History

Recent History

In 1998, Lucette Michaut-Chévry was re-elected to the position of President of the Regional Council. Two years later, she came under the scrutiny of police investigators on suspicion of corruption. In 2001 and 2002, drought conditions were the worst the island had suffered in 50 years.

The combination of dissatisfaction with government administration and drought led to a series of strikes indicating that, though conditions were peaceful, frays in the social fabric were beginning to show. In late 2003, a referendum proposing greater autonomy was defeated and, in March the following year, Lucette Michaut-Chévry and her party lost an election in favor of Victorin Lurel's Socialist Party. In February 2007, Saint-Barthélemy and the French part of Saint Martin, previously under the jurisdiction of Guadeloupe, became separate overseas collectives of France.

Modern Day History

Since 1871, Guadeloupe has had representation in the French parliament. When the French surrendered to the Nazis, France was split in two, with the southern section ruled from Vichy; Guadeloupe fell under Vichy administration. Since 1946, the island has been an overseas department of France. In a 1958 referendum, residents were presented with a choice between integration into the French mainland community and independence; they chose the former. Both Guadeloupe and Martinique use the euro, French stamps and fly the French flag. In 1974, they were promoted to the administrative status of a region and, in 1983, a regional council was established. However, Guadeloupe's political status hasn't satisfied everyone - a local secessionist movement has occasionally resorted to acts of terrorism. Peace has also been disrupted by the local volcano, La Soufrière, which erupted in the 1970s and still belches sulphurous fumes today. Guadeloupe continues to depend heavily upon subsidies from France, which absorbs the majority of Guadeloupe's exports and provides 75% of its imports.

Pre 20th Century History

When sighted by Columbus in 1493, Guadeloupe was inhabited by Carib Indians who called it Karukera, 'Island of Beautiful Waters'. The Spanish made two attempts to settle Guadeloupe in the early 1500s but were repelled both times by fierce Carib resistance. They finally abandoned their claim to the island in 1604.

Three decades later, French colonists sponsored by the Compagnie des Îles d'Amérique, an association of French entrepreneurs, set sail to establish the first European settlement on Guadeloupe. The party landed on the southeastern shore of Basse-Terre in 1635 and claimed Guadeloupe for France. The French drove the Caribs off the island, planted crops and, within a decade, had built the first sugar mill. By the time France officially annexed the island in 1674, a slave-based plantation system was well established.

The English invaded several times and, between 1759 and 1763, they developed Pointe-à-Pitre into a major harbor, opening profitable English and North American markets to Guadeloupean sugar and allowing planters to import cheap American lumber and food. As the economy rapidly expanded, many French colonists actually grew wealthier under the British occupation. But the party ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763 - the French traded their claims in Canada for the return of Guadeloupe.

Amid the chaos of the French Revolution, the British invaded Guadeloupe again in 1794. In response, the French sent a contingent of soldiers led by Victor Hugues, a black nationalist who freed and armed Guadeloupean slaves. On the day British troops withdrew from Guadeloupe, Hugues went on a rampage and killed 300 Royalists, many of them plantation owners, marking the start of a reign of terror which resulted in the deaths of more than 1000 colonists. As a consequence of Hugues' attacks on American ships, the US declared war on France. This prompted an anxious Napoleon Bonaparte to dispatch a general to Guadeloupe to put down the uprising, restore the pre-revolutionary government and reinstitute slavery.

Throughout the 19th century, Guadeloupe was the most prosperous island in the French West Indies, and the British continued to covet it, invading and occupying the island for most of the period between 1810 and 1816. The Treaty of Vienna restored the island to France, which has maintained sovereignty since 1816. Slavery was abolished in 1848, following a campaign led by French politician Victor Schoelcher. In the years that followed, planters brought laborers from Pondicherry, a French colony in India, to work in the cane fields.