Basse-Terre

:"This article is about the city of Basse-Terre. For the island on which the city is located, see Basse-Terre Island. Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, should not be confused with Basseterre the capital of Saint Kitts and Nevis."French commune
nomcommune=Basse-Terre


mapcaption=Location of the commune (in red) within Guadeloupe
région=Guadeloupe ("préfecture")
département=Guadeloupe
arrondissement=Basse-Terre
canton=Basse-Terre (1st, and 2nd)
insee=97105
cp=97100
maire=Guy Georges
mandat=
intercomm=Communauté de communes du Sud Basse-Terre
longitude=-61.7292
latitude=15.9958
alt moy=
alt mini=
alt maxi=
km²=5.78
sans=12,410
date-sans=1999 census|dens=2,147
date-dens=1999

Basse-Terre is the capital city of Guadeloupe, an overseas "région" and "département" of France located in the Lesser Antilles. The city of Basse-Terre is located on Basse-Terre Island, the western-half of Guadeloupe.

Although it is the administrative capital of Guadeloupe, Basse-Terre is only the second-largest city in Guadeloupe behind Pointe-à-Pitre, with 44,864 inhabitants in its urban area in 1999 (12,400 of whom lived in the city of Basse-Terre proper).

Name

See Basse-Terre Island for the origin of the name Basse-Terre.

History

The city was founded in 1643, in the mountainous section of Basse-Terre, one of the two islands which compose Guadeloupe. It was destroyed many times as a consequence of the Anglo-French wars. Today the town is quiet with its French provincial atmosphere and colourful port life.

ights

In town is the Cathedral of Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul, a 19th century building which has a notable grey stone highlighted by white statues; many other colonial buildings; La place du Champ d'Arbaud, the main square and Le Jardin Pichon, the park adjoining to the south & the Zoological and Botanical Park lies on a convert|1500|ft|m|sing=on hilltop garden on the banks of La Rivière-aux-Herbes. This is a reserve of the plants and animals of Guadeloupe.