Martinique
MARTINIQUE
An overseas department of France located on the island of the same name in the Caribbean Sea, in the Lesser Antilles archipelago between North and South America. Area - 1.1 thousand km². The administrative center is Fort-de-France (94 thousand).
Administrative-territorial division - 2 districts. Population - 393 thousand (2004), mainly people of African descent and mulattos. The official language is French, but the local Creole language is widely spoken.
The predominant religion is Catholicism. The currency is the euro.
National holiday - July 14 - Bastille Day.
In administrative and political terms, it is an overseas department (since 1946) and simultaneously a region (since 1982) of France. In Martinique, as in any other French department, there is a body of the French government - the prefecture, as well as local self-government bodies: the General Council (departmental body - 45 members) and the Regional Council (regional body - 41 members). These councils are elected for 6 years by universal direct voting. The Regional Council, formed under the French law on administrative decentralization, is granted broader powers than the General Council in addressing local economic and administrative issues. Martinique is represented in the French Parliament by 4 deputies and 2 senators.
Local branches of political parties from France operate: Union for a Popular Movement, Union for French Democracy, French Socialist Party, as well as the Socialist Federation of Martinique, Martinican Socialist Party, Martinican Communist Party, Union for the Renewal of Martinique, Movement for Independent Martinique, Union of Martinican Democrats, National Council of People's Committees, Movement of Martinican Liberals, Martinican Force, Workers' Struggle, Revolutionary Socialist Group, Martinican Forces of Progress, Movement of Democrats and Ecologists for Sovereign Martinique.
The largest trade union is the General Confederation of Labor of Martinique.
Christopher Columbus first saw Martinique in 1502. Colonization of the island by France began in 1635. Officially French possession since 1674. Throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries, the island changed hands under British control three times. In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was populated by slaves brought from Africa. Slavery was abolished in 1848.
GDP per capita (2002) - $19,910. Agriculture accounts for 6%, industry - 11%, services - 83%
GDP. Unemployment (2003) - over 38,500 people.
Expenditure and revenue parts of the budget (2003) - 255.3 million euros each.
Main agricultural crops: sugar cane (about 240 thousand tons per year), bananas (307 thousand tons per year), as well as pineapples, melons, avocados, etc. Livestock (thousands of heads, 2002): cattle - 24, sheep - 34, pigs - 19.7, goats - 13.2. In 2003, the fish catch amounted to 5.5 thousand tons.
There are enterprises for processing raw sugar (in 2001 - 5.8 thousand tons) and rum production (91.2 thousand hectoliters in 2001). Cement and oil refining plants operate. There are small enterprises for metalworking, textile production, plastics, and printing products. Cement production - 234 thousand tons (2000). Electricity consumption - 1,156 million kWh (2000), energy carriers - 661 thousand tons.
In 2001, the island was visited by 756 thousand tourists. Tourism revenues in 2002 amounted to 213 million euros.
In 2002, exports amounted to 325 million euros (agricultural products, bananas, rum, oil products), imports - 1.9 billion euros (machines, machinery products, chemical industry products, fuel). Main trading partners: the metropolis, Germany, the United Kingdom, Venezuela, Guyana, Guadeloupe.
The length of roads is 2,105 km.
There is a local branch of the University of "Antilles-Guyane" (faculties of economics and law, philology and humanities, medicine), a pedagogical college.
Several periodicals are published, including the daily newspaper "France-Antilles" (75 thousand copies). Radio and television broadcasts are conducted by the company "Réseau France Outre-Mer" and the channel "France Ô".
