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List of
Banks in the Caribbean
List of Banks in Guadeloupe (French)
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in
the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628
square kilometres (629 sq. mi) and a population of 400,000. It is the
first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas
department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe is also
one of the twenty-six regions of France (being an overseas region) and
an integral part of the Republic since 2007.
As part of France, Guadeloupe is part of the European Union; hence, as
for most EU countries, its currency is the euro. However, Guadeloupe is
not part of the Schengen Area. The prefecture and the capital of
Guadeloupe is Basse-Terre. Christopher Colombus named the island Santa
María de Guadalupe in 1493 after the Virgin Mary, venerated in the
Spanish town of Guadalupe, in Extremadura
Banque Francais Commerciale
Address: Rue Gambette, Pointe A Pitre
Phone: (590) 590 82-4900 / (590) 590 83-5502 / (590) 590 83-2967
Fax: (590) 590 82-4905 / (590) 590 82-2799
BDAF, Banque des Antilles Francaise
Address: Pl. de La Victorie, Pointe a Pitre
Mailing Address: BP 76, 97152 Pointe a Pitre cedex
Phone: (590) 590 93-1600 / (590) 590 99-3620 / (590) 590 29-1330
Fax: (590) 590 93-1610 / (590) 590 99-3629
BNP Guadeloupe
Address: Place de la Renovation, 97110 Pointe a Pitre
Phone: (590) 590 90-5858 / (590) 590 82-2705 / (590) 590 26-7969
Fax: (590) 590 90-0407 / (590) 590 91-2319
Bred Antilles-Guyane
Address: 10 Rue Achille Rene Boisneuf, 97110 Pointe a Pitre
Phone: (590) 590 89-6700 / (590) 590 89-4508 / (590) 590 99-3500
Fax: (590) 590 89-0161 / (590) 590 21-2251
Caisse d'Epargne de la Guadeloupe
Address: 20 lot. Plazza Grand Camp Rocade, Les Abymes
Phone: (590) 590 93-1293 / (590) 590 21-6160 / (590) 590 93-1212
Fax: (590) 590 93-1297 / (590) 590 21-1080
Caisse d'Epargne de la Guadeloupe
Address: all Mont Carmel, 97100 Basse Terre
Phone: (590) 590 81-5572
Fax: (590) 590 81-7533 / (590) 590 81-0913
Keywords: savings-bank
Change Caraibes
Address: 21 Rue Frebault, 97110 Pointe a Pitre
Phone: (590) 590 89-0088
Fax: (590) 590 93-7040
Credit Agricole Mutuel de Guadeloupe
Address: Petit Perou, 97176 Abymes Cedex
Phone: (590) 590 90-6565
Fax: (590) 590 90-6589
Credit Martiniquais Guadeloupe
Address: Bd Marquisat de Houelbourg, ZI de Jarry, 97122 Bai
Phone: (590) 590 25-4500 / (590) 590 83-1859 / (590) 590 99-1919
Fax: (590) 590 25-4502 / (590) 590 18-2777
Societe Generale
Address: Imm. Le Diamant, Rue F. Forest Prolongee, Pointe a
Mailing Address: BP 55, 97152 Pointe a Pitre
Phone: (590) 590 25-4977 / (590) 590 21-2760 / (590) 590 38-3001
Fax: (590) 590 25-4978
History
Main article: History of Guadeloupe
During his second trip to America, seeking fresh water in November 1493,
Christopher Columbus became the first European to land on Guadeloupe. He
called it Santa María de Guadalupe de Extremadura, after the image of
the Virgin Mary venerated at the Spanish monastery of Villuercas, in
Guadalupe, Extremadura. The expedition set ashore just south of
Capesterre and did not leave any settlers ashore.
Christopher Columbus is credited with discovering the pineapple on the
island of Guadeloupe in 1493, although the fruit had long been grown in
South America. He called it piña de Indias, meaning "pine of Indies."
Photo satellite of GuadeloupeAfter successful settlement on the island
of St Christophe (St Kitts), the French Company of the American Islands
delegated Charles Lienard and Jean Duplessis, Lord of Ossonville to
colonize one or any of the region’s islands, Guadeloupe, Martinique or
Dominica. Due to Martinique’s inhospitable nature, the duo resolved to
settle in Guadeloupe in 1635, took possession of the island, and wiped
out many of the Carib Amerindians. It was annexed to the kingdom of
France in 1674.
Over the next century, the island was seized several times by the
British. The economy benefited from the lucrative sugar trade introduced
during the closing decades of the seventeenth century. One indication of
Guadeloupe's prosperity at this time is that in the Treaty of Paris
(1763), France, defeated in war, agreed to abandon its territorial
claims in Canada if the British returned Guadeloupe, which was captured
in 1759.
In 1790, following the outbreak of the French Revolution, the upper
classes of Guadeloupe refused to obey the new laws of equal rights for
the free colored. They attempted to declare independence, causing a fire
to break out in Pointe-à-Pitre that devastated a third of the town. A
struggle between the monarchists (who wanted independence) and the
republicans (who were faithful to revolutionary France) ensued. It ended
with a victory by the monarchists, who declared independence in 1791.
The monarchists refused to receive the new governor appointed by Paris
in 1792. In 1793, a slave rebellion started, which made the upper
classes turn to the British and ask them to occupy the island.
In an effort to take advantage of the chaos ensuing from the French
Revolution, Britain attempted to seize Guadeloupe in 1794 and held it
from 21 April until December 1794, when Victor Hugues obliged the
English general to surrender. Hugues succeeded in freeing the slaves.
They revolted and turned on the slave owners who controlled the sugar
plantations. In 1802, when French interests were threatened, Napoleon
Bonaparte sent a force to suppress the rebels and re-institute slavery.
Louis Delgrès and a group of revolutionary soldiers killed themselves on
the slopes of the Matouba volcano when it became obvious that the
invading troops would take control of the island. The occupation force
killed approximately 10,000 Guadeloupeans.
Arawak petroglyph, river Plessis ( Guadeloupe)On 4 February 1810 the
British once again seized the island and continued to occupy it until
1816. By the Anglo-Swedish alliance of 3 March 1813, it was ceded to
Sweden for a brief period of 15 months. The British administration
continued in place and British governors continued to govern the
Island. By the Treaty of Paris of 1814 Sweden ceded Guadeloupe once
more to France. An ensuing settlement between Sweden and the British
gave rise to the Guadeloupe Fund. French control of Guadeloupe was
definitively acknowledged in the Treaty of Vienna in 1815. Slavery was
abolished on the island in 1848 at the initiative of Victor Schoelcher.
In 1946 the colony of Guadeloupe became an overseas department of
France, and in 1974 it became an administrative center. Its deputies sit
in the French National Assembly in Paris.
Today the population of Guadeloupe is mainly of African or mixed descent
and largely Roman Catholic. French and a Creole patois with an important
European and Indian active population. There are also Lebanese, Syrians,
Chinese and others, for example Carib Amerindians.
On 15 July 2007 the island communes of Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy
were officially detached from Guadeloupe and became two separate French
overseas collectivities with their own local administration. Their
combined population was 35,930 and their combined land area was 74.2 km2
(29 sq mi) at the 1999 census. Guadeloupe thereby lost 8.5 percent of
its population and 4.4 percent of its land area.
On 20 January 2009, an umbrella group of approximately fifty labour
union and other associations known in the local Antillean Creole as the
Liyannaj Kont Pwofitasyon (LKP) led by Élie Domota called for a €200
($260 USD) monthly pay increase for the island's low income workers. The
protesters have proposed that authorities "lower business taxes as a top
up to company finances" to pay for the €200 pay raises. Employers and
business leaders in Guadeloupe have said that they cannot afford the
salary increase. The strike lasted for 44 days, until an accord was
reached on March 5, 2009. Tourism suffered greatly during this time and
has affected the 2010 tourist season as well.
Geography
Location of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean
In green (with red legend) are the constituent parts of the Guadeloupe
région/département among the Leeward IslandsMain article: Geography of
Guadeloupe
Located as the southernmost of the Leeward Islands in the eastern
Caribbean Sea, Guadeloupe comprises five main islands: Basse-Terre
Island, Grande-Terre (separated from Basse-Terre by a narrow sea channel
called Salt River) with the adjacent islands of La Désirade, Les Saintes
and Marie-Galante.
Western Basse-Terre has a rough volcanic relief while eastern
Grande-Terre features rolling hills and flat plains.
Further to the north, Saint-Barthélemy and the northern French part of
Saint Martin once came under the jurisdiction of Guadeloupe but on 7
December 2003, both of these areas voted to become an overseas
territorial collectivity, a decision which took effect on 22 February
2007.
Hurricanes
The island was devastated by several hurricanes in modern times:
On 12 September, 1928 Okeechobee hurricane caused extensive damage and
killed thousands of people.
On 22 August 1964, Guadeloupe was ravaged by Hurricane Cleo, which
killed 14 people.
Two years later, on 27 September 1966, Hurricane Inez caused extensive
damage and killed 27 people, mostly in Grande-Terre. Charles De Gaulle
visited the island after the hurricanes and declared it a disaster area.
On 17 September 1989, Category 4 Hurricane Hugo caused very extensive
damage, left more than 35,000 homeless, destroyed 10,000 homes, 100
percent of the banana crops, and 60 percent of the sugar cane crops.
From late August to mid September 1995, the island was in the path of
three successive cyclones: Tropical Storm Iris on 28 August—caused minor
damages; Hurricane Luis on 5 September—caused moderate damages in north
coast of Grande-Terre; Hurricane Marilyn on 15 September—caused moderate
damages in Basse-Terre.
On 21 September 1998, Hurricane Georges pounded the islands causing
moderate damage and destroying 90% of the banana crop.
Culture
Main article: Music of Martinique and Guadeloupe
Admiral T at Stade de France
Photo of Francky VincentGuadeloupe's culture is probably best known for
the islanders' literary achievements, particularly the poetry of
Saint-John Perse, the pseudonym used by Alexis Léger. Perse won the 1960
Nobel Prize in Literature "for the soaring flight and the evocative
images of his poetry, which, in a visionary fashion, reflects the
conditions of our time."
Guadeloupe has always had a rich literary production prolonged today by
many living writers, poets, novelists, essayists and journalists, among
them Mesdames Maryse Condé and Simone Schwartz-Bart, M. Ernest Pépin.
Also culturally important are the arts, particularly painting and
sculpture. Famous painters and/or sculptors include Michel Rovelas,
Claudie Cancelier, Jean-Claude Echard, Christian Bracy, Roger Arekian,
les Frères Baptiste, Michelle Chomereau-Lamothe, Léogane, Pédurand,
Nicole Réache, Richard-Viktor Sainsily.
Music and dance are also very popular, and the widely accepted
interaction of African, French and Indian cultures has given birth
to some original new forms specific to the archipelago. Islanders enjoy
many local dance styles including the quadrille "au commandement", zouk,
zouk-love, kompa toumbélé, as well as all the modern international
dances. Typical Guadeloupean music includes la biguine and gwo ka à la
base. Popular artist such as Kassav', Francky Vincent and Admiral T
embody the traditional from the past and the new generation of music
while others such as Tom Frager grew up there. Many international
festivals take place in Guadeloupe, like the Creole Blues Festival, the
Marie-Galante Festival, Festival Gwo-Ka Cotellon, etc. It goes without
saying that all the Euro-French forms of art are also omnipresent in the
melting pot.
Whilst not in the Guadeloupean style Catherine Quinol, aka Katrin, is
know worldwide as the lip synching icon of the piano-house trio Black
Box, who were burst on to the Music Scene in the late 80s with songs
such as Ride On Time. She is however a trained singer and went on to
release her own work.
Another element of the Guadeloupean culture is its dress. Women in
particular have a unique style of traditional dresses, with many layers
of colourful fabrics, now only worn on special occasions. On festive
occasions they also wore a madras (originally the 'kerchief' from South
India) head scarf tied in many different symbolic forms. The headdress
could be done in many styles with names like the "bat" style, or the
"firefighter" style, as well as the "Guadeloupean woman." Jewelry,
mainly of gold, is also important in the Guadeloupean lady's dress, a
product of European, African and Indian inspiration. Many famous
couturiers like Devaed and Mondelo are Guadeloupeans.
Football (soccer) is popular in Guadeloupe. Thierry Henry, a star of the
French National Team and MLS club New York Red Bulls, often visits, as
his father Antoine was originally from the island. William Gallas, whose
parentage is Guadeloupean, visits the island when not playing for
Tottenham or the French National team. Lilian Thuram, a former star
football defender for France and FC Barcelona, was born in Guadeloupe.
The French national team and Everton F.C. striker, Louis Saha, is also
of Guadeloupean descent, as is MK Dons goalkeeper Willy Gueret. Pascal
Chimbonda of Tottenham was also born in Guadeloupe. The region's
football team experienced recent success, advancing all the way to the
2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup semi-finals, where they were defeated just 1-0 by
CONCACAF powerhouse Mexico. Many fine track and field athletes, such as
Marie-José Pérec, Patricia Girard-Léno, and Christine Arron are also
Guadeloupe natives. The NBA players Mickaël Piétrus, Mickaël Gelabale,
Rodrigue Beaubois were born in this island. Famed Bodybuilder Serge
Nubret, Johnny Yrius also hail from Guadeloupe.
Economy
Main article: Economy of Guadeloupe
Carbet Falls, one of the most popular visitor sites in Guadeloupe, with
approximately 400,000 visitors annually.
Pointe des Châteaux in GuadeloupeIn 2006 the GDP per capita of
Guadeloupe at market exchange rates, not at PPP, was €17,338
(US$21,780).
The economy of Guadeloupe depends on tourism, agriculture, light
industry and services. But it especially depends on France for large
subsidies and imports.
Tourism is a key industry, with 83.3% of tourists visiting from
metropolitan France, 10.8% coming from the rest of Europe, 3.4% coming
from the United States, 1.5% coming from Canada, 0.4% coming from South
America and 0.6% coming from the rest of the world. An increasingly
large number of cruise ships visit the islands.
The traditional sugar cane crop is slowly being replaced by other crops,
such as bananas (which now supply about 50% of export earnings),
eggplant, guinnep, noni, sapotilla, paroka, pikinga, giraumon squash,
yam, gourd, plantain, christophine, monbin, prunecafé, cocoa, jackfruit,
pomegranate, and many varieties of flowers. Other vegetables and root
crops are cultivated for local consumption, although Guadeloupe is still
dependent on imported food, mainly from France.
Light industry features sugar and rum, solar energy, and many industrial
productions. Most manufactured goods and fuel are imported. Unemployment
is especially high among the youth. Hurricanes periodically devastate
the economy.
The country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Guadeloupe is ".gp".
Sport
Thierry Henry during a match of FC Barcelona
Mickaël Piétrus at the Washington Wizards v/s Orlando Magic game on 27
November 2008Even though Guadeloupe is part of France, it has its own
sports teams. For example, Guadeloupe has its own national football
team. There is also a rugby union, a small but rapidly growing sport in
Guadeloupe. France international & Stade Français centre Mathieu
Bastareaud (a cousin of French international & former Arsenal
centre-back William Gallas) was born in Guadeloupe.
Orlando Magic forward Mickaël Piétrus and Dallas Mavericks guard
Rodrigue Beaubois are Guadeloupe natives.
Tottenham Hotspur centre-back William Gallas is of Guadeloupean descent,
as is NBA basketball player Johan Petro, center of the New Jersey Nets.
Triple Olympic champion Marie-José Pérec, fourth-fastest 100m runner
Christine Arron and fencing champion Laura Flessel all were born and
raised in Guadeloupe.
This island is also internationally best known for hosting the Karujet
Race - Jet Ski World Championship since 1998. This amazing 9-stage,
4-day event unites competitors from all around the world (mostly
Caribbeans, Americans and Europeans). The one-of-a-kind Karujet,
generally made up of 7 races all around the island, has an established
reputation as one of the most difficult championships in which to
compete. All challengers, both amateurs and professionals, who attend
the Karujet are astonished by the diverse, incredible and unique
waterbodies the "butterfly island" provides.
World-famous bodybuilder Serge Nubret was born in Anse-Bertrand,
Grande-Terre, representing the French state in various bodybuilding
competitions throughout the 1960s and 1970s, taking 2nd place in both
the 1973 and 1975 IFBB Mr. Olympia contests.
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