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Saint-Pierre (/ˌseɪnt piˈɛər/, /ˌsæ̃-/; French pronunciation: ​[sɛ̃ pjɛʁ]; Martinican Creole: Senpiè) 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 by a volcanic eruption in 1902, 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.

Saint-Pierre
Subprefecture and commune
Saint-Pierre, with Mount Pelée in the background
Coat of arms
Location of the commune (in red) within Martinique
Location of Saint-Pierre
Coordinates: 14°44′30″N 61°10′33″W
Country	France
Overseas region and department	Martinique
Arrondissement	Saint-Pierre
Intercommunality	CA Pays Nord Martinique
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Christian Rapha
Area 1	38.72 km2 (14.95 sq mi)
Population  (Jan. 2019)[1]	4,121
• Density	110/km2 (280/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC−04:00 (AST)
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.

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.[2]

Eruption of Mount Pelée

The town was again destroyed in 1902, when the volcano Mount Pelée erupted, killing 28,000 people. The entire population of the town, as well as people from neighboring villages who had taken refuge in the supposedly safe city, died, except for three people—a young girl, Havivra da Ifrile, a prisoner by the name of Louis-Auguste Cyparis (known also by various other names), who later toured the world with the Barnum and Bailey Circus, and Léon Compère-Léandre, who lived at the edge of the city.[3][4][5]

Legend 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,^[which?] 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 (French: nuée ardente) was not yet understood, the danger was perceived to be from lava flows, which, it was believed,^{[by whom?]} would be stopped by two valleys between the volcano and the city.

Climate

Temperature record

On 6 October 2010, Saint-Pierre recorded a temperature of 36.5 °C (97.7 °F), which is the highest temperature to have ever been recorded in Martinique.[6]

Climate data of Saint-Pierre

Saint-Pierre has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen climate classification Am). The average annual temperature in Saint-Pierre is 27.3 °C (81.1 °F). The average annual rainfall is 1,864.6 mm (73.41 in) with August as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 28.3 °C (82.9 °F), and lowest in January, at around 25.7 °C (78.3 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded in Saint-Pierre was 36.5 °C (97.7 °F) on 6 October 2010; the coldest temperature ever recorded was 18.5 °C (65.3 °F) on 3 February 2005.

Today

The city of Saint-Pierre was never restored to its former entirety, though some villages were built in later decades 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".^{[citation needed]} There are many historic remains, and a Volcanological Museum (Musée vulcanologique Franck Perret).

See also

• Co-Cathedral of Our Lady of Assumption, Saint-Pierre
• Communes of the Martinique department
• Herculaneum
• Pompeii
• Victor Cochinat (1819–1886), French journalist
• Georges Hébert (1875–1957), French naval officer who witnessed the destruction by the volcano on the island in 1902, and went on to develop a physical training method from his experience

References

External links

• Base Mérimée: Search for heritage in the commune, Ministère français de la Culture. (in French)
• City of Saint-Pierre description from English edition of official Martinique website

На других языках

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- [en] Saint-Pierre, Martinique

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[es] Saint-Pierre (Martinica)

Saint-Pierre (San Pedro en español) fue una población y comuna francesa situada en la región y departamento de Martinica, en el distrito y cantón de Saint-Pierre. Fue destruida el 8 de mayo de 1902 por una gigantesca erupción del Monte Pelée que dejó un saldo de más de 30 000 muertos.

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[ru] Сен-Пьер (Мартиника)

Сен-Пьер (фр. Saint-Pierre) — город на острове Мартиника. Основан в 1635 году. До 1692 года, когда резиденция губернатора была перенесена в Фор-де-Франс, был административным центром одноимённой французской колонии. В дальнейшем два века оставался экономически самым развитым центром Мартиники (указания ряда источников на то, что вплоть до разрушения в 1902 году Сен-Пьер был официальным административным центром Мартиники, ошибочны). В 1902 году при извержении вулкана Мон-Пеле был почти полностью разрушен. К настоящему времени частично восстановлен.

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