In an effort to take advantage of the chaos ensuing from the French Revolution, Britain attempted to seize Guadeloupe in 1794. The French retook the island under the command of Victor Hughes[?], who succeeded to free the slaves and turn on the slave-owners who controlled the sugar plantations. When American interests were threatened, Napoleon sent a force to suppress the rebels and reinstitute slavery. French control of Guadeloupe was recognized by the Treaty of Vienna[?]. In 1848, slavery was abolished.
Guadeloupe became an overseas département of France on March 19, 1946. A local independence movement has been involved occasionally in acts of terror against the French government in order to achieve its aims.
The island of Saint-Martin[?] is divided with the Netherlands (whose southern portion is named Sint Maarten and is part of the Netherlands Antilles).
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump