Guadeloupe- terytorium zamorskie Francji

Guadeloupe - porty.

Marie-Galante -porty.

Les Saintes -porty

Saint Martin - wyspa podległa regionowi Gaudelupy.

Link do ciekawego opisu i galerii (ang.)

informacje zaczerpnięte z encyklopedii: PWN, Brytanika

Galen R. Frysinger:

galeria pięknych zdjęć z dużą ilością opisów (ang.)

Bogata informacja wraz z dużą ilością kontaktów, zdjęć i tekstów - Antilles Info (ang. franc. niem.)

CIA World Factbook - Guadeloupe (ang.)

Guadeloupe - Antiles (franc.)

Portal turystyczny Lonley Planet (ang.)

Portal rządowy - prefektura (franc.)

Bardzo ciekawy i bogaty portal:

Guadeloupe Info (franc. niem. ang. włosk.)

PWN

GWADELUPA, Guadeloupe, departament zamor. Francji, w Ameryce Środk., w Indiach Zach., na wyspach w Małych Antylach (archipelag W. Podwietrznych); pow. 1,8 tys. km², w tym wyspa Gwadelupa 1438 km², Marie-Galante 158 km², Saint-Martin 52 km² (część franc.), Saint-Barthélemy 21 km² i Désirade 20 km² oraz grupy wysp — Les Saintes, Îles de la Petite Terre i Tintamarre; 431 tys. mieszk. (1996), Mulatów 77%, Murzynów 10%, Kreoli 10%; ludność katol.; stol. — Basse-Terre (na wyspie Gwadelupy); język urzędowy — franc.; jednostka monetarna — frank francuski. Wyspy pochodzenia wulk. i koralowego; wyspa Gwadelupa składa się z 2 części rozdzielonych kanałem Rivière Salée: zach. (Basse-Terre) — górzystej, z czynnym wulkanem Soufrière (wys. 1467), oraz wsch. (Grande-Terre) — nizinnej; klimat wysp równikowy wilgotny; średnia roczna suma opadów 1800 mm; cyklony; lasy (39% pow.) równikowe wilgotne, w dużym stopniu zdegradowane. Podstawą gospodarki jest obsługa turystów (303 tys. osób — 1991); zmniejsza się znaczenie rolnictwa; produkt krajowy brutto wynosi 6073 dol. USA na 1 mieszk. (1989); gospodarka jest kontrolowana przez kapitał franc.; uprawa trzciny cukrowej, bananów, pomidorów, ananasów, drzew cytrusowych, wanilii; hodowla bydła i trzody chlewnej; rybołówstwo; produkcja cukru, rumu, odzieży oraz mebli; cementownie; hotele; porty lotn.; gł. port mor. — Pointe-à-Pitre (na wyspie Gwadelupie); wywóz bananów, rumu, cukru; handel z Francją, Martyniką.

Historia. W 1493 odkryta przez K. Kolumba; 1635 opanowana i kolonizowana przez Francuzów; w 2 poł. XVIII i pocz. XIX w. pod władzą Brytyjczyków, 1816 przyznana ostatecznie Francji; od 1946 jej departament zamor.; w latach 60. i 70. XX w. niepokoje społ. związane z pogarszającą się sytuacją gosp. i wzrost emigracji do metropolii; w latach 80. znaczne nasilenie działalności organizacji niepodległościowych

Ecyclopedia Britannica

officially Department of Guadeloupe, French Département de la Guadeloupe,
overseas département of France, a group of islands in the Lesser Antilles chain in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The nearest neighbours of the principal islands are the British dependency of Montserrat to the northwest and the republic of Dominica to the south. The island of Martinique, also a French overseas département, lies about 74 miles to the south. The main territory of Guadeloupe consists of the twin islands of Basse-Terre to the west and Grande-Terre to the east, the two being separated by a narrow channel, the Salée River; other islands in the group are Marie-Galante to the southeast, La Désirade to the east, and Saintes Islands (Terre d'en Haut and Terre d'en Bas) to the south. Two more island dependencies—Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin (the southern third of which is administered by The Netherlands as Sint Maarten)—are situated about 150 miles to the northwest, lying to the northwest of the outer arc of the Lesser Antilles. The total area of Guadeloupe is 687 square miles (1,780 square kilometres). Basse-Terre, on the island of the same name, is the seat of government. The largest urban area, however, centres around Pointe-à-Pitre on Grande-Terre, the chief port and economic hub of Guadeloupe.

Relief and drainage

Basse-Terre, which has an area of 364 square miles, has a chain of mountains running north to south and culminating in Soufrière, a volcano 4,813 feet (1,467 metres) high; it erupted in 1797, 1837, and 1976 and is now a source of hot springs and sulfur springs. Other summits of note are the 4,442-foot Mount Sans Toucher and the 4,143-foot Mount de la Grande Découverte. The mountain chain forms a watershed from which rivers run down to the sea. The principal river on the island is the Goyaves; other rivers are the Grande Plaine, the Petite Plaine, the Moustique, the Lézarde, and the Rose. Basse-Terre has a beautiful coastline, indented with bays and fringed with picturesque beaches.

Grande-Terre has an area of 220 square miles and is generally low-lying; it has only a few bluffs higher than 490 feet. Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy are rugged and rise to an altitude of 1,391 feet and 921 feet, respectively.
 

History

Visited on Nov. 4, 1493, by Christopher Columbus, the two main islands, then together known as Karukera (Island of Beautiful Waters), were peopled by Caribs, who had displaced the original Arawak inhabitants. The territory was consecrated to Our Lady of Guadalupe of Extremadura in Spain, from whom it takes its name.
 

French rule

Preliminary attempts by the Spanish to establish themselves were repulsed by the Caribs in 1515, 1520, and 1523. In 1626 the Spanish, who had established themselves on the coast, were driven away by Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc, a Frenchman who established a trading company. In 1635 two Frenchmen, Léonard de L'Olive and Jean Duplessis d'Ossonville, landed and established a colony. Until 1640 the colonists fought against the Carib Indians, but thereafter the colony prospered. Four chartered companies were ruined in successive attempts to colonize Guadeloupe, and in 1674 it passed to the French crown, becoming a dependency of Martinique, which it remained until 1775. Guadeloupe benefited from the influence of Jean-Baptiste Labat (1663 to 1738), a strong personality who was the effective founder of the Basse-Terre colony and who in 1703 armed the African slaves (who had already been brought to the island) in order that they might fight against the English; he also established the first sugar refineries, thereby laying the foundations for the era of prosperity that followed.

In 1759 Guadeloupe was occupied by the British for four years but was restored to France in 1763. In 1794 it was again occupied by British troops, allied with French royalists, but was recaptured by Victor Hugues, an official of the French revolutionary government, who proclaimed the abolition of slavery and had several hundred white planters massacred. When slavery was reestablished by Napoleon's government in 1802, a revolt of the slaves occurred and culminated in the heroic act of the antislavery forces, who blew themselves up at Matouba when threatened by French forces under the command of General Antoine Richepanse; Richepanse himself had been sent by Napoleon to pacify Guadeloupe, but he died of yellow fever in the same year. The British occupied Guadeloupe in 1810; however, after some changes in status, it was restored to France in 1816.

The abolition of slavery in 1848 was the most significant development of the territory's 19th-century history. Universal suffrage was abolished during the reign of Napoleon III of France, but in 1870 colonial representation in the French Parliament was restored. In 1940 Guadeloupe gave its allegiance to the Vichy government of Nazi-occupied France, but in 1943 it adhered to General Charles de Gaulle's Free French forces. In 1946 it was given the status of a French département, and in 1974 it became a région of France.