Islands of the Holy ones

Settlement

The escarpé relief and not very advantageous pluviometry not having allowed the establishment of agricultural cultures, few Esclaves were brought on these islands. The settlement thus historically consists of Breton and Norman which settled to practice fishing. This characteristic explains the specific type of the saintois, in general métissés and with the clear eyes.

History

9th century: the Arawak S occupy the Guadeloupe before being about it driven out by the the Indian Caribbean.

November 4th, 1493, one day of All Saints' day: Christophe Colomb, of which it is the second tour towards America, unloads with the Holy ones. With of islands being baptized so much, it gives them the name of the day, " Los Santos".

1523 : the Spaniards on several occasions try to be installed on the ground saintois, which they ultimately give up with the French and English colonists, to occupy the Greater Antilles, then later, the South American, promising continent of greater richnesses.

1648 : occupation of Holy on October 18th by the Lord of Me with the head of about thirty men in order to withdraw them from English on a request of the governor Charles Houël.

1649 : September 4th, Charles Houël buys the Guadeloupe and the Holy ones and founds the Company of the islands of America. The excessive dryness of Ground-of-High constrained the colonists to give up the small archipelago during three years.

1652 : led by Hazier of the Bush, the French return to Holy and undertake the first settings in culture of Ground-of-High and especially of Ground--Low, much more favourable with agriculture by its wetter climate.

1653 : the Caribbean Indians massacre the French colonists of Marie-Gallant. The captain of Me then achieves a punitive forwarding with the Dominique, the stronghold of the Caribbean which, by reprisals, take then by storm the Holy ones. This raid avenger is pushed back by the men of the Count of Star.

1658 : the Caribbean are definitively dispossessed of their grounds to facilitate the installation of French colonists. The agricultural development is facilitated by the installation of the triangular trade, which allowed the importation of slaves intended for the plantations of banana and cane sugar.

1664 : Colbert dissolves the " Company of the Islands of Amérique" and repurchases the Guadeloupe and its dependences for the King.

1666 : it is the year of the first Franco-English hostilities for the possession of Holy, considered then as the " Gibraltar of the Indies occidentales". August 4th, the English attack but a cyclone destroyed some vessels of the British fleet. A troop then tries to be established on the rock. DuLion and Desmeuriers are combined in the Caribbean of the Dominique to dislodge the English of Ground-of-High and force them to go on August 15th.

1674 : with the Guadeloupe on which they are dependant, the Holy ones are annexed to the royal field.

1680 : more suited to agriculture, one observes on the sides of Ground-of-Low a greater settlement.

1691 : the flibustier governor of Santo Domingo, Jean-Baptiste Ducasse, delivers the Guadeloupe of the pressure of the English and hunting out of the zone of French colonization to Barbados in the south of the West-Indian arc.

1759 : the English take again the control of the Guadeloupe until 1763, date of signature of the Treaty of Paris. France, recognizing the maritime superiority of the British, concedes Canada in exchange of the West-Indian dependences.

1777 : the government of Louis XVI orders the operational startup of Strong Louis and Fort the Queen.

1782 : April 12th, at the end of a memorable naval battle in the channel of Holy, the French fleet is destroyed by Armada to sir Georges Brydges Rodney, vice-admiral of England. The battle opposes the French, with their 31 ships and 2558 guns, with the English, with their 36 vessels and 2640 guns. This French defeat is engraved in the history under the name of " Battle of Holy the ". At the end of this naval victory, the British crown will remain practically Master of the places during twenty years.

1794 : April 9th, the British settle with Holy and build a penitentiary before the bloodthirsty man sans-culotte Victor Huges drives out some temporarily. During about fifteen years, hunting for the English in the Lesser Antilles is the main concern of the corsairs French, republican, then Bonapartists.

1802 : the English yield to the pressure French raids and flee the ground saintoise.

1809 : April 14th, while the British take again possession of the Holy ones, Jean Calo - Breton committed young person - and two companions, Cointre and Solitaire, succeeded in making escape by the " passes from the baleine" three French vessels of the roads of Ground-of-High, then blocked by the English fleet. In spite of this exploit, Saintois capitulate and the archipelago falls down under the British domination.

1814 : May 30th, the Treaty of Paris returns the Guadeloupe to France, but the French will return at Holy only on December 10th of this year.

1815 : July 6th, and for a few weeks, the archipelago of Holy falls down to the hands of the English.

1816 : the Holy ones pass definitively under the French supervision.

1822 : Néréide approaches the Holy ones and made countryside with Ground-of-High. The knight of Fréminville meets the pretty Caroline. The death of the young girl - it would have drowned by love - registered voter the legend more in the manuscripts of the time that in the memory of Saintois.

1825 : August 26th, a cyclone devastates the south of the Guadeloupe and the Holy ones. Close to miles boxes - light wood dwellings - and houses are in particular cut down with Saint-Claude, on the Low-Ground.

1844 : in order to guarantee the protection of the roads against a possible return of the British, the fortification of the archipelago of Holy is given to the day order. Work of the Fort Napoleon is resumed after three years of study and will be completed in 1867.

1851 : a military penitentiary is built on the islet with Cabrit.

1856 : a prison of women is built with the Holy ones.

1865 : September 6th, a hurricane passes on the islet to Cabrit and devastates the penitentiary.

1871 : the islet with Cabrit is seen converted into place of forty. A lazaret is built there in order to accommodate the immigrants coming from the French counters of the Indies, Chandernagor and Pondichéry.

1882 : August 9th, Ground-of-Low is set up in commune and becomes the second city of the archipelago.

1889 : the state French major withdraws his garrison of the Holy ones.

1890 : the Punishment Company also gives up the heights isolated from Ground-of-High and from the islet with Cabrit.

1902 : the penitentiary is from now on abandoned.

1903 : the doctor of navy, paid before on the local, free budget in its turn Ground-of-High. The roads of Holy lose its strategic vocation definitively but, to honor its history, good number of buildings of the National marine will wet during the century with Ground-of-High.

1906 : at the time of its round the world tour, cruiser Duguay-Trouin celebrates it made stopover with Holy and achieves operations there. The ship school the Jeanne D' Arc will wet each year with Holy traditionally, at the time of the employers' festival, on August 15th.

1928: a fatal cyclone devastates the Guadeloupe and puts at evil Ground-of-High. The wood town hall yields to the storm and lets fly away good number of the administrative files of the Holy ones.

1934 : the Holy ones enter the era of tourism and see multiplying the second home of the " continent" Guadeloupe.

1940 : France is occupied by the Germans, and Ground-of-High becomes the turntable of West-Indian dissidence towards America and England. Some Saintois embark clandestinely to join the F.F.L of the de Gaulle General. The government petainist of the admiral Robert makes intern Gaullistes in the jails of Strong Napoleon.

1946 : the law of departmentalization grants the statute of French department to the Guadeloupe and its dependences. The Holy ones benefit from this new statute by forming a canton of this department divided into two communes, Ground-of-High and Ground-of-low.

1966 : the track of the aerodrome is built with the filled site of the Bélénus pond.

1969: the first hotel is built on the northern side of Dull in Cointre. It is the " Joli" wood; , which still bears this name to date. Until 1974, date on which will be built the access road, in love ones with beach and loneliness joined this hotel only by boat.

1972 : a desalination plant settles with Ground-of-High. It is not any more in operating condition today, an underwater drain supplying the island from the Guadeloupe.

1974 : the historical heritage of Holy is emphasized by a handle the voluntary ones. Strong Napoleon finds in particular a new youth under the impulse of the " club of the old man manoir". Since then, it always accommodates a number crescent of visitors and quickly becomes the first tourist and cultural pole of the archipelago (more than 130.000 paying entries were recorded in 2000). A tourist office is created with Ground-of-High.

1984 : the Botanical gardens of Monaco and Nancy sponsor the birth of an Exotic Garden on the ramparts of Strong Napoleon. Within the framework of the operation " The Road of Fleurs" , Ground-of-High is twinned with the town of Baccarat, famous in the whole world for its crystal manufactures since the XVIIIe century.

1990 : the sustained efforts of the municipality and the whole of the population saintoise for the safeguarding of their inheritance are rewarded by the Oscar for the Environment.

2000 : the course of the 300.000 annual visitors is crossed.

2003 : December 7th, the Holy ones integrated into the department of the Guadeloupe, take part in the referendum on the institutional evolution of the DOM-ROM and rejetent that Ci by a " non" largely majority. The small archipelago aspires to a statutory evolution following the example islands of St-Martin and St-Barthelemy in community of overseas for better taking into account its geographical and economic configuration.

2004: November 21st, the islands of Holy are struck by a violent one seism reaching the 6,3 the scale of Richter causing only many property damages. No counted victim.

Economy

The fishing was a long time the main activity of Holy, the fishermen local being extremely famous in all the archipelago inhabitant of Guadeloupe for their bravery and their " blows of filet".

Since about thirty years, the Holy ones became a tourist place of scale and this activity constitutes from now on the turntable of the local economy. Ground-of-High accommodates many pleasure boats which wet in what one agrees to qualify the " third more beautiful bay of the monde". The hotel trade and the rooms of hosts are spread, without to denature this archipelago which knew to remain wild.

At the time of the employers' festival, which takes place on August 15th, the Holy ones accommodate traditionally during a week of many visitors come to have fun the festival. With the program: musical podiums, contest, elections of miss, etc

Environment

The archipelago of Holy extends only on 13 km2 but is characterized by a large littoral, nouveau riche of those of 4 small islands not-lived.
Les Côte S of these islands is deprived of truths Récif S but their rock funds are papered corals.
Les sandy funds is them more or less colonized by herbaria of Phanérogame S navy
Les Saintes lodges many Iguane S terrestrial. Underwater fauna enormously suffered (cyclone, tourism, factory of desalination, etc) and the splendid corals in particular in the bay of Pompierre go back from there only with difficulty.
Dans the context of climate warming and invasive species, the environment of these islands is regarded as very vulnerable.

wind S special, stayed and being able to be lying on the ground (in 45 minutes) with the advertisement of a Cyclone or a Tempête were installed in the archipelago. These wind mills are very reduced and designed to resist the most current earthquakes. They do not require foundations as deep as the others and are transported in spare parts. In 2007, the 7 machines of 275 kw unit could produce 3 million kWh per annum, returning Ground-with-Low, in the Archipel of Holy the surplus in electricity, enabling him to provide some to the Guadeloupe.

Culture

The craft industry is still very long-lived with Holy, and still produces typical objects:

the traditional hat: Salako, manufactured out of vegetable fibers of bamboo, with the end pointed and probably originating in Indo-China, covered with white fabric for the top and blue for the lower part for its traditional color, but also equipped with Madras fabric.
the Torment of love, a small traditional cake with the coconut but which from now on is declined in several perfumes such: banana, pineapple or fruit of passion.
the Saintoise, a boat of fishing which was spread in all the archipelago inhabitant of Guadeloupe for his reliability and its maneuverability.

Internal bonds

Strong Napoleon of Holy the

External bonds

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