Saint Barthélemy (island)

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Collectivité de Saint-Barthélemy
Flag of Saint Barthélemy
Saint Barthélemy's coat of arms
flag coat of arms
Official language French
Capital Gustavia
Form of government French overseas territory
Head of state President Emmanuel Macron
Head of government President of the Territorial Council: Bruno Magras (2017-2022)
surface 21 km²
population 9961 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 474 inhabitants per km²
currency Euro (EUR)
Time zone UTC − 4
ISO 3166 BL , FR-BL , BLM, 652
Internet TLD .fr , .gp and .bl
Telephone code +590
SSS Islands Map.png
Saint Barthelemy
Saint Barthélemy satellite image
Saint Barthélemy satellite image
Waters Caribbean Sea
Archipelago Leeward Islands
Geographical location 17 ° 53 '43 "  N , 62 ° 49' 39"  W Coordinates: 17 ° 53 '43 "  N , 62 ° 49' 39"  W.
Saint-Barthélemy (Island) (Lesser Antilles)
Saint Barthélemy (island)
surface 21 km²
Highest elevation Morne de Vitet
286  m
Residents 9427 (2014)
449 inhabitants / km²
main place Gustavia
Map of the local authority
Map of the local authority

Saint-Barthélemy ( German  Sankt Bartholomäus , also called St. Barths , St. Barts , St. Barth or Saint-Barth ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles . Since February 2007 it has been an independent French overseas territory with the status of a Collectivité d'outre mer . Since January 1, 2012, it has been one of the Overseas Countries and Territories associated with the European Union .

geography

In the north-west is the French-Dutch island of St. Martin ( Dutch: Sint Maarten ), in the south are St. Kitts and the Dutch islands of Sint Eustatius and (in the south-west) Saba . Barbuda lies in the east-southeast .

The island has an area of ​​21 km² and 9,961 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) and thus 474 inhabitants per km². The highest point is the Morne de Vitet in the east of the island with 286  m .

In addition to the main island, Saint-Barthélemy includes various smaller uninhabited secondary islands, including a. Île Fourchue (0.99 km²), Île Chevreau (Île Bonhomme) (0.62 km²), Île Frégate (0.29 km²), La Tortue (L'Ecalle) (0.4 km²), Île Toc Vers (0 , 15 km²), Île le Boulanger, Île Coco, Mancel (La Poule et les Poussins), Île Pelé, Pain de Sucre, Île Petit-Jean and Les Grenadins.

politics

Political status

Until 2007, Saint-Barthélemy was a municipality and, together with the French part of the neighboring island of St. Martin, formed an arrondissement of the overseas department of Guadeloupe , the arrondissement Saint-Martin-Saint-Barthélemy (also Arrondissement des Îles du Nord, "arrondissement of the northern islands" ).

After a referendum held in 2003 , Saint-Barthélemy separated - alongside Saint-Martin - from Guadeloupe on February 22, 2007 and became its own collectivité d'outre mer . However, the administration will continue to correspond to that of a French commune. Likewise, non-French people who come from an EU country may also participate in municipal council elections in the future. As of January 1, 2012, Saint-Barthélemy has ceased to be part of the European Union as an Associated Overseas Territory ( OCT ) , but retains the euro as legal tender.

Michel Magras has represented the island in the French Senate since October 1, 2008 , where he is a member of the Les Républicains parliamentary group .

Parish partnership

history

The island was originally settled by the indigenous people of the Caribs , who gave it the name Ouanalao . In 1493 it was discovered by Christopher Columbus on his second trip and named in honor of his brother Bartolomeo after his patron saint, the Apostle Bartholomäus . The Spaniards did not settle the island in the following period, and so it was only in Spanish possession on paper. Little is known about the whereabouts of the indigenous population. On the one hand, she probably died of diseases brought in from Europe, which spread from island to island even without the assistance of the Spaniards, on the other hand, she was also actively fought by them and probably also deported to Hispaniola for forced labor, like from numerous other small Antilles islands .

In 1648 the island, which at that time was only populated by 170 Europeans and 50 African slaves, was occupied by the French Knight of Malta Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy . In 1651 the French crown sold their claims to the island to the Order of Malta . From 1659 on , French colonists from Normandy and Brittany in particular settled on Saint-Barthélemy. The climate there was too dry for the then very profitable cultivation of sugar cane . For this reason, no large numbers of African slaves were brought to the island, which distinguishes the population structure from that of neighboring islands to this day. However, the location in the north of the Lesser Antilles was strategically interesting, which is why Saint-Barthélemy with its naturally protected harbor near the main town of Le Carénage (literally: place to repair the keel ) developed into a port of call for pirates . The few inhabitants lived from fishing, rearing farm animals, mining salt and growing cotton and indigo .

In 1784 King Louis XVI. the island of King Gustav III, considered relatively worthless . from Sweden in exchange for a commercial right in Gothenburg . On March 7, 1785 the island was taken over by the Swedes and the main town Le Carénage was renamed Gustavia in honor of the Swedish king . However, Saint-Barthélemy did not even have its own drinking water resources, so water had to be imported from the neighboring islands. By granting a free port status, the port flourished (see also Swedish Slave Trade and Swedish West India Company ) until a large fire destroyed large parts of Gustavia in 1852. In US trade statistics from this period, the island is listed as the "Swedish West Indies". Even under Swedish rule, the inhabitants remained mostly French-born Europeans with their slaves, which continued to speak a French patois .

Map from 1801 with the
14 historical quarters

In the period from March 19, 1801 to July 10, 1802, Saint-Barthélemy was occupied by British troops and was under British administration. All free citizens of the island had to take an oath of allegiance to the English king. This military action by the British took place at the same time and for the same reason as the British occupation of Danish West India .

The slavery existed in the now Swedish Saint Barthelemy initially on. Instead of the previously valid Code Noir , Pehr Hermann Rosén von Rosenstein, the Swedish interim administrator of the island, issued an “ Ordonnance de la police générale ” in 1787 , which regulated the treatment of slaves by law. As a result of the transition to Swedish ownership, the abolition of slavery, decided in the course of the French Revolution on February 4, 1794, did not come into effect, a law that was not implemented on the French Antilles Islands either. From 1814 onwards there was a discussion about slavery in Sweden itself, and even the Swedish imperial estates dealt with the subject. From 1844 a program was started in which the 529 slaves still living on the island were gradually bought free with money from the Swedish state treasury. 45 gourdes were paid for a child and 160 for each adult man. 71 of these slaves had come directly from Africa before the Swedish ban on slave imports in 1831, the rest were born on the island. Part of the black population had previously been released by their owners or had ransomed themselves. Slavery was finally abolished on October 9, 1847, under King Oskar I and his local governor James Haarlef Haasum. The majority of the former slaves left the island in the following years, which almost halved the total population.

On August 10, 1877, the French bought the island back from Sweden for 400,000 francs . The residents' wishes were decisive. In a vote, 350 out of 351 voters voted for a return to French rule. The following year, the French placed Saint-Barthélemy under the administration of Guadeloupe , from which it became a commune in 1946 .

In 1957, the American banker David Rockefeller bought a property on the island (now owned by Roman Abramowitsch ), and from then on Saint-Barthélemy developed into a destination for luxury tourism, in which the European jet set and US American stars spend their vacation. Saint-Barthélemy continues to be characterized by exclusivity, beautiful beaches and good opportunities for sailing.

Between 1962 and 2007, Saint-Barthélemy and the French part of St. Martin formed the arrondissement Saint-Martin-Saint-Barthélemy belonging to Guadeloupe . In 2003 there was a referendum in which the majority voted for the separation of Guadeloupe, and so the island has been a collectivité d'outre-mer (COM) since February 22, 2007 . Since then, both areas have been a commune, department and region and a direct part of France, which means that numerous European Union provisions apply to Saint-Barthélemy. However, both collectivés have fiscal autonomy , which means that French tax laws do not automatically apply there. Since then, both islands have tried to position themselves as an offshore financial center and tax haven .

In the morning hours of September 6, 2017, Hurricane Irma caught sight of the island. Before the anemometer of the local weather station was destroyed, wind speeds of 250 km / h were measured.

Territorial division

Saint-Barthélemy is divided into two paroisses with 40 quarters :

Paroisse Sous le Vent
(under the wind / lee) 		Paroisse Au Vent
(over the winch / windward)
No. Quarter No. Quarter
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20 		Colombier
Flamands
Terre Neuve
Grande Vigie
Corossol
Merlette
La Grande Montagne
Anse des Lézards
Anse des Cayes
Le Palidor
Public
Col de la Tourmente
Quartier du Roi
Le Château
Aéroport
Saint-Jean
Gustavia
La Pointe
Lurin
Carénage 		21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40 		Morne Criquet
Morne de Dépoudré
Gouverneur
Anse du Gouverneur
Morne Rouge
Grande Saline
Petite Saline
Lorient
Barrière des Quatre Vents
Camaruche
Grand Fond
Toiny
Devet
Vitet
Grand Cul-de-Sac
Pointe Milou
Mont Jean
Marigot
Anse de Grand Cul-de-Sac
Petit Cul-de- Sac
Regional division into 40 quarters

Infrastructure

Port of Gustavia

There is an airport on the island, the Aéroport de Saint-Barthélemy-Rémy de Haenen ( IATA code : SBH). The length of the runway is 646 meters and ends directly on the water. A special pilot license is required. The approach is demanding due to the constantly changing winds and the location behind a chain of hills.

Demographics

According to the census of January 1, 2017, Saint-Barthélemy has 9,961 inhabitants. The majority of today's residents are descendants of French colonial settlers, most of whom came from Normandy, Brittany and other regions in the north and west of France. Most of the former African slaves left the island for other Caribbean islands after the abolition of slavery in 1847, making Saint-Barthélemy one of the few Antilles islands with a predominantly white population. That is why French is the most widely spoken language, with the locals sometimes speaking a French patois. In the west of the island, it has similarities with the French spoken in Québec and other North American language islands. In the east of the island, the part in which plantation economy was previously practiced to a limited extent , it is more like an archaic variant of the African-influenced Caribbean patois from Martinique . Apart from a few place names, Swedish has left no significant traces in the language. A large part of the population now also speaks English as a second language in order to be able to communicate on the one hand with international tourists and on the other hand with the inhabitants of the neighboring islands on which Caribbean English is spoken ( St. Kitts and Nevis , Antigua and Barbuda , Anguilla , Virgin Islands etc.).

Population development
1766 1785 1812 1885 1961 1967 1974 1982 1990 1999 2006 2012
327 950 5,482 2,600 2.176 2,351 2,491 3,059 5,038 6,852 8,398 9.131
According to Swedish and French sources.

Eugénie Blanchard, who was born on February 16, 1896 and was the oldest living citizen of France and since the death of the Spanish Manuela Fernández-Fojaco on January 6, 2009, was the oldest citizen of the European Union, also lived on Saint-Barthélemy. With the death of the Japanese Kama Chinen, born on May 10, 1895, on May 2, 2010, she also became the oldest person in the world until she herself died on November 4, 2010.

Web links

Commons : Saint-Barthélemy  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b French Statistics Institute ( www.insee.fr )
  2. ↑ Decision of the European Council of October 29, 2010 to change the status of the island of Saint-Barthélemy vis-à-vis the European Union (2010/718 / EU) . In: Official Journal of the European Union . Edition in German. Volume 53, L 325, December 9, 2010, ISSN  1725-2539 , p. 4–5 , doi : 10.3000 / 17252539.L_2010.325.deu .
  3. ↑ Monetary agreement between the European Union and the French Republic on the maintenance of the euro in Saint-Barthélemy after the change of its status vis-à-vis the European Union . In: Official Journal of the European Union . Edition in German. 54th year, L 189, July 20, 2011, ISSN  1725-2539 , p. 3–4 , doi : 10.3000 / 17252539.L_2011.189.deu .
  4. ^ Saint-Barthélemey - Piteå's twinning. In: Pitea. Piteå kommun, accessed on November 18, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Gilles Genre-Grandpierre (ed.): Saint-Barthélemy - Rapport annuel 2015 . Institut d'émission des départements d'outre-mer (IEDOM), Paris 2017, Chapitre I - Les caractéristiques structurelles, p. 17 , Section 2: Repères historiques (French, online [PDF; 4.1 MB ; accessed on November 18, 2017]).
  6. ^ Walter Adolphe Roberts: The French in the West Indies . Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis 1942, p. 125.
  7. ↑ St. Barthélemy under Sverigetiden ( Swedish ) ST Barthélemysällskapet. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  8. ^ Victor Schœlcher & l'abolition de l'esclavage à Saint-Barthélemy (Suède). III. Abolition de l'esclavage dans l'île suédoise de Saint-Barthélemy. Excerpt from a text by Victor Schœlcher from the revue indépendante of January 10, 1847. In: Mémoire St Barth. Comité de Liaison et d'Application des Sources Historiques (CLASH), accessed on November 18, 2017 (French).
  9. ↑ L'histoire de l'abolition de l'esclavage à Saint-Barthélemy. In: Mémoire St Barth. Comité de Liaison et d'Application des Sources Historiques (CLASH), accessed on November 18, 2017 (French).
  10. ^ A b Walter Adolphe Roberts: The French in the West Indies . Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis 1942, p. 281.
  11. ↑ Steffi Kammerer: SPON - Fame Fatale: Seh-Krieg der Billardaire. In: SPIEGEL ONLINE . January 18, 2011, accessed November 18, 2017.
  12. ↑ Rachel Lee Harris: A Young Sailor's Guide to the Caribbean. In: The New York Times . November 11, 2011, accessed November 18, 2017.
  13. ↑ St Barts Runway Overrun. Video of a failed landing. In: YouTube . June 2, 2009, accessed November 18, 2017 .