islands

The Mysterious Islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon 1

The Mysterious Islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon

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The official flag of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, as is true of all of Overseas France, is the French Tricolour.  However, there is a local and unofficial flag that is seen in use and that is the flag we were flying today.  The unofficial flag was designed in 1982, likely by a local business owner, André Paturel.  The flag is based on the Collectivity’s coat of arms.  The flag is blue with a yellow ship, said to be Grande Hermine, which brought Jacques Cartier to Saint-Pierre on 15 June 1536.  Three square fields placed along the hoist recall the origin of most inhabitants of the islands, from top to bottom, Basques, Bretons, and Normans.

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Half An Island - Saint Martin 2

Half An Island – Saint Martin

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Interestingly, Saint Martin is the only island thus divided by two colonial powers.  Cyprus remains divided but one half of the island is operated as an independent nation.  The French and British jointly administered the New Hebrides Islands, now the independent nation of Vanuatu, but there was no boundary line on any island or area, instead the entire island group was jointly, if confusingly, administered by both nations.  Saint Martin stands unique in terms of being an island divided into separate overseas territories of European powers.

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Hideaway for the Rich and Famous - St. Barthélemy 3

Hideaway for the Rich and Famous – St. Barthélemy

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As happened frequently among the Caribbean islands of France, the British took over briefly in 1758.  The French in turn gave Saint Barthélemy to Sweden in exchange for French trading rights in Gothenburg.  With this transfer the island’s fortunes changed for the better.  The Swedes ushered in a time of progress and prosperity as the Swedes declared Gustavia a free port, which made it a favored port for the trading of European goods, including contraband items.

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Réunion Island - A Bit of France in the Indian Ocean 6

Réunion Island – A Bit of France in the Indian Ocean

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Colonization started in 1665, when the French East India Company sent the first settlers.  “Île de la Réunion” was the name given to the island in 1793 to commemorate the union of revolutionaries from Marseille with the National Guard in Paris.  This renaming also eliminated a reference to the deposed Bourbon dynasty.  Later, the island would be renamed yet again, this time “Île Bonaparte”, after Napoleon Bonaparte.

The island came under the control of the British Navy in 1810 but was returned to France by treaty in 1815.  In 1848 the island was officially renamed “Île de la Réunion”.

Between the 17th and 19th centuries, a program of colonization by French citizens as well as the importation of Africans, Chinese, and Indians as slaves, a diversity of ethnicities was present from early times.  The colony abolished slavery on 20 December 1848. Afterward, many of the foreign workers came as indentured workers.

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Nickel Island - The Flag of New Caledonia 7

Nickel Island – The Flag of New Caledonia

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As is true of all component territories of Overseas France, the only official flag is the French tricolor.  However, there is an unofficial flag that may be seen flying in New Caledonia and this is the flag we flew today on our own flagpole.  This flag was approved in July 2010 by the Congress of New Caledonia. 

The blue symbolizes the sky and the ocean surrounding New Caledonia.  The red symbolizes the blood shed by the Kanaks in their struggle for independence.  The green symbolizes the land itself.  The yellow disc is a representation of the sun and the symbol upon it consists of a flèche faitière, a kind of arrow that adorns the roofs of Kanak houses thrust through tutut shells.

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Today's Flag - Guadeloupe 9

Today’s Flag – Guadeloupe

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Originally Guadeloupe was inhabited by the relatively peaceful Arawak peoples from about 300 CE and by the 8th century the more hostile and warlike Caribs had taken over.  They remained isolated an in undisputed control until their discovery by Columbus, on his second voyage, in November 1493.  He gave the island the name that it carries to this day.  It is also said that Columbus first saw a pineapple on Guadeloupe even though they had been grown in South America for centuries, but of course, Columbus never found the South American mainland.

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Today's Flag - French Polynesia 10

Today’s Flag – French Polynesia

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The flag consists of two red horizontal bands which encase a wide white band.  The bands are at a fixed width ratio of 1:2:1.  In the center of the white band is a blue and white disk with a blue and white wave pattern which depicts the sea on the lower half and a gold and white ray pattern which depicts on the upper half.  There is a Polynesian canoe riding on the wave pattern.  The canoe has a crew of five, represented by five stars.  The five stars are meant to symbolize the five island groups (The Bass Islands are generally grouped with the Austral Islands even though they are geographically distinct and separate from the main Austral archipelago.

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