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 / 14.7417°N 61.1758°W | |
| Country | France |
| Overseas region and department | Martinique |
| Arrondissement | Saint-Pierre |
| Intercommunality | CA Pays Nord Martinique |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2020–2026) | Christian Rapha[1] |
| Area 1 | 38.72 km2 (14.95 sq mi) |
| Population (2021)[2] | 4,088 |
| • Density | 110/km2 (270/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
editSaint-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.[3]
Eruption of Mount Pelée
edit
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.[4][5][6]
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, would be stopped by two valleys between the volcano and the city.
Climate
editTemperature record
editOn 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.[7]
Climate data of Saint-Pierre
editSaint-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.
| Climate data for Saint-Pierre (1991–2020 averages, extremes 2004−present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 31.9 (89.4) |
32.9 (91.2) |
34.1 (93.4) |
34.8 (94.6) |
35.2 (95.4) |
34.4 (93.9) |
34.5 (94.1) |
34.4 (93.9) |
35.0 (95.0) |
36.5 (97.7) |
34.4 (93.9) |
33.0 (91.4) |
36.5 (97.7) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 29.3 (84.7) |
29.6 (85.3) |
30.4 (86.7) |
31.2 (88.2) |
31.8 (89.2) |
31.7 (89.1) |
31.7 (89.1) |
31.9 (89.4) |
32.2 (90.0) |
31.9 (89.4) |
30.9 (87.6) |
29.9 (85.8) |
31.0 (87.8) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 25.7 (78.3) |
25.8 (78.4) |
26.4 (79.5) |
27.2 (81.0) |
28.0 (82.4) |
28.3 (82.9) |
28.2 (82.8) |
28.3 (82.9) |
28.2 (82.8) |
28.1 (82.6) |
27.3 (81.1) |
26.3 (79.3) |
27.3 (81.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 22.2 (72.0) |
22.0 (71.6) |
22.5 (72.5) |
23.3 (73.9) |
24.3 (75.7) |
24.8 (76.6) |
24.7 (76.5) |
24.6 (76.3) |
24.3 (75.7) |
24.2 (75.6) |
23.7 (74.7) |
22.8 (73.0) |
23.6 (74.5) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 18.9 (66.0) |
18.5 (65.3) |
18.8 (65.8) |
20.3 (68.5) |
21.5 (70.7) |
22.0 (71.6) |
21.8 (71.2) |
20.5 (68.9) |
22.0 (71.6) |
21.3 (70.3) |
20.8 (69.4) |
19.2 (66.6) |
18.5 (65.3) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 125.2 (4.93) |
81.6 (3.21) |
59.4 (2.34) |
76.9 (3.03) |
118.7 (4.67) |
156.7 (6.17) |
231.7 (9.12) |
244.0 (9.61) |
203.9 (8.03) |
212.7 (8.37) |
182.0 (7.17) |
171.8 (6.76) |
1,864.6 (73.41) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 17.4 | 15.0 | 11.5 | 11.1 | 11.4 | 16.1 | 20.6 | 19.4 | 15.8 | 16.9 | 15.6 | 18.2 | 188.9 |
| Source: Météo-France[8] | |||||||||||||
Population
edit| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1967 | 6,559 | — |
| 1974 | 6,180 | −0.85% |
| 1982 | 5,438 | −1.59% |
| 1990 | 5,007 | −1.03% |
| 1999 | 4,453 | −1.29% |
| 2007 | 4,539 | +0.24% |
| 2012 | 4,341 | −0.89% |
| 2017 | 4,123 | −1.03% |
| Source: INSEE[9] | ||
Today
editThe 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 seat of the Arrondissement of Saint-Pierre.[10] It has been designated as a "City of Art and History".[11] There are many historic remains, and a Volcanological Museum (Musée Frank-A.-Perret).
All that remains are ships sunk due to the volcanic eruption as the wrecks of Saint-Pierre harbor. They were discovered by Michel Météry. today they are a reference in terms of scuba diving in Martinique.
See also
edit- 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
edit- ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
- ^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
- ^ Orlando Pérez (ed.). [http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/data_sub/perez_11_20.pdf "Notes on the Tropical Cyclones of Puerto Rico, 1508��?970"]. p. 11. Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory.
- ^ International, Ripley (1982). "Volcanoes". Ripley's Believe It or Not Great Disasters. New York: Pocket. p. 17. ISBN 0-671-46220-2.
- ^ Garesche, William A. (1 March 2007). "The Destruction of St Pierre, Martinique". Complete Story of the Martinique and St Vincent Horrors. READ BOOKS. pp. 48–0. ISBN 978-1-4067-5983-9. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
- ^ Ernest Zebrowski (2002). The last days of St. Pierre: the volcanic disaster that claimed thirty thousand lives. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-3041-3.
- ^ "Le climat en Martinique" (in French). Météo-France. Archived from the original on 1 January 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
- ^ "Fiche Climatologique Statistiques 1991-2020 et records" (PDF) (in French). Météo-France. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
- ^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
- ^ Commune de Saint-Pierre (97225), INSEE
- ^ "Villes et Pays d'art et d'histoire par région" (PDF) (in French). Ministère de la Culture. 21 June 2019.
External links
edit- 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
