Martinique

Martinique

France is the country from which the language of French is said to be originated from and is a pioneer in the French-speaking world. France has a long history and was formed over 2,000 years ago, but besides the big country of France in Europe; the French people took to conquering other lands during the Age of Exploration. It was during these times that France conquered some lands in the continent now known as North America including Canada and some parts of the United States, and also some islands in the Caribbean. Of the islands conquered Martinique is one of the French-speaking islands of France.

This island is part of the West Indies and lies between the 61 degrees West longitude line and the 14 degrees with 30 minutes North latitude line. The island of Martinique has an oval shape and covers approximately 425 square miles of land which is about 1,100 square kilometers. Among the island there are many volcanic mountains with its highest and most famous being Mount PelÐ"©e. This mountain rises 4,583 feet which is 1, 397 meters. This volcano suddenly erupted in 1902 and destroyed the city of St. Pierre killing approximately 28,000 people with only one survivor. Ironically enough, this survivor was a prisoner, Ludger Sylbaris, sentenced to death in accusation of murder, in a local prison in a windowless cell with only one door facing away from the volcano. He later joined Barnum and Bailey's circus touring America as a minor celebrity as "the man who lived through Doomsday" and becoming the first black man to star in the segregated show.

The island was discovered in 1502 when Christopher Columbus reached it on his fourth voyage. However, it wasn't until 1635 that the French commenced to colonize the island. The capital of Martinique is Fort-de-France which translates into "extremely of France" was made in 1692, but was originally called Fort Royal. The first wife of Napoleon the first, Empress Josephine, was in fact born on the island at Trois-Ilets. In 1946 Martinique was made into and overseas department or an administrative district by the French. Then in 1958 Martinique elected to continue being a department and is governed by a general council which is chosen by the people of the island. However, in 1974 Martinique was recognized as being a region of France and therefore it has a regional council in control of social and economic planning and sends representatives to the French Parliament.

The population of the island includes about 392,000 people of which ninety percent are of an African descent and the rest are of European ancestry mainly of France. Martinique is an island very rich in culture from its diverse foods, its wonderful climate, tourist attractions, places with historical interest, some famous sites, and its cities. As for the culinary interests of the island there are many types of dishes offered which includes both French and Creole (a mix of African, Indian, European, and Caribbean flavors) cuisine. For example, to a typical French dish there may be some additives such as local fruits and vegetables such as guava, sourson, cassava, christo-phine, breadfruit, okra, and plantain, which make the dishes more exotic.

Overall, on every menu the main dish is the fish as daily specialties which tends to differ according to the morning's catch. The varying types of fishes include the red snapper, kingfish, sunfish, soudons (small clams), z'habitants or cribiches (fresh water crayfish), lambi (conch), oursin (sea urchin), and langouste (clawless Caribbean lobster). These fishes are prepared in a lightly seasoned French style, in a Creole style with piquant spices and herbs, or in a combination of the two. One of the highly recommended places is La Cave Ð"ÐŽ Vin at 118 rue Victor Hugo whose dishes include Southwestern French foie gras, Petrossian caviar, duck, truffled chicken, entrecote bordelaise, etc, with the finest in grands vins de Bordeaux and other famous wines from France.

Martinique has a sunny climate along with beautiful scenery allowing many crops to be grown there. Some crops that are harvested are sugar cane being the main crop, bananas, cotton, pineapples, and tobacco, other industries are rum distilling and petroleum refining. Some tourist attractions to really look into are the botanical region of the North, the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur de Balata, the Jardin de Balata, the MusÐ"©e de Saint-Pierre, the Levritz Plantation, the Saint-James Rum Museum, the Seaquarium, the MusÐ"©e de la Pagarie and Sugar Cane Museum at Trois-Ilets, La Mauny distillery at RiviÐ"Ёre Pilote, and of course all its beautiful beaches. Some places with historical interest include Mount PelÐ"©e, the jail house in which the only survivor of Mount PelÐ"©e's eruption was imprisoned.

Martinique's towns and villages are broken down into three sections: the North, Fort-de-France, and the South. The North includes Schoelcher- where the university campus is located, Case-Pilote- the 17th century church in Jesuit and rococo style and the oldest in the island, Bellefontaine- a tiny village on the cliff's edge where the fisherman use a net called a "Senne", Morne-Vert- having a view of the peaks of Mont PelÐ"©e and Carbet, Le Carbet- which contains the Bally distillery and the Gauguin Museum, Fonds Saint-Denis- dominated by the Morne-des-Cadets containing an observatory watching over Mont PelÐ"©e, Saint-Pierre- with the Franck Perret Museum of Volcanology from the destruction of Mont PelÐ"©e, Le Precheur- with the Ceron Plantation, hot volcanic springs and