Basse-Terre
Basse-Terre is a commune in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe, in the Lesser Antilles. It is also the prefecture of Guadeloupe. The city of Basse-Terre is located on Basse-Terre Island, the western half of Guadeloupe.
Although it is the administrative capital, Basse-Terre is only the second-largest city in Guadeloupe, behind Pointe-à-Pitre. Together with its urban area, it had 44,864 inhabitants in 2012.
Geography
Basse-Terre is located in the south-western corner of the Basse-Terre portion of the island of Guadeloupe which is itself located some 100 km north of Dominica and some 450 km south-east of Puerto Rico. The commune is at the foot of the Soufrière volcano and is connected to the rest of the island by three main roads:- The which exits the commune in the south on the coast and continues inland to Gourbeyre then all the way around the coast to Pointe-à-Pitre on Grande-Terre.
- The which goes north along the coast to Vieux Habitants and continues all the way around the coast to join the N1 at Baie Mahault.
- The N3 which traverses the length of the commune and continues to Saint-Claude inland.
The commune is mostly urban with some farmland in the north-east and north-west.
The different districts of Basse-Terre are: Agincourt, Bas-du-Bourg, Carmel, Desmarais Guillaud, Morne-Chaulet, Morne-à-Vaches, Petit-Paris, Pintade, Rivière-des-Peres, La Rue-Maillan, Saint-François, Sur-le Morne, and Versailles.
Climate
Basse-Terre lies at a transitional point between a tropical rainforest climate and a tropical monsoon climate. As is the norm with cities with these two climate types, Basse-Terre features relatively consistent temperatures throughout the year.Toponymy
History
Native American origins
Before Basse-Terre became a French town it was a village of American Indian horticulturists and potters. The village was on the site of the present Basse-Terre Cathedral where archaeological excavations found human remains and other evidence of occupation during the restoration of the cathedral.In 2005 on the lower part of a Native American garbage dump, excavations have uncovered a new dump containing large amounts of archaeological material: food waste, ceramics, stone tools and shell tools, ornaments, charcoal and a tomb.
Birth of the town of Basse-Terre (1635–1649)
In 1635, when it was part of Saint Kitts and Nevis, an expedition was seeking a place of lasting presence in Guadeloupe. The operation was entrusted to Charles Liénard de l'Olive and Jean du Plessis d'Ossonville together with 4 missionaries and 550 colonists. The landing took place on 28 June 1635, at Pointe Allègre, far from Basse-Terre. Famine pushed the party to the south near the present town of Vieux-Fort in early 1636. The relationship between Native Americans and colonists degraded quickly; Liénard then began a bloody war against the locals. In 1660 a treaty forced him to retreat to Dominica and Saint Vincent. The war forced him to build a fort, today Fort Olive at Vieux Fort. In 1640 Jean Aubert succeeded Liénard as the government of the island and he soon left the site to settle on the left bank of the , which is the current Gourbeyre marina. In 1643 Charles Houël du Petit Pré replaced Aubert and, in 1649, he left the marina site for the right bank of the Galion and built a fort. Some religious built the first church, now the, shortly afterwards and the city was organized around the chapel and from the fort to the river of Herbs. This was the beginning of Basse-Terre.Birth of the town of Saint-François (circa 1680)
Around 1680 on the right bank of the the Capuchins built a chapel dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi where the present Guadeloupe Cathedral is located and a second centre of population grew around this place of worship. The River of Herbs separated the two distinct villages: Basse-Terre and Saint Francis. In reality, people flocked to the new town because of raids by English privateers who burned the town of Basse-Terre in 1691 and again in 1703. Following these raids the people thought that the fort was attracting foreign privateers and consequently moved to Saint Francis. A stone bridge was built in 1739 replacing a ford and a wooden bridge across the river of Herbs.British occupation (1759–1763) and tentative revival (1763–1789)
On 23 January 1759, a British expeditionary force captured the island. Guadeloupe was occupied by the British until 10 February 1763, when it was returned to France in the Treaty of Paris. Basse-Terre experienced a resurgence of activity despite the founding of Pointe-à-Pitre in 1764 – a town in a better position to receive the ocean swell – and despite a fire in September 1782. The town was partially redesigned around 1787.Revolutionary period (1789–1802)
The French Revolution reached the island and therefore Basse-Terre in September 1789. In 1793, counter-revolutionary planters agreed to cede the island to the British. They captured Guadeloupe, then governed by Victor Collot, on 22 April 1794 and appointed Thomas Dundas as the new governor. As early as May 1794, Victor Hugues, sent by the National Convention in Paris, managed to recapture the colony and abolish slavery. The French dislodged the cannon in December 1794 and installed a guillotine. The city was the scene of military operations conducted by General Richepanse, who was sent by Napoleon to reestablish slavery, against Louis Delgrès in 1802. Delgrès retreated to the fort on 20 May 1802 and abandoned it on 22 May.Difficult renewal (1802–1870)
The town was occupied from 6 February 1810 to 30 May 1814 and again from 10 August 1815 to July 1816. For over 20 years Basse-Terre suffered from the effects of these disturbances. Only after four hurricanes did Basse-Terre think of rehabilitating the construction and development of the Champ d'Arbaud by building a Military Hospital, a bishopric, sanitation, and expansion of the city by creating new neighbourhoods such as Trianon, Versailles, Petite Guinée, and Petit-Paris but the situation remained unchanged, worsened more by a cholera epidemic in 1865.Renewed activity (1870–1976)
From 1870 the commune began to recover and inaugurated its town hall in 1899. It was the first city in Guadeloupe to be electrified in 1913. The impetus came from Ali Tur, who arrived after the cyclone of September 1928 and built the courthouse, the General Council, and a market in the 1930s. A port was built from 1961 to 1964, the boulevard was built in 1962 to serve the port: it was extended in 1964 and again in 1965 along what was once a pebble and black sand beach that ran along the coast. On 26 November 1970, 1.5 inches of rain fell in a minute, the heaviest ever recorded. Cyclonic conditions repeatedly ravaged the development of this boulevard in 1989 with Hurricane Hugo and Hurricane Marilyn in 1995, Hurricane Lenny in 1999, and Hurricane Omar in 2008.Since 1976
In 1976 73,600 inhabitants of Guadeloupe were evacuated due to the high activity of the Soufrière volcano. Some evacuees never returned and moved to Jarry. For 20 years, the town centre was depopulated in favour of peri-urban areas or neighbouring towns such Baillif, Saint-Claude, and Gourbeyre despite attempts at renewal.Heraldry
Administration
List of Successive Mayors| From | To | Name |
| 1790 | 1792 | Jean Baptiste Louis Thirus de Pautrizel |
| 1792 | La Graët | |
| 1821 | 1829 | Baudet |
| 1831 | 1837 | DuperronN |
| 1837 | 1843 | Jean Rémi Terrail |
| 1843 | 1846 | Charles Le Dentu |
| 1847 | 1848 | Aristide Lignières |
| 1848 | 1848 | J. L. Rousseau |
| 1848 | 1848 | Lomont Bernard |
| 1848 | 1850 | P. H. Laurichesse |
| 1850 | 1850 | Pothonier |
| 1850 | 1852 | P. H. Laurichesse |
| 1853 | 1854 | Puech |
| 1854 | 1863 | Rullier |
| 1863 | 1869 | A. Eggimann |
| 1869 | 1871 | Aristide Lignères |
| 1871 | 1876 | Emile Le Dentu |
| 1876 | 1883 | Richard Jean-Romain |
| 1883 | 1884 | Hildebert Bernus |
| 1884 | 1888 | Auguste Silvie |
| 1888 | 1893 | Hildebert Bernus |
| 1893 | 1894 | J. Cascon |
| 1897 | 1902 | Wilfrid Montout |
| 1897 | 1900 | Delmance Demonchy |
| 1911 | 1925 | Arnaud Lignières |
| 1925 | 1933 | Georges Favreau |
| 1933 | 1938 | Maurice Marie-Claire |
| 1938 | 1944 | Maurice Martin |
;Mayors from 1945
| From | To | Name | Party | Position |
| 1945 | 1951 | Joseph Pitat | Doctor, President of the General Council 1945–1949 | |
| 1951 | 1953 | Annibal Waneybergue | Retired | |
| 1953 | 1959 | Élie Chauffrein | PCF | |
| 1959 | 1971 | Gaston Feuillard | Lawyer, MP 1958–1973 | |
| 1971 | 1995 | Jérôme Cléry | PCG | Doctor |
| 1995 | 2001 | Lucette Michaux-Chevry | RPR | Lawyer, President of the Regional Council 1992–2004, Senator 1995–2011 |
| 2001 | 2001 | Pierre Martin | DVD | |
| 2001 | 2008 | Guy Georges | DVD | Merchant |
| 2008 | 2014 | Lucette Michaux-Chevry | UMP | Lawyer, former Minister, Senator |
| 2014 | 2020 | Marie-Luce Penchard | UMP | Territorial Administrator, former Minister |
| 2020 | 2026 | André Atallah |