About the Antilles and French Guiana
History
The history of the French Antilles and French Guiana spans many centuries:
- 130 CE: The first Arawaks are believed to have arrived in Martinique from South America.
- 295 CE: an eruption of Mount Pelée resulted in the decimation of the Martinique's population.
- 300 CE: The earliest settlers arrived on the Island of Guadeloupe and developed agriculture on the island.
- 400 CE: The Arawaks returned to Martinique and repopulated the island.
- 600 CE: The Caribs arrived in Martinique, exterminating the Arawaks and proceeded to settle on the island for the next few centuries.
- French Guiana: Before the first Europeans arrived, there was no written history in the territory of French Guiana. It was originally inhabited by a number of Native American peoples, among them the Carib, Arawak, Emerillon, Galibi, Palikour, Wayampi (also known as Oyampi) and Wayana.
- 1493: Columbus is the first European to arrive in the islands that are now the French Antilles.
- 1604: The French establish their first settlement in the area that is now French Guiana.
- 1635: The French establish their first settlements on the islands of the Antilles, and hostilities with the indigenous inhabitants escalate.
- 17th Century: The territories comprising the French Antilles and French Guiana become French colonies characterized by large settler plantations and African slave labor. Control over French Guiana changes several times between France, Britain, the Netherlands, and Brazil.
- 1848: France abolishes slavery and the liberated slaves in the French Caribbean colonies become a free labor force, though they remain exploited and land-less.
- 1915: France gains final domination over Guiana.
- 1946: The French Caribbean colonies become overseas departments with little autonomy over their own affairs. France highly subsidizes the CDF throughout the post-war period and the economies remain dependent on France for aid and transfers to this day.
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Martinique
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Guadeloupe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_French_Guiana
http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com
Art and Culture
Music
Today the popular music of the French Antilles, known broadly as zouk, is a reflection of a blend of cultures throughout the region's history. Zouk (a French Creole word meaning "party") has become one of the most important contemporary pop innovations, achieving international popularity since its emergence in the 1980s. Borrowing from local genres such as cadence (also kadans), biguine, quadrille and the roots traditions of the islands, zouk began as the creative expression of Jacob Desvarieux and Pierre Eduard Decimus, two extraordinary musicians from Guadeloupe who had settled in Paris and founded the seminal band Kassav', featuring the dynamic singer Jocelyn Beroard. Their music was equally informed by influences from European, American, Caribbean and African pop styles—heavy-metal guitar, funk and soul, Congolese soukous and a variety of Latin rhythms—as well as the electronic studio-engineering techniques of the period.
Poetry
Aimé Césaire
A Selected Bibliography: Poetry
- Cahier d'un retour au pays natal (1939)
- Armes miraculeuses (1946)
- Aime Cesaire, The Collected Poetry, Clayton Eshleman (Translator), (University of California Press, 1983)
- Notebook of a Return to the Native Land, Clayton Eshleman (Translator), (Wesleyan Poetry, 2001)
Léon Damas
- Pigments. Paris: Guy Lévis Mano, (1937). Paris: Présence Africaine, (1962)
- Poèmes nègres sur des airs Africains. Paris: Guy Lévis Mano, (1948)
- Graffiti. Paris: Seghers, (1952)
- Black-Label. Paris: Gallimard, (1956)
- Névralgies. Paris: Présence Africaine, (1966)
- Veillées noires. Ottawa: Leméac, (1972)
Film
Francophone films from the Antilles are similar in many respects to their African counterparts. Euzhan Palcy’s Rue cases nègres recounts with style and grace the coming-of-age experiences of José during the early 1930’s in colonial Martinique. Euzhan Palcy is not the only Antillean film director to achieve success. Christian Lara of Guadaloupe is the most prolific of the Antillean directors with some 10 films to his credit. His films include, among others, Adieu foulard, Vivre libre ou mourir, and, more recently, Sucre amer.
From: http://www.frenchteachers.org/bulletin/articles/culture/francocinema.pdf
Climate
- The climate is tropical as in the Caribbean islands but Martinique is divided into two different areas. South is dry and north is greener with rain forest and mountains. The weather is hot and sunny with as “colder” and rainier season from June to September. The average temperature for the island is 25˚C.
- With a tropical climate the island of Guadeloupe has a hot and sunny weather with regular rain falls. The part named Basse-Terre with its volcanic landscape is greener and cooler as you go up than the other part of the island: Grande-Terre. The average temperature for the island is 28˚C.
- Martinique and Guadeloupe are located along most tropical storm and hurricane paths from late summer to early November.
- The climate of French Guiana is equatorial, warm and humid with little change in temperatures during the year, the annual average is 27°C, the average minimum temperatures remain stable throughout the year at around 23°C, while average maximum temperatures range between 29°C and 33°C. The dry season is during the months from August to November, while the rainy season is between December and July, with May the rainiest month.