Guadeloupe

See also: Guadeloupe (homonymy)

The Guadeloupe is at the same time a area of overseas and a Overseas department (number 971 ) French.

This small Archipel of the the Antilles (Caribbean Sea) is with approximately, 7.000 km of the Metropolis, 600 km in the north of the coasts of the South America, to 600 km in the east of the Dominican Republic and to 950 km in the south-east of the the United States.

Formerly called calaou will çaera then Karukera , “island with beautiful water”, Guadeloupe ( guadalupe in Spanish) comes from Virgen de Guadalupe (the Guadalupe Virgin), holy local of the Province of Cáceres in Estrémadure.

The department of the Guadeloupe administratively gathers eight islands and of many small islands. The island of Low-Ground and the island of Large-Ground constitute the Guadeloupe Strictly speaking . In depend administratively:

  • Marie-Gallant (in the south),
  • Holy the (Ground-with-High and Ground-with-Low) (in the south),
  • Désirade (in the east).

History

See also: History of the Guadeloupe

The modern history of the Guadeloupe begins in November 1493, when Christophe Colomb arrives in the island at the time of its second voyage. It names it Santa Maria de Guadalupe de Estremadura in homage to a Spanish monastery. At the time, the Guadeloupe is populated by the the Caribbean, Amerindian people present on the island since the 8th century. She was inhabited before by the Arawaks, which according to a thesis now prone to controversy, were massacred on arrival of the Caribbean Indians, apart from the women who transmitted to them language.

Starting from 1635, Charles Liènard of the Olive and Jean of Plessis d' Ossonville take of it possession in the name of the French Compagnie of the islands of America . It is the beginning of the colonization of the island. In 1641, finishes the war between colonists and the Caribbean. The latter, already decreased by the diseases and the massacres since the first Spanish colonists, are sent on the island of the Dominique. The beginnings of the Colonisation are difficult, thus four commercial Companies go bankrupt while trying to colonize the island. In 1674, the Guadeloupe passes under the direct authority of the crown of king de France and becomes thereafter a dependence of the Martinique.

After unfruitful attempts of the English in 1666, 1691 and 1703, the British seize the Guadeloupe in 1759 and will preserve it until in 1763 (treated of Paris). Starting from 1775, the Guadeloupe, is not any more attached to Martinique but remains under the authority of the governor of the Windward Islands. In April 1794, benefitting from the disorders caused by the French revolution, the British takes possession of the island again. They will be driven out by it the next summer by Victor Hugues, a police chief of the Republic, helped for that by the slaves to which he had promised freedom.

In 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte, then first consul, dispatch a forwarding in the island in order to restore the Slavery, but after a heroic defense, of revolted much prefers to commit suicide rather than to go.

For the period of the Hundred Days in 1815, the British occupy the Guadeloupe again. In spite of the transfer of St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre to the Sweden by the treaty of 1813 and a French invasion of 1814, the British restored the Guadeloupe in France only in 1816 (Traité of Vienna). Since, it remained under French sovereignty until our days.

Between 1816 and 1825 a clean series of laws in the island are promulgated. The municipal institutions see the day in 1837 and in 1848, under the Second Republic, slavery is finally abolished.

The Guadeloupe took part in the second world war by providing men to the FFL free French Forces to take part in resistance.

The March 19th 1946, the Guadeloupe becomes a Overseas department.

On May 25th, 26th and 27th 1967 take place of expressed working in order to obtain a rise in wages in 2,5%. These demonstrations will be repressed by the police force, resulting in the death of several people of which Jacques Nestor, a famous militant of the GONG.

Administration

See also: District council of the Guadeloupe, Common of the Guadeloupe

The Guadeloupe is at the same time a administrative area and a department French of overseas (DOM) whose prefecture is Low-Ground. It constitutes with the Martinique, located at approximately 150 km more at the south, and the Guyana located at the north of South America, the French departments of America (DFA).

Today, the Guadeloupe belongs to the European Union within which it constitutes a ultraperipheric Région, which enables him to profit from “specific measures”, consisting in making adaptations of the Community legislation by taking account of the characteristics and particular constraints of the area.

December 7th, 2003, the voters of Guadeloupe rejected the creation project of a single community substituent at the department and the area which coexist on the same territory. The same day, the voters of St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre and Saint Martin's day voted in favor of the autonomy of their communes, become by the organic law of February 21st, 2007, two Collectivités of overseas (COM) distinct from the Guadeloupe.

Policy

See also: Political of the Guadeloupe

The policy of the Guadeloupe is organized like that of hexagonal France. The capacities are allotted by the people to the Mayors of each commune of the Low-Ground and the Large-Ground. They are elected by vote. The citizens also vote for their General advisers and their Regional advisers. They are the Deputies who will be charged to represent them in the hexagon and to carry the complaints of the country to the Head of the State. If a construction must be given to the standards after a cyclone, for example, one will look in the funds of the District council and if incomes are missed, the request will be led towards the Metropolitan France.

There exist several political clouts which clash at the time of the election, as for the hexagon, the dominant forces are the Socialist Group (directed by Victorin Lurel) and the UMP Group (directed by Lucette Michaux-Chevry).

Geography

See also: Geography of the Guadeloupe

The archipelago is positioned with 16° 20 ' of Northern latitude, that is to say the same latitude as the Thailand or the Honduras, and its longitude is about that of the Labrador and the Falkland Islands.

The archipelago of the Guadeloupe is composed of the following islands:

  • the Guadeloupe itself which is made up of 2 distinct islands, separated by an arm of the sea not exceeding 200 m broad, called the “River Salted” but not connected between them by 2 bridges. These 2 islands are the Low-Ground (848 km ²), largest is most mountainous of the 2 which is of volcanic origin whose culminating point is the active volcano of the Soufrière (1467 m) and the second, the Large-Ground (588 km ²), whose substrate is calcareous and is composed of a plain bordered of a Mangrove in south-west, of an irregular succession of “dull” called “deep seas” in the center and north, of a notched arid plate of rock and wild coasts. It is on the Littoral southern of the Large-ground that this locates the tourist zones: hotels and sand beaches white with the shelter of the coral reefs. This littoral is called “ Riviera ”.

  • Désirade
  • Marie-Gallant
  • Holy the  : 9 inhabited islets including 2, Ground-with-High and Ground-with-Low
  • Small Ground

The island of St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, as well as the northern part (French) of the island of Saint Martin's day, which depended administratively on the Guadeloupe is located more at north and is separated from the remainder of the Guadeloupe by Saint-Christophe-and-Niévès, Montserrat, Antigua-and-Barbuda.

Environment

The Guadeloupe was formerly very rich in Biodiversité, landscape with strong endemic Naturalité and in cash .
Depuis XVIe century, it lost much of its original natural heritage, because of the taking away (drives out and fishes in particular), of the retreat of the forest, the Urbanisation, an accelerated Périurbanisation these last decades, like because of the intensive cultures (Banane and Canne with sugar especially) which replaced the Tropical forest. The culture of the cane with sugar and banana marked the nonmountainous landscapes and are sources of important pollution. Except some exceptions (Methanisation), the Effluent S of the Distillerie S, little or are not badly treated. This exporting agriculture of cane sugar, alcohol (Rum) and bananas exhausts the grounds and is now very large importer of Pesticide S, of which of Insecticide S. She was encouraged a long time by some producing big families and the state.


Les after-effects of the use of these products for some very toxic and remanent (Chlordécone, Paraquat in particular) poses problem today with; in addition to a durable Pollution of many grounds and ecosystem S (in the zones dedicated today or in the past to the banana plantations, as well as the downstream of the basins slopes until at sea), a general contamination of the network of Drinking water by Organochlorinated S, confirmed at the end of the years 1990. Measures were taken to ensure the access to a drinking water, but the grounds of certain areas of the island and other islands of the Antilles are durably polluted by certain products, of which the chlordécone. Studies are in hand for better measuring the impacts of these products on health.

The reefs are degraded at least to 50% in the large islands, and of many marine herbaria also very degraded. the vegetable Environment and the landscapes remain preserved on some parts of the island, constituting a major resource for tourism. These spaces to some extent are classified in ZNIEFF (Chart of the ZNIZFF and are protected (Chart, for some with a statute of natural reserve inhabitant of Guadeloupe, from of which several caves sheltering of the chiroptères protected (More. Charts of underwater habitats (Example) make it possible to consider a better management and protection of these fragile habitats and underwater biological corridors, vulnerable to pollution (nitrates, turbidity, pesticides…), with the antrhropic pressures and the climatic risks which could become more frequent and acute in the context of the total Climate change.

With Marie-Gallant, Holy and Désirade the Mangrove S and Mangrove S almost disappeared.

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