Guadeloupe, where a typical French atmosphere can be breathed, is a contrasting island, from the white beaches and the plain landscape of Grande-Terre, to the exuberant woods of the Basse-Terre mountains (map)

Guadeloupe look like a huge butterfly posing over the crystalline sea waters. But both wings are very different. One is rocky and arid, bordered by white sandy beaches, and the other, mountainous and fertile, with cold water rivers running between the woods. The backbone is Riviere Salee, a salad water channel that separates Basse-Terre from Grande-Terre, communicated thanks to a bridge across the channel. It is said that when Columbus first saw the island, in 1493, regretted not being able of keeping it in a coffer, to show such an unbelievable gem to the King of Spain, then Fernando, the Catholic.

The 1,438 square km. of Guadeloupe makes it one of the biggest in the Little Antilles. Likewise, has a great diversity of landscapes, beaches around the volcanoes, where banana plantations are sited, huge sugar cane fields next to the mangrove swamps, international hotels near small wooden cottages, built over four stone pillars, and highways crossing over the small roads that take to the Basse-Terre mountains, through luxuriant woods and huge ferns.

Part of the population favors the links with France, while others favor the African legacy of Guadeloupe. Lately, a growing minority believes it is necessary to leave behind divisions coming from slavery age, and favors a “Caribbean identity”. From 1946, Guadeloupe is an Overseas French Department, and many people are unwilling to resign to the economic benefits coming from Europe. However, there are also some islanders who wave a red and black flag, with a crab printed on it, who want independence. Some go to work in a BMW. Others go slowly on an ox pulled wagon. This is a contrasting island.

A Piece of France
Guadeloupe, like the islands around (Marie-Galante, La Desirade and Les Saintes),
St. Martin and St. Barthélémy, is a French department. In contrast with other colonies, is French territory, and thus, part of the European Union. Inhabitants, as well as those from Martinique, are French citizens with French passports, and the same rights as common French citizens living in Europe, 7,000 km. away. Therefore, when you arrive to the island, you’ll see the highways full of French cars. The huge supermarkets and furniture shops are very much alike to those in any French city. At bakeries people buy baguettes, and at the café, clients sit down to read Le Monde or France Soir (French journals).

Though tourist industry has grown a lot, the main income source is the banana production (mainly exported to France), and sugar (mainly used in the rum elaboration). Thanks to the financial support of France, the island’s economy is wealthy, and the people enjoy one of the highest life standards in the Caribbean.

Land of Beautiful Waters
In November 1493, Columbus landed south of the island, and decided to name it as Virgen de Santa Maria de Guadeloupe. Later, Spaniards tried in several occasions to establish there, but found the fiery opposition of the Caribbean Indians, who had no intention to leave what they called Karukera (land of beautiful waters). In 1635, the first French colonists arrived, and after fiver years, they definitively expelled the Caribbeans, and started to bring African slaves to work in the first sugar cane plantations.

The British, also wanting the island, invaded it twice before conquering it in 1759. However, the British dominance lasted little, because in 1763, the Paris treaty gave it back to King Louis XV. As compensation, the British got the rights over Canada.

During the French Revolution, abolition of slavery in French colonies was declared from Paris. The so-called béké (the rich white owners of plantations) asked Great Britain for help. In 1794, France sent Victor Hughes, who after defeating the British, and beheading 850 plantation owners, abolished slavery.

When Napoleon took power in France, Hughes was relieved, and slavery restore for some years more, though after the Revolution victory of 1848, and the foundation of the Second Republic, was definitively abolished. Then, more than 40,000 people arrived to Guadeloupe, from the Eastern Indians, to work hardly in the sugar cane plantations.

In the two World Wars, Martinique and Guadeloupe passed through a delicate economic situation. Thousands of islanders abandoned the place, and joined the French troops, and during the German occupation of France, suffered an embargo that caused the absence of basic products. After the war, the III Republic Government decided that the best way, for their Caribbean islands, to recover their economic status, was to turn them into Overseas French Departments, which took place in 1946. From then on, and in contrast with Martinique, many groups favoring independence have emerged in Guadeloupe, and many people resent France.

Pointe-à-Pitre, the Commercial Capital
During the high season, three jumbos 747 from France, land daily at the modern Le Raizet airport, built in the southern end of the Rivière Salée, at 3 km far from Pointe-à-Pitre. Most of the passengers are tourists, and emigrants returning to their home land to enjoy some weeks of vacations alongside their families.