Petite Terre Islands
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Petite Terre is also the name of the smaller island of Mayotte.
Petite Terre Islands (French: Îles de la Petite Terre, literally "Islands of the Small Land") are two small islands located about 10 km (6 miles) to the south-east of the island of Grande-Terre in the archipelago of Guadeloupe, itself in the Lesser Antilles. 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).[1] Terre de Bas island (literally "Low Land" island or "Down Land" island) is so named because it it DOWNwind compared to Terre de Haut island ("High Land" island) to its northeast which first meets the trade winds blowing from the north-east in the Caribbean.
Administratively speaking, the Petite Terre Islands are part of the commune (municipality) of La Désirade. The two islands and 842 hectares (2,081 acres) of sea around them were declared a nature preserve.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b (French) Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development, Government of France. Réserve naturelle des îles de la Petite Terre. Retrieved on 2007-12-16.
