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Guadeloupe is an overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and two Îles des Saintes—as well as many uninhabited islands and outcroppings. It is south of Antigua and Barbuda and Montserrat and north of Dominica. The capital city is Basse-Terre, on the southern west coast of Basse-Terre Island; the most populous city is Les Abymes and the main centre of business is neighbouring Pointe-à-Pitre, both on Grande-Terre Island. It had a population of 395,726 in 2024.
Like the other overseas departments, it is an integral part of France. As a constituent territory of the European Union and the eurozone, the euro is its official currency and any European Union citizen is free to settle and work there indefinitely, but is not part of the Schengen Area. It included Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin until 2007, when they were detached from Guadeloupe following a 2003 referendum.
Christopher Columbus visited Guadeloupe in 1493 and gave the island its name. The official language is French; Antillean Creole is also spoken.
Christopher Columbus named the island Santa María de Guadalupe in 1493 after Our Lady of Guadalupe, a shrine to the Virgin Mary venerated in the Spanish town of Guadalupe, Extremadura. When the area became a French colony, the Spanish name was retained – though altered to French orthography and French phonology. The islands are locally known as Gwada.
The French Revolution brought chaos to Guadeloupe. Under new revolutionary law, freedmen were entitled to equal rights. Taking advantage of the chaotic political situation, Britain captured Guadeloupe in 1794. The French responded by sending an expeditionary force under Victor Hugues, which retook the colony by December and abolished slavery. More than 1,000 French colonists were killed in the aftermath.
In 1802, a French expeditionary force under Antoine Richepanse arrived in Guadeloupe, prompting a rebellion led by Black officers who had until then been the de facto rulers of the colony. Richepanse and his troops acted quickly against the rebels, culminating in the Battle of Matouba on 28 May 1802. Realising they had no chance of success, Louis Delgrès and his followers committed mass suicide by deliberately exploding their gunpowder stores. A consular decree published on 6 July 1802 discreetly ordered the reestablishment of slavery in Guadeloupe. An insurgency against the French, who officially reestablished slavery in Guadeloupe on 14 May 1803, continued until 1804. In 1810, the British captured the island again, handing it over to Sweden under the 1813 Treaty of Stockholm.
In the 1814 Treaty of Paris, Sweden ceded Guadeloupe to France, giving rise to the Guadeloupe Fund. In 1815, the Treaty of Vienna acknowledged French control of Guadeloupe.
Slavery was abolished in the French Empire in 1848. After 1854, indentured labourers from the French colony of Pondicherry in India were brought in. Emancipated slaves had the vote from 1849, but French nationality and the vote were not granted to Indian citizens until 1923, when a long campaign, led by Henry Sidambarom, finally achieved success.
Accessed 9 May 2025 During World War II, Guadeloupe initially came under the control of the Vichy government, later joining Free France in 1943. In 1946, the colony of Guadeloupe became an overseas department of France.
Tensions arose in the post-war era over the social structure of Guadeloupe and its relationship with mainland France. The 'Massacre of St Valentine' occurred in 1952, when striking factory workers in Le Moule were shot at by the Compagnies républicaines de sécurité, resulting in four deaths. In May 1967 racial tensions exploded into rioting following a racist attack on a black Guadeloupean, Raphael Balzinc, resulting in eight deaths.
An independence movement grew in the 1970s, prompting France to declare Guadeloupe a French region in 1974. The Union populaire pour la libération de la Guadeloupe (UPLG) campaigned for complete independence, and by the 1980s the situation had turned violent with the actions of groups such as (GLA) and Alliance révolutionnaire caraïbe (ARC).
Greater autonomy was granted to Guadeloupe in 1982. Through a referendum in 2003, Saint-Martin and Saint Barthélemy voted to separate from the administrative jurisdiction of Guadeloupe, this being fully enacted by 2007.
In January 2009, labour unions and others known as the Liyannaj Kont Pwofitasyon went on strike for more pay." Race, class fuel social conflict on French Caribbean islands ". Agence France-Presse (AFP). 17 February 2009 Strikers were angry with low wages, the high cost of living, high levels of poverty relative to mainland France and levels of unemployment that are amongst the worst in the European Union. The situation quickly escalated, exacerbated by what was seen as an ineffectual response by the French government, turning violent and prompting the deployment of extra police after a union leader (Jacques Bino) was shot and killed. The strike lasted 44 days and had also inspired similar actions on nearby Martinique. President Nicolas Sarkozy later visited the island, promising reform. Sarkozy offers autonomy vote for Martinique , Agence France-Presse Tourism suffered greatly during this time and affected the 2010 tourist season as well.
The two main islands are Basse-Terre (west) and Grande-Terre (east), which form a butterfly shape as viewed from above, the two 'wings' of which are separated by the , Rivière Salée and . More than half of Guadeloupe's land surface consists of the 847.8 km2 Basse-Terre. The island is mountainous, containing the peaks of Mount Sans Toucher () and Grande Découverte (), culminating in the active volcano La Grande Soufrière, the highest mountain peak in the Lesser Antilles with an elevation of . In contrast Grande-Terre is mostly flat, with rocky coasts to the north, irregular hills at the centre, mangrove at the southwest, and white sand beaches sheltered by coral reefs along the southern shore. This is where the main tourist resorts are found.
Marie-Galante is the third-largest island, followed by La Désirade, a north-east slanted limestone plateau, the highest point of which is . To the south lie the Îles de Petite-Terre, which are two islands (Terre de Haut and Terre de Bas) totalling 2 km2.
Les Saintes is an archipelago of eight islands of which two, Terre-de-Bas and Terre-de-Haut are inhabited. The landscape is similar to that of Basse-Terre, with volcanic hills and irregular shoreline with deep bays.
There are numerous other smaller islands.
K–Ar dating indicates that the three northern on Basse-Terre Island are 2.79 million years old. Sections of volcanoes collapsed and eroded within the last 650,000 years, after which the Sans Toucher volcano grew in the collapsed area. Volcanoes in the north of Basse-Terre Island mainly produced andesite and basaltic andesite. There are several beaches of dark or "black" sand.
La Désirade, east of the main islands, has a basement from the Mesozoic, overlaid with thick limestones from the Pliocene to Quaternary periods.
Grande-Terre and Marie-Galante have basements probably composed of volcanic units of Eocene to Oligocene, but there are no visible outcrops. On Grande-Terre, the overlying carbonate platform is 120 metres thick.
In 1989, Hurricane Hugo caused severe damage to the islands of the archipelago and left a deep mark on the memory of the local inhabitants. In 1995, three hurricanes (Iris, Luis and Marilyn) hit the archipelago in less than three weeks. Other notable hurricanes include Okeechobee in 1928, Hurricane Betsy in 1965, Hurricane Cleo in 1964, Hurricane Inez in 1966, and Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Between of altitude, the rainforest that covers a large part of the island of Basse-Terre develops. Vegetation there includes the white gum tree, the acomat-boucan or chestnut tree, the marbri or bois-bandé or the oleander; shrubs and herbaceous plants such as the mountain palm, the balisier or ferns; many epiphytes: bromeliads, philodendrons, orchids and lianas. Above , the humid savannah develops, composed of mosses, , sphagnum or more vigorous plants such as mountain mangrove, high altitude violet or mountain thyme.
The dry forest occupies a large part of the islands of Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, Les Saintes, La Désirade and also develops on the leeward coast of Basse-Terre. The coastal forest is more difficult to develop because of the nature of the soil (sandy, rocky), salinity, sunshine and wind and is the environment where the sea grape, the Hippomane (a very toxic tree whose trunk is marked with a red line), the icaquier or the Coconut tree grow. On the cliffs and in the Arid zones are found cacti such as the cactus-cigar (Cereus), the prickly pear, the chestnut cactus, the "Tête à l'anglais" cactus and the aloes.
The Mangrove forest that borders some of Guadalupe's coasts is structured in three levels, from the closest to the sea to the farthest. On the first level are the red mangroves; on the second, about from the sea, the form the shrubby mangrove; on the third level the white mangroves form the tall mangrove. Behind the mangrove, where the tide and salt do not penetrate, a swamp forest sometimes develops, unique in Guadeloupe. The representative species of this environment is the Mangrove-medaille. can be found throughout the department. | 310x310px]]
However, by studying 43,000 bone remains from six islands in the archipelago, it was found that 50 to 70% of snakes and lizards on the Guadeloupe Islands became extinct after European colonists arrived; they had brought with them mammals such as cats, mongooses, rats, and raccoons, which might have preyed upon the native reptiles.
In addition, the ChlEauTerre study, unveiled in March 2018, concludes that 37 different Climate change molecules (more than half of which come from residues of now-banned pesticides, such as chlordecone) were found in "79% of the watersheds analyzed in Grande-Terre and 84% in Basse-Terre." A report by the Guadeloupe Water Office notes that in 2019 there is a "generalized degradation of water bodies."
Despite everything, there is a will to preserve these environments whose vegetation and landscape are preserved in some parts of the islands and constitute a sensitive asset for tourism. These areas are partially protected and classified as ZNIEFF, sometimes with nature reserve status, and several caves are home to protected chiropterans. The Guadalupe National Park was created on 20 February 1989. In 1992, under the auspices of UNESCO, the Biosphere Reserve of the Guadeloupe Archipelago ( Réserve de biosphère de l'archipel de la Guadeloupe) was created. As a result, on 8 December 1993, the marine site of Grand Cul-de-sac was listed as a wetland of international importance. The island thus became the overseas department with the most .
The 1843 earthquake in the Lesser Antilles is, to this day, the most violent earthquake known. It caused the death of more than a thousand people, as well as major damage in Pointe-à-Pitre.
On 21 November 2004, the islands of the department, in particular Les Saintes archipelago, were shaken by a violent earthquake that reached a magnitude of 6.3 on the Richter scale and caused the death of one person, as well as extensive material damage.
The population of Guadeloupe has been decreasing by 0.8% per year since 2013. In 2017 the average population density in Guadeloupe was , which is very high in comparison to metropolitan France's average of . Population en historique depuis 1968: France métropolitaine , INSEE One third of the land is devoted to agriculture and all mountains are uninhabitable; this lack of space and shelter makes the population density even higher.
| Pointe-à-Pitre-Les Abymes | 249,815 |
| Basse-Terre | 50,104 |
| Capesterre-Belle-Eau | 25,362 |
Medical centres in Guadeloupe include: University Hospital Centre (CHU) in Pointe-à-Pitre, Regional Hospital Centre (CHR) in Basse-Terre, and four hospitals located in Capesterre-Belle-Eau, Pointe-Noire, Bouillante and Saint-Claude.
The Institut Pasteur de la Guadeloupe, is located in Pointe-à-Pitre and is responsible for researching environmental hygiene, vaccinations, and the spread of tuberculosis and other mycobacterium.
Between 1963 and 1981, an estimated 16,562 Guadeloupeans emigrated to metropolitan France through Bumidom. And the miniseries Le Rêve français (The French Dream) sets out to recount some of the consequences of the emigration of West Indians and Reunionese to France.
An estimated 50,000 Guadeloupeans and Martinicans participated in the construction of the Panama Canal between 1904 and 1914. In 2014, it was estimated that there were between 60,000 and 70,000 descendants of these West Indians living in Panama. Other waves of migration to North America, especially to Canada, occurred at the beginning of the 20th century.
Guadeloupe elects one deputy from one of each of the first, second, third, and fourth constituencies to the National Assembly of France. Three senators are chosen for the Senate of France by indirect election. For electoral purposes, Guadeloupe is divided into two arrondissements (Basse-Terre and Pointe-à-Pitre), and 21 cantons.
Most of the French political parties are active in Guadeloupe. In addition there are also regional parties such as the Guadeloupe Communist Party, the Progressive Democratic Party of Guadeloupe, the Guadeloupean Objective, the Pluralist Left, and United Guadeloupe, Solidary and Responsible.
The prefecture (regional capital) of Guadeloupe is Basse-Terre. Local services of the state administration are traditionally organised at departmental level, where the prefect represents the government.
| Les Abymes | 81.25 | 53,514 | Pointe-à-Pitre | |
| Anse-Bertrand | 62.5 | 4,001 | Pointe-à-Pitre | |
| Baie-Mahault | 46 | 30,837 | Basse-Terre | |
| Baillif | 24.3 | 5,203 | Basse-Terre | |
| Basse-Terre | 5.78 | 9,861 | Basse-Terre | |
| Bouillante | 43.46 | 6,847 | Basse-Terre | |
| Capesterre-Belle-Eau | 103.3 | 17,741 | Basse-Terre | |
| Capesterre-de-Marie-Galante | 46.19 | 3,298 | Pointe-à-Pitre | |
| Deshaies | 31.1 | 3,998 | Basse-Terre | |
| La Désirade | 21.12 | 1,419 | Pointe-à-Pitre | |
| Le Gosier | 45.2 | 26,489 | Pointe-à-Pitre | |
| Gourbeyre | 22.52 | 7,760 | Basse-Terre | |
| Goyave | 59.91 | 7,621 | Basse-Terre | |
| Grand-Bourg | 55.54 | 4,870 | Pointe-à-Pitre | |
| Lamentin | 65.6 | 16,354 | Basse-Terre | |
| Morne-à-l'Eau | 64.5 | 16,495 | Pointe-à-Pitre | |
| Le Moule | 82.84 | 22,149 | Pointe-à-Pitre | |
| Petit-Bourg | 129.88 | 24,753 | Basse-Terre | |
| Petit-Canal | 72 | 8,203 | Pointe-à-Pitre | |
| Pointe-à-Pitre | 2.66 | 15,181 | Pointe-à-Pitre | |
| Pointe-Noire | 59.7 | 6,031 | Basse-Terre | |
| Port-Louis | 44.24 | 5,618 | Pointe-à-Pitre | |
| Saint-Claude | 34.3 | 10,466 | Basse-Terre | |
| Saint-François | 61 | 11,689 | Pointe-à-Pitre | |
| Saint-Louis | 56.28 | 2,397 | Pointe-à-Pitre | |
| Sainte-Anne | 80.29 | 24,151 | Pointe-à-Pitre | |
| Sainte-Rose | 118.6 | 17,985 | Basse-Terre | |
| Terre-de-Bas | 6.8 | 975 | Basse-Terre | |
| Terre-de-Haut | 6 | 1,519 | Basse-Terre | |
| Trois-Rivières | 31.1 | 7,862 | Basse-Terre | |
| Vieux-Fort | 7.24 | 1,842 | Basse-Terre | |
| Vieux-Habitants | 58.7 | 7,110 | Basse-Terre |
The signing of the Regional Convention for the Internationalisation of Enterprise (CRIE), membership of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and membership of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) are milestones that have enabled Guadeloupe to develop its bilateral or multilateral relations within the framework of international agreements or institutions. The development of bilateral and multilateral economic partnerships with other Caribbean and American states is based on the modernisation of the autonomous port of Guadeloupe and the importance of the Guadeloupe-Polo Caribe international airport.
In 2017, the Gross domestic product (GDP) of Guadeloupe was €9.079 billion, and showed 3.4% growth. The GDP per capita of Guadeloupe was €23,152. Imports amounted to €3.019 billion, and exports to €1.157 billion. The main export products are bananas, sugar and rum. Banana exports suffered in 2017 from damages due to Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria.
Guadeloupean Creole emerged as a result of the need for all ethnic groups (French, African and Amerindian) to be able to understand each other. This language is therefore the result of a mixture created in the 17th century in response to a communicative emergency. At the time of the colony's foundation, a majority of the French population did not speak the standard French language but local dialects and languages, such as Breton language and Norman language, while the Africans came from a variety of West and Central African ethnic groups and lacked a common language themselves. The Creole language emerged as a lingua franca and ultimately became the native language of much of the population.
Moreover, Terre-de-Haut and Terre-de-Bas, in the Saintes archipelago, due to their settlement history (Breton, Norman and Poitevin settlers), have their own Creoles which differ from Guadeloupean Creole by their French pronunciations, their particular expressions, their syntax and their sonorities. Although it is not transcribed, these islanders call their Creole "patois" or "language of St. Martin" and actively ensure its transmission and perpetuation by their descendants in vernacular form. A Guadeloupean béké first wrote Creole at the end of the 17th century, transcribing it using French orthography.
As Guadeloupe is a French department, French is the official language. However, Guadeloupean French (in contact with Creole) has certain linguistic characteristics that differ from those of standard metropolitan French. Recently, a very detailed study of the phonetic aspect of Guadeloupean French has been undertaken (this would be the first study to deal with both the acoustic and the phonological and perceptual aspects of Guadeloupean French in particular and West Indian French in general). It is also concerned with the reading varieties of Guadeloupean French (acrolect, mesolect and basilect).
In recent decades there has been a revival of Creole, which has stimulated the appearance of books of short stories and poetry published in Creole and French over the last ten years. In this context, Hector Poullet is a pioneer of Creole-mediated dictation. Creole is also a very colourful language and very philosophical in its expressions and phrases, which, translated literally into French, can be confusing. The representatives of the older generations are not always fluent in French, but in Guadeloupean Creole.
Today, the question as to whether French and Creole are stable in Guadeloupe, i.e. whether both languages are practiced widely and competently throughout society, remains a subject of active research.Manahan, Kathe. Diglossia Reconsidered: Language Choice and Code-Switching in Guadeloupean Voluntary Organizations, Kathe Manahan Texas Linguistic Forum. 47: 251–261, Austin, TX. 2004
In 1685, the Code Noir announced the Christianity in its Catholic Church as the only authorized religion in the French West Indies, thus excluding Jews and the various Protestant groups from practicing their beliefs, and imposed the forced conversion of the newly arrived slaves and the baptism of the older ones. Guadeloupe adopted the code on 10 December 1685.
This was followed by a rapid fashion among the slaves, since this religion offered them a spiritual refuge and allowed them to safeguard some of their African beliefs and customs, thus marking the beginning of a religious syncretism. Since the 1970s, new religions and groups have been 'competing' with the Catholic Church, such as the Pentecostalism, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Bible Students or Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons).
Administratively, the territory of Guadeloupe is part of the Diocese of Basse-Terre and Pointe-à-Pitre, attached to the Catholic Church in France. The diocese includes the territories of Guadeloupe, St. Barthélemy and St. Martin and the number of faithful is estimated at 400,000. In 2020 there were 59 priests active in the diocese. The episcopal see is located in Basse-Terre, in the cathedral of Notre-Dame-de-Guadeloupe.
Hinduism, which accompanied the Indians who came to work in Guadeloupe in the mid-19th century, has expanded since the 1980s. The Indian community has its own tradition that comes from India. It is the mayé men, a distorted pronunciation of the name of the Tamil Indian goddess Mariamman. There are no less than 400 temples in the archipelago.
Islam was first Institutionalized in the French West Indies by the 1970s, first in Martinique. According to the president of the Muslim association of Guadeloupe, there are between 2,500 and 3,000 Muslims in the department. The island has two mosques. Judaism has been present in Guadeloupe since the arrival of Dutch settlers expelled from the northeast of present-day Brazil in 1654. There is a synagogue and an Israelite cultural community. Guadeloupeans of Syrian and Lebanese origin practice Catholicism in its Maronite Church form. Rastafari has been attractive to some young people since the 1970s following its emergence in Jamaica. The quimbois or kenbwa, practiced in Guadeloupe, refer to magical-religious practices derived from Christian and African syncretism.
Traditional Guadeloupean music includes biguine, Cadence rampa, cadence-lypso, and gwo ka. Popular music artists and bands such as Experience 7, Francky Vincent, Kassav' (which included Patrick St-Eloi, and Gilles Floro) embody the more traditional music styles of the island, whilst other musical artists such as the punk band The Bolokos or Tom Frager focus on more international genres such as rock or reggae. Many international festivals take place in Guadeloupe, such as the Creole Blues Festival on Marie-Galante. All the Euro-French forms of art are also ubiquitous, enriched by other communities from Brazil, Dominican Republic, Haiti, India, Lebanon, Syria who have migrated to the islands.
Classical music has seen a resurgent interest in Guadeloupe. One of the first known composers of African origin was born in Guadeloupe, Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a contemporary of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and a celebrated figure in Guadeloupe. Several monuments and cites are dedicated to Saint-Georges in Guadeloupe, and there is an annual music festival, Festival International de Musique Saint-Georges, dedicated in his honour. The festival attracts classical musicians from all over the world and is one of the largest classical music festivals in the Caribbean. element of Guadeloupean culture is its dress. A few women (particularly of the older generation) wear a unique style of traditional dress, with many layers of colourful fabric, now only worn on special occasions. On festive occasions they also wore a madras (originally a "kerchief" from South India) headscarf tied in many different symbolic ways, each with a different name. The headdress could be tied in the "bat" style, or the "firefighter" style, as well as the "Guadeloupean woman". Jewellery, mainly gold, is also important in the Guadeloupean lady's dress, a product of European, African and Indian inspiration.
The clothing worn in Guadeloupe has mutated over the centuries and has undergone changes that reflect the social conditions and the evolution of society, from the time of slavery to the present day. During the second half of the 17th century, slaves arriving in Guadeloupe were naked or nearly Nudity. They were then forced to wear rags or the owner's worn-out clothes, which were quickly discarded, barely concealing their nakedness. Or slaves working in the fields wore the "three-hole" dress, made of a vegetable fiber fabric in which three holes were made (two for the arms and one for the head). Under pressure from the church and the authorities, slaves were forced to wear the "three-hole" dress.
Under pressure from the church and as soon as the Code Noir was enforced in 1685, owners were required to provide "each slave with two suits of cloth or four alders about of cloth a year... art.25" which only modestly improved their conditions. However, the poor quality of the clothing worn during slavery must be qualified, as it could vary according to the day of the week (daily clothing, Sunday clothing, clothing for special occasions), or according to the status of the slaves employed in the houses.
In fact, the latter could be dressed in clothes of different quality according to the job they performed on the property. For example, in the case of the maids, their clothes could be of better quality because they had to reflect the image of success and wealth that their master wanted to project.
From the 17th century onwards, the development of the Creole peoples costume coincided with the desire of slave women to regain their dignity, with the evolution of their employment within the household or Guadeloupean society (specialization in the sewing and dressmaking trades), with the evolution of Guadeloupean society (free women of colour, freed slaves, mulatto women) and with the influence of the European fashionable costume, which the housewife represented.
After the abolition of slavery, the main periods of traditional Guadeloupean dress were the following:
As a result of this fusion of African and European dress codes over the centuries, including materials from distant origins, the Guadeloupean wardrobe includes Creole garments such as: the cozy dress or wòb ti-do, an everyday dress also called "à corps" because it fits the body like a corset; the skirt-shirt, in ceremonial dress (the shirt is made of very fine batiste trimmed with lace, which stops at the elbows and is buttoned with golden buttons. The skirt, full and very wide in the back with tail, is knotted above the breasts); the bodice dress which is distinguished from the others by the quantity and richness of the fabric used (satin, brocade satin, satin).
The sea and rivers provide rays, snappers, octopus (chatou), lambis, burgots (a type of large whelk), sea urchins and ouassous. Orchards provide fruits such as soursop, red jambosier, passion fruit (marakoudja), mango, quenette, and citrus. Condiments sometimes added to dishes are habanero chili, cive (a kind of onion from the country) or roucou seeds that give a red tint to sauces.
The cooking, often Pungency and seasoned, results from soaking meat or fish for hours before cooking, to enhance its flavour. Typical dishes are: fish blaff, dombrés, bébélé (from Marie-Galante), colombo (equivalent to Indian curry) and matété (rice cooked with crab). As for appetizers or snacks, there are morcillas criollas, accras, cassava cakes and bokit.
As for desserts, there are blancmange, sorbets or various fruit salads. Pastries include pâtés with jam, tournament d'amour (in Les Saintes), caca bœuf (in Marie-Galante) or sacristain. Pain natté, a local brioche bread, is often eaten.
There are local productions of candied fruits (elderberry, pineapple, carambola) and jams (guava, banana, coconut). Sorbets such as coconut sherbet or snowball made with crushed ice to which a syrup (mint, grenadine) is added are also consumed. Sweets include coconut sugar, kilibibi and konkada (of Beninese origin). the category of Drink, the consumption of soft drinks is very important in Guadeloupe, as well as that of a drink locally nicknamed black beer. In addition, it is not uncommon to see vendors of sugar cane juice or coconut water on the roads. Chaudeau is consumed on special occasions (weddings, baptisms, communions) and is a Guadeloupean-style eggnog eaten with a whipped cake (génoise). The rum, whose consumption is culturally imbricated in the Guadeloupean society, comes in particular from one of the ten distilleries distributed in the Guadeloupean territory and that produce the rums of Guadeloupe.
Shrove Tuesday is the big party where carnival groups compete in the main town, Basse-Terre, or in Pointe-à-Pitre, for the best costumes, the best music or the best choreography whose theme is imposed by the carnival committees. The next day, on Ash Wednesday, the day that ends the carnival, the mascot king of the carnival nicknamed Vaval is burned, which signals the end of the festivities, everyone parades in black and white (to mark Vaval's mourning), and then the forty days of Lent begin. Most of the population is Catholic Church and respects this period. But, given the great fondness for festivities, on the "Thursday of Lent" a parade is organized in red and black identical to that of Carnival, with groups of musicians preceded by people parading.
After this period of deprivation, the Easter celebrations take place, during which families usually go camping on the beach and eat traditional and very popular dishes based on crabs: matété (rice cooked with crab), calalou (crabs with wooden leaves accompanied by white rice) or dombrés with crabs (small balls of flour cooked with crab).
The Guadeloupe football team were 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup semi-finalists, defeated by Mexico.
Basketball is popular. Best known players are the NBA players Rudy Gobert, Mickaël Piétrus, Johan Petro, Rodrigue Beaubois, and Mickael Gelabale (now playing in Russia), who were born on the island.
Several track and field athletes, such as Marie-José Pérec, Patricia Girard-Léno, Christine Arron, and Wilhem Belocian, are also Guadeloupe natives.
The island has produced many world-class fencing. Yannick Borel, Daniel Jérent, Ysaora Thibus, Anita Blaze, Enzo Lefort and Laura Flessel were all born and raised in Guadeloupe. According to Olympic gold medalist and world champion Yannick Borel, there is a good fencing school and a culture of fencing in Guadeloupe.
Even though Guadeloupe is part of France, it has its own sports teams. Rugby union is a small but rapidly growing sport in Guadeloupe. The island is internationally known for hosting the Karujet Race – Jet Ski World Championship since 1998. This nine-stage, four-day event attracts competitors from around the world (mostly Caribbeans, Americans, and Europeans). The Karujet, generally made up of seven races around the island, has an established reputation as one of the most difficult championships in which to compete.
The Route du Rhum is one of the most prominent nautical French sporting events, occurring every four years.
Bodybuilder Serge Nubret was born in Anse-Bertrand, Grande-Terre, representing the French state in various bodybuilding competitions throughout the 1960s and 1970s including the IFBB's Mr. Olympia contest, taking 3rd place every year from 1972 to 1974, and 2nd place in 1975. Bodybuilder Marie Mahabir also hails from Guadeloupe.
The country has a passion for cycling. It hosted the French Cycling Championships in 2009 and continues to host the Tour de Guadeloupe every year.
Guadeloupe continues to host the Orange Open de Guadeloupe tennis tournament (since 2011).
The Tour of Guadeloupe sailing, which was founded in 1981.
In Boxing, Ludovic Proto – as an amateur, he competed in the 1988 Summer Olympics in the men's light welterweight division. As a professional, he was a former French and European welterweight champion;
Gilbert Delé – as a professional, he was a former French and European light-middleweight champion, then he won the WBA world light-middleweight title in 1991;
Jean-Marc Mormeck – as a professional, he was a former French light heavyweight champion and two-time unified world cruiserweight champion—held the WBA, WBC, and The Ring titles twice between 2005 and 2007.
On 9 September 2013 the county government voted in favour of constructing a tramway in Pointe-à-Pitre. The first phase will link northern Les Abymes to downtown Pointe-à-Pitre by 2019. The second phase, scheduled for completion in 2023, will extend the line to serve the university.
During the 2018–2019 school year were enrolled at Guadeloupe Academy:
The islands of Guadeloupe are also home to two campuses of the University of the French Antilles, Camp-Jacob in Saint-Claude and Fouillole in Pointe-à-Pitre, the latter being the headquarters of the institution. Student residences are located around each campus. Furthermore, a satellite campus dedicated to healthcare is located in the vicinity of the , many schools for apprentices are located throughout the archipelago, an Arts and Crafts Centre acting as local school for fine art is located in Bergevin, Pointe-à-Pitre, and, finally, three sites of the regional second chance school are implanted in various high schools.
For example, the Albioma Caraïbes (AC) coal-fired power plant will be converted to biomass to help increase the share of Renewable energy in Guadeloupe's energy mix from 20.5% to 35%, thereby mitigating the island's dependence on fossil fuels and reducing acidic air pollution and the production of toxic and bottom ash.
This 34 MW power plant, producing 260 GWh/year of electricity in 2018 (i.e. 15% of the island's needs), should reduce 265 000 t of Carbon dioxide equivalent/year throughout the chain (−87% once converted to biomass compared to the previous situation, coal).
Guadeloupe has an electricity production plant, in Le Moule, based on the sugar cane agricultural sector, which recovers the residues from sugar cane crushing (bagasse) to produce energy; 12 wind farms, such as in Désirade, Le Moule or Marie-Galante; a geothermal power plant in Bouillante, which uses the energy of water vapor produced by volcanic activity (the plant's electricity production ranks it first nationally); a project to harness the energy of waves and ocean currents; photovoltaic installations that contribute to the operation of solar water heaters for homes and to the development of the electric vehicle sector.
Electricity produced by hydropower, which represents 2.2% of total production, comes from dams built on the beds of certain rivers.
Access to water and sanitation is problematic due to the deteriorated state of the network, which causes many losses in the water supply system. For years, water shortages have been recurrent and have forced "water shifts", mainly in the municipalities of Grande-Terre, which are the most affected, with consequences for private individuals and agricultural activities.
According to statistics from the Water Office (2020 data), 61% of drinking water production is wasted, i.e., almost 50 million cubic metres of water per year, due to pipes in poor condition. In addition, 70% of wastewater treatment plants do not meet standards.
Normally, about 2,000 police officers are present on the island including some 760 active National Gendarmerie of the COMGEND (Gendarmerie Command of Guadeloupe) region plus around 260 reservists. The active Gendarmerie include three Mobile Gendarmerie Squadrons (EGM) and a Republican Guard Intervention Platoon (PIGR). The Maritime Gendarmerie deploys the patrol boat Violette in the territory, which is planned for replacement by a new PCG-NG patrol boat in about 2025–2026.
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