Saint-Pierre, Martinique

Saint-Pierre
Saint-Pierre, with Mount Pelée in the background
Coat of arms
Location of the commune (in red) within Martinique
Coordinates:
Country	France
Overseas region and department	Martinique
Arrondissement	Saint-Pierre
Canton	Saint-Pierre
Government
• Mayor (2008–2014)	Raphaël Martine
Area1	38.72 km2 (14.95 sq mi)
Population (2007)2	4,590
• Density	120/km2 (310/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	97225 / 97250
Elevation	0–1,397 m (0–4,583 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Saint-Pierre is a town and commune of France's Caribbean overseas department of Martinique, founded in 1635 by Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc. Before the total destruction of Saint-Pierre in 1902 by a volcanic eruption, it was the most important city of Martinique culturally and economically, being known as "the Paris of the Caribbean". While Fort-de-France was the official administrative capital, Saint-Pierre was the cultural capital of Martinique. After the disaster, Fort-de-France grew in economic importance.

History

Saint-Pierre was founded in 1635 by Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc, a French trader and adventurer, as the first permanent French colony on the island of Martinique.

The Great Hurricane of 1780 produced a storm-surge of 8 metres (25 ft) which "inundated the city, destroying all houses" and killed 9,000 people.

Eruption of Mount Pelée

The remains of St Pierre after the 1902 eruption

Main article: Mount Pelée

The town was destroyed again in 1902. when the volcano Mount Pelée erupted, killing over 30,000 people, the entire population of the town as well as people from neighboring villages who had taken refuge in the supposedly safe city, save two people—a prisoner by the name of Louis-Auguste Cyparis (also known by various other names), who later toured the world with the Barnum and Bailey Circus, and Léon Compère-Léandre, a man who lived at the edge of the city. Legend (erroneously) has it that the town's doom was forecast by loud groaning noises from within the volcano, but the mayor of the town had it blocked off to prevent people from leaving during an election. This story appears to have originated with one of the island's newspapers, published by a political opponent of the governor. Actually, there was considerable eruptive activity in the two weeks prior to the fatal blast, but since the phenomenon of the pyroclastic flow (nuée ardente) was not yet understood, the danger was perceived to be from lava flows, which, it was believed, would be stopped by two valleys between the volcano and the city.

Saint-Pierre today

The city of Saint-Pierre was never restored to its old glory, though some villages were built some decades later on its place.

Today, the town is the district capital of the Caribbean North district of Martinique. It has been designated as a "city of Art and History". There are many historic remains, and a Volcanological Museum (Musée vulcanologique Franck Perret).

Saint-Pierre

See also

• Communes of the Martinique department
• Herculaneum
• Pompeii

External links

• Mérimée database - Cultural heritage (French)
• INSEE