Saint Pierre & Miquelon

Saint Pierre and Miquelon

Saint Pierre and Miquelon (French: Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon) are an archipelago of 8 islands, with the largest 2 islands being Saint Pierre and Miquelon, is an Overseas Collectivity of France in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, located 18 miles from the Canadian Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Saint Pierre and Miquelon are the last vestiges of New France which once covered land from Quebec, Canada to New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

The islands cover 93 square miles of land and have a population of 6,008.

Its Capital is Saint Pierre, its Citizens are full French Citizens, use the French Language and the Euro Currency.

Saint Pierre and Miquelon has harsh, cold and snowy Winters that keep it isolated from nearby Newfoundland, Canada (when the Ferry Service stops.) It can only be reached from the outside world through the Saint-Pierre Airport with flights to Canada (Halifax, Montreal and Saint John’s) and Summer Service to Paris, France.

History:

The first Europeans (the Portuguese) landed on the islands in 1520 and the French came in 1536 when Jacques Cartier claimed them from France.

In the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, which ended the War of the Spanish Succession, France ceded the islands to Britain which sent British Colonists from its Colonies in Canada and the United States to settle there.

Under the terms of the 1763 Treaty of Paris, which put an end to the Seven Years' War, France ceded all its North American possessions to Britain, though the British granted fishing rights to French Fishermen along the Newfoundland coast, and as part of that arrangement returned Saint Pierre and Miquelon to France's control.

After France entered the American Revolutionary War on the side of the United States and declared war on Britain, a British force invaded Saint Pierre and Miquelon and briefly occupied them, destroying all Colonial settlements on the islands and deporting 2,000 colonists back to France.

When the United Kingdom lost the American Revolution the islands returned to France.  

In 1793, during the French Revolutionary Wars, another British force landed in Saint Pierre and, in the following year, again deporting the French Colonial Population, and tried to establish a community of Anglophone Settlers.

The Treaty of Amiens of 1802 returned the islands to France, but Britain reoccupied them when hostilities recommenced the next year.

 The 1814 Treaty of Paris gave the islands back to France, though the UK occupied them yet again during the Hundred Days War in 1815.

 France then reclaimed the now uninhabited islands, in which all structures and buildings had been destroyed or fallen into disrepair.

The islands were resettled in 1816 and fishing brought prosperity to the French Colony.  

Submarine Trans-Atlantic Telegraph Cables from France in the 19th century typically were routed from the French Mainland through stations on Miquelon or St. Pierre, and then on to Nova Scotia or the United States.

The first was laid in 1869. Of the 12 French Trans-Atlantic Submarine Telegraph Cables laid between 1869 and 1897, 6 of them passed through Miquelon or St. Pierre.

In 1903, American Senator Henry Cabot Lodge advocated that the United States should purchase the islands from France.

Lodge was concerned about the French influence on Saint Pierre and Miquelon, possible political or cultural effects on Canada and the United States, and the effect of French fishing fleets on New England fisheries.

In response, some Canadians asked Great Britain to purchase the islands from France instead.

The People of Saint Pierre and Miquelon decided to remain part of France.

The 1914 Draft Law crippled the fishing industry as all able-Men had to go to fight in the French Military during World War 1.

400 Men from Saint Pierre and Miquelon fought in World War 1 with 25% of them killed.

The Islands gained prosperity during Prohibition in the US from 1920-1933 by smuggling alcohol from the French Colony to the United States.

In 1931, the archipelago was reported by The New York Times to have imported 1,815,271 U.S. Gallons of Whiskey from Canada in 12 months alone.

Many Gangsters including Al Capone and Bill McCoy set up operations in the islands, using them as a base to smuggle  Canadian Whisky, Caribbean Rum and legally imported French Wines and Spirits into the US.

During World War II, despite opposition from Canada, Britain and the United States, Charles de Gaulle's Free French Forces seized the archipelago from Vichy France (allied with Hitler’s Germany), to which the Local Administrator had pledged its allegiance from May 1940-December 1941.

After the invasion the Male Population (only Men 18+ could vote in France until 1946) endorsed the takeover by Free France by over 98%.

After the 1958 French Constitutional Referendum, the Territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon was asked to choose one of three options: becoming fully integrated with France, becoming a self-governing state within the French Community, or preserving the status of an Overseas Territory; it decided to remain a Territory.

The Islands became a French Overseas collectivity in 2003.

Education:  The Islands have 4 Primary Schools (Sainte Odile, Henriette Bonin, Feu Rouge, les Quatre-Temps), 1 Middle School (Collège de Miquelon/Collège Saint-Christophe) with an annex in Miquelon, 1 State (Government) High School (Lycée-Collège d'État Émile Letournel) and 1 Vocational High School.

The Students who wish to further their studies after High School are granted access to scholarships to study overseas. Most Students go to metropolitan France, although some go to Canada, mainly New Brunswick.

Health Care: There are basic hospital services provided on the islands. The island's first hospital was military in 1904 and became a civilian facility in 1905. L'Hôpital-Hospice-Orphelinat opened in 1937.

Since 1985 Hôpital François Dunan provides basic care and emergency care for residents of both islands.

Residents requiring more extensive health care are transported (by air) to Saint John’s Newfoundland, Canada.

Defense: Is the responsibility of the French Military.

Law Enforcement: Is the responsibility of a branch of the French Gendarmerie Nationale. There are two Gendarmerie Stations on the islands.

Tourism: In recent years the islands have become important places for Canadians and Americans wishing to take Full Immersion French Classes while at the same time being in France (without crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Pierre_and_Miquelon