Concept

Îles des Saintes

Summary
The Îles des Saintes (il de sɛ̃t; Islands of the (Female) Saints), also known as Les Saintes (Lésent, lesɛ̃t), is a group of small islands in the archipelago of Guadeloupe, an overseas department of France. It is part of the Canton of Trois-Rivières and is divided into two communes: Terre-de-Haut and Terre-de-Bas. It is in the arrondissement of Basse-Terre and also in Guadeloupe's 4th constituency. Les Saintes, due to their location in the heart of the Lesser Antilles, were frequented first by Indian tribes coming from Caribbean and Central America. Caaroucaëra (the Arawak name of Îles des Saintes), although uninhabited due to the lack of spring water, were regularly visited by Arawak peoples then Kalinagos living on the neighbourhood islands of Guadeloupe and Dominica around the 9th century. They went there to practise hunting and fishing. The archaeological remains of war axes and pottery dug up on the site of Anse Rodrigue's Beach and stored at "Fort Napoléon" museum testify the visits of these populations. It was during his second expedition for America, that Christopher Columbus discovered the small archipelago, on 4 November 1493. He named them "Los Santos", in reference to All Saints' Day which had just been celebrated. Around 1523, along with its neighbours, these islands, which were devoid of precious metals, were abandoned by the Spanish who favoured the Greater Antilles and the South American continent. On 18 October 1648, a French expedition led by Sir du Mé, annexed les Saintes, already under English influence, at the request of the governor of Guadeloupe, Charles Houël. From 1649, the islands became a colony exploited by the French West India Company which tried to establish agriculture. However, the inhospitable ground and the aridity of "Terre-de-Haut" halted this activity, though it persisted for a while on Terre-de-Bas, which was wetter and more fertile, under the orders of Sir Hazier du Buisson from 1652. In 1653, the Kalinagos slaughtered the French troops in Marie-Galante.
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