Îles des Saintes
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Îles des Saintes Les Saintes
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Anthem: La Marseillaise
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Location of Îles des Saintes (part of Guadeloupe, circled) in the Lesser Antilles.
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| Capital | Fond-du-Curé |
| Largest city | Petite-Anse |
| Official languages | French |
| Local languages | |
| Ethnic groups | |
| Government | Dependent territory |
| François Hollande | |
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• Prefect
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Amaury de Saint-Quentin |
| Hilaire Brudey | |
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• Deputy
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Victorin Lurel |
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• Senator
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Félix Pierre Desplan |
| Part of the overseas department of Guadeloupe | |
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• French colony
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1648 |
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• English occupation
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1759 |
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• Restitution to France
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10 February 1763 |
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• Second English occupation
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1782 |
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• Second restitution to France
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30 May 1814a |
| 19 March 1946 | |
| Area | |
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• Total
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12.8 km2 (4.9 sq mi) (not ranked) |
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• Water (%)
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negligible |
| Population | |
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• 2008 census
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3,418 |
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• Density
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267/km2 (691.5/sq mi) |
| Currency | Euro (€) (EUR) |
| Time zone | AST (UTC-4) |
| Calling code | +590b |
| Internet TLD | |
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The Îles des Saintes ("Islands of the Saints"), also known as Les Saintes, is a small archipelago of the French Antilles located to the south of Basse-Terre Island, west of Marie-Galante and north of Dominica. It is a dependency of Guadeloupe, which, in turn, is an overseas department and region of France.
Les Saintes is a volcanic archipelago fully encircled by shallow reefs. It arose from the recent volcanic belt of the Lesser Antilles from the Pliocene Epoch. It is composed of rocks appeared on the Tertiary age between (4.7 to 2 million years ago). By origin, it was a unique island that the tectonic and volcanic earthquakes separate to create an archipelago due to the subduction zone between the South American plate, the North American plate and the Caribbean plate.
Les Saintes is composed of two very mountainous inhabited islands, Terre-de-Haut Island and Terre-de-Bas Island, with seven other uninhabited îslets:
The total surface is 12.8 km2 (4.9 sq mi). The archipelago has approximately 22 km (14 mi) of coast and its highest hill, Chameau ("Camel"), reaches about 309 metres (1,014 ft).
Les Saintes is a territory of the northern hemisphere situated in North America, in the Caribbean islands, between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator. It is positioned at 15°51' North, the same latitude as Thailand or Honduras, and at 61°36' West, the same longitude as Labrador and the Falkland Islands.
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