GUADELOUPE - Geography and history
Guadeloupe, an archipelago of eight inhabited islands, is the largest of the Lesser Antilles groups (1 705 km2). This makes it both a French region and a département. The two main islands (Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre) are separated by a narrow sea channel, the Rivière Salée. Basse-Terre is mountainous and has in Soufrière (1 467 m) the highest volcano in the Antilles. Grande-Terre is formed from limestone and is generally low-lying. The other islands ('dependencies'), fall into two groups: the nearby islands of Marie-Galante, the îles des Saintes (Terre-dé-Haut and Terre-de-Bas) and La Désirade; and the îles-du-Nord (200 km to the north/north-west): Saint-Barthélémy and Saint-Martin partly administered by the Netherlands (the southern third).
Guadeloupe has a humid, tropical climate tempered by the trade winds, with two distinct seasons: mainly dry from January to May and rainy from June to December. Cyclones can occur between the beginning of July and the end of October, the trail of the cyclone Hugo (16 September 1989) will be remembered for some time. The climate, and the precipitation in particular, is influenced by the relief and orientation of the land. Rainfall is more abundant on the windward side (Atlantic coast) than on the leeward side (Caribbean coast) and is heavier at altitude than in the limestone islands.
The natural landscape of Guadeloupe is different from that of the other islands in the Caribbean, and this, coupled with its good infrastructural facilities, could lead to an expansion in the role of tourism.
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