La Désirade

La Désirade is an island and a municipality with 1554 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2011) of the French overseas department of Guadeloupe.

Christopher Columbus discovered the island of La Désirade after a long and privation crossing on November 3, 1493 For this reason he called her Desiderada. Desire of the! La Désirade is 11 km long and 2 km wide and occupies an area of ​​21.12 km ² a. La Désirade protrudes up to 280 m from the sea. La Désirade was mentioned for the first time proven 1728. During this time, here was a leper colony for the French West Indies, which existed until 1954.

The island had 1999 1620 inhabitants, who live mainly in the villages of Baie- Mahault and Beauséjour.

Max Mathurin, mayor of the island from 1977 to 1991, represents one of the outstanding figures of modern history

The villages of La Désirade

La Désirade has only one road that connects the capital of Beauséjour with the hamlets of Les Galets, Le prompter and Baie- Mahault. The port and the airport of La Désirade are located in the southwest of the island, in Beauséjour. The place is alternatively known as Grand Anse or Le -Bourg. In the small villages of Baie- Mahault, Le Le prompter Galets and there are only small settlements with very few inhabitants.

• Beauséjour ( capital )
• Baie- Mahault
• Les Galets
• Le prompter