Petite Terre Islands
Encyclopedia
Grande-Terre
Grande-Terre is an island in the Guadeloupe, separated by Basse-Terre Island by a salt river. Grande-Terre's northernmost point, Pointe de la Grande Vigie, is also the northernmost point in Guadeloupe....
in the archipelago of Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres 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...
, itself in the Lesser Antilles
Lesser Antilles
The Lesser Antilles are a long, partly volcanic island arc in the Western Hemisphere. Most of its islands form the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, with the remainder located in the southern Caribbean just north of South America...
. These two islands are named Petite Terre ("Small Land") in contrast with the much larger Grande-Terre ("Large Land") island.
Petite Terre is made up of two islands: Terre de Bas island to the southwest and the smaller Terre de Haut island to the northeast. Their combined land area is 0.48 km² (119 acres). Terre de Bas island (literally "Low Land" island or "Down Land" island) is so named because it is downwind compared to Terre de Haut island ("Upper Land" island) to its northeast which first meets the trade wind
Trade wind
The trade winds are the prevailing pattern of easterly surface winds found in the tropics, within the lower portion of the Earth's atmosphere, in the lower section of the troposphere near the Earth's equator...
s blowing from the north-east in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
.
Administratively speaking, the Petite Terre Islands are part of the commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
(municipality) of La Désirade
La Désirade (commune)
La Désirade is a commune in the French overseas region and department of Guadeloupe, in the Lesser Antilles. The commune of La Désirade is made up of the island of La Désirade and the uninhabited Petite Terre Islands located about to the south of the island of La Désirade.The administrative centre...
. The two islands and 842 hectares (2,081 acres) of sea around them were declared a nature reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
, the National Nature Reserve of Îles de la Petite-Terre.