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Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe

Eastern half of Guadeloupe

Field	Value
name	Grande-Terre
image_name	Guadeloupe Grande-Terre Places of interest map-fr.svg
image_caption	Map of places of interest in Grande-Terre, the eastern part of Guadeloupe island, a French island in the Antilles.
map_image	Caribbean - Grande Terre.PNG
location	Caribbean Sea
coordinates
archipelago	Leeward Islands
area_km2	586.68
highest_mount	Morne l'Escade
elevation_m	129
country	France
country_admin_divisions_title	Overseas department
country_admin_divisions	Guadeloupe
country_largest_city	Les Abymes
country_largest_city_population	52,118
population	197,603
population_as_of	2006
density_km2	337
ethnic_groups	Black / Mulatto 66%, White 9%, Indo-Guadeloupean 14%, Lebanese / Syrians 6%, Chinese / others 5%

Grande-Terre Island ( ; or Granntè) is the name of the eastern-half of Guadeloupe proper, in the Lesser Antilles. It is separated from the other half of Guadeloupe island, Basse-Terre, by a narrow sea channel called Rivière Salée (in English, Salt River). Pointe de la Grande Vigie, in Grande-Terre, is the northernmost point of Guadeloupe island. To the east lies La Désirade, and to the south lies Marie Galante.

Name

Despite its name, Grande-Terre (literally "Large Land" in French) is smaller than Basse-Terre Island. It was given the name in contrast with the much smaller Petite Terre Islands ("Small Land" Islands), two very small islands located about 10 km south-east of the Grande-Terre (see map to the left).

Geography

Grande-Terre's indented coastline is surrounded by coral reefs and the island itself is a limestone plateau. Its surface is a series of rolling hills, white sand beaches and cliffs. The island's beaches consist of both white and black sands, as well as beaches of golden sand. Of the two islands, Grande-Terre is home to the majority of Guadeloupe's farmlands and tourist resorts.

Grande-Terre Island (upper right) from space, September 1994. North is to the upper left in this view.

The island has a land area of 586.68 km2.

Population

At the 2006 census the population of Grande-Terre was 197,603 inhabitants living in 10 communes (municipalities). The population density was 337 inhabitants per km2 (872 inh. per sq. miles). The most populated communes are, in descending order of population, Les Abymes (part of the Pointe-à-Pitre urban area), Le Gosier (part of the Pointe-à-Pitre urban area), Pointe-à-Pitre (part of the Pointe-à-Pitre urban area), Le Moule, Sainte-Anne, and Morne-à-l'Eau.

Panorama of la Pointe de la Grande Vigie in the north of Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe.

abbr=on}} to the south-east of the island of Grande-Terre. Grande-Terre was so named in contrast with these two small islands.

History

Historically, Grande-Terre Island was called "cibuqueira", ("Gum tree island", in the Caribbean language) and the island of Basse-Terre, "Caloucaera" (Karukera), a word meaning "the island of beautiful waters" in the Caribbean language.

References

"Islands of Guadeloupe (France)".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

islands-of-guadeloupe

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