Overseas department of France (pop., 2002 est.: 432,000), eastern West Indies .
Consisting of the islands of Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre and several smaller islands, its land area is 658 sq mi (1,705 sq km); the capital is Basse-Terre . Saint-Barthélemy and the northern two-thirds of Saint-Martin are dependencies, lying 150 mi (240 km) northwest of it. Forests and tree crops such as coffee abound on the mountains of Basse-Terre, while sugarcane is cultivated on Grande-Terre. The Carib Indians held off the Spanish and French for a number of years before the islands became part of France in 1674. The British occupied Guadeloupe for short periods in the 18th–19th centuries; the islands became officially French in 1815. In 1946 it was made a department of France. Tourism has benefited the economy in recent decades.