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| National motto: A mare labor | |||||
| Official language | French | ||||
| Capital | Saint-Pierre | ||||
| President of the collectivity | Marc Plantagenest | ||||
| Prefect | Claude Valleix | ||||
| Area - Total - % water | (Not ranked) 242 km² 0.0% | ||||
| Population
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| Independence | None | ||||
| Currency | EuroThe euro ISO 4217 code EUR is the currency of twelve of the twenty-five nations that form the European Union (and four outside it, as well as Montenegro and Kosovo), which form the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). It is the result of the most significan (EUR) | ||||
| Time zoneTime Zone was also an old historical computer game. Time zones are areas of the Earth that have adopted the same standard time. Formerly, people used local solar time (originally apparent and then mean), resulting in time differing slightly from town to t | UTC-3 | ||||
| Internet TLDA top-level domain TLD is the last part of which Internet domain names consist of. For example, in the domain name wikipedia. org the top-level domain is org (or ORG, as domain names are not case-sensitive). The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) | .PM | ||||
| Calling CodeThis is a list of country calling codes also known as international direct dialing (IDD) codes, which are needed to access international telephone services. The numbers are assigned by the International Telecommunication Union in standard E. The numbers a | 508 | ||||
Main article: History of Saint Pierre and Miquelon
PaleoeskimoThe Dorset culture preceded the Inuit culture in Arctic North America. Inuit legends mention a people called the Tunit which were driven away by the Inuits. Anthropologist Diamond Jenness in 1925 received some odd artifacts from Cape Dorset, now called Ki or Dorset IndianThe Dorset culture preceded the Inuit culture in Arctic North America. Inuit legends mention a people called the Tunit which were driven away by the Inuits. Anthropologist Diamond Jenness in 1925 received some odd artifacts from Cape Dorset, now called Ki artifacts have been uncovered in Saint-Pierre (Anse à Henry). Some of these date back to 3000 BC31st century BC 30th century BC 29th century BC other centuries) ( 4th millennium BC 3rd millennium BC 2nd millennium BC) Events 2925 2776 BC First Dynasty wars in Egypt 2900 BC Beginning of the Early Dynastic Period I in Mesopotamia. Significant persons.Named the ' Eleven Thousand Virgins' by Portuguese explorer João Álvares Fagundes in 1521, the islands were also named the 'Islands of Saint-Pierre' by the French.
During the 16th century, the islands were used a base for the seasonal cod fishery by the French of La Rochelle, Grandville, Saint-Malo and the Basque Country. When French explorer Jacques Cartier was in Saint-Pierre in 1536 he made note of the French and Breton fishery.
The name Miquelon is of Basque origin as this island was used by fishermen from Saint-Jean de Luz.
Saint-Pierre was settled by the French in the early 17th century, abandoned under the Treaty of Utrecht, and returned to France in 1763 at the end of the Seven Years War.
Between 1763 and 1778, the islands became a place of refuge for Acadian deportees from Nova Scotia.
In 1778 the islands were attacked and the population deported by the British as retaliation for French support of the American Revolutionary War.
Although France regained the islands in 1783, by 1793, British hostility to the French Revolution and the fact that France had declared war with Britain led to another British attack on the islands and the deportation of the entire population.
The islands were finally returned to France after the second abdication of Napoleon in 1816.
The islands represent the sole remaining vestige of France's once vast North American possessions.
They have always been most important as a fishing centre, being in easy travel distance of the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, some of the world's richest fishing grounds.
The islands were used during American Prohibition as a base for smuggling liquor into the United States by many gangsters including Al Capone and Bill McCoy .
After Germany invaded of most of Europe during World War II, the islands were controlled by Vichy France. On Christmas day 1941, Free French forces led by Rear-Admiral Émile Muselier liberated the islands on behalf of Charles de Gaulle. Saint-Pierre and Miquelon became the focus of a serious rift between Free French forces and the United States Department of State, which was courting Vichy France and sent ships to take the islands back.
The islands became a full département d'outre mer of France in 1976. This status was modified in 1985 and the islands became a territory with special status (collectivité territoriale à statut particulier).