally resolved in June 1992 on terms generally considered to favour Canada. A subsequent moratorium on cod-fishing imposed by the Canadian government to protect endangered stocks caused major hardship to the islands’ fishing industry. In December 1994 a new agreement on fishing rights was signed by the French and Canadian governments to cover a ten-year period. Population (1990) 6,392 (St Pierre 5,683; Miquelon and Langlade 709).