| Christopher Columbus
first landed on the island of Guadeloupe on November 3, 1493, and named
it for the monastery of Santa Maria de Guadelupe in Extremadura, Spain.
Colonists of the French Company of the Islands of America established settlements
in 1635, and gradually conquered the indigenous Carib people. After the
failure of four chartered companies to colonize the island permanently,
it was annexed by France in 1674 and made a dependency of Martinique. During
the latter half of the 17th century the French colonists resisted a series
of attacks by the British, who finally captured the island in 1759, retaining
it until 1763, when it again passed to France. In 1775 Guadeloupe and Martinique
became separate colonies. The British repossessed Guadeloupe in 1794 and
again in 1810, the latter occupation lasting for six years. Slavery was
abolished in 1848. Guadeloupe was made an overseas department of France
in 1946. A movement for independence was active in the 1980s; following
a series of bombings in 1984, French authorities outlawed the Caribbean
Revolutionary Alliance, a militant autonomist organization. |