🇲🇶 Martinique

National Flag

Geography & Borders

This country has no land borders.

Introduction & Background

Martinique (/ˌmɑːrtɪˈniːk/ MAR-tin-EEK, Template:IPA-fr; Template:Lang-gcf or Matnik;7 Kalinago: Madinina or Madiana) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic,8 Martinique is located in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It has a land area of 1,128km2 (436sqmi) and a population of 364,508 inhabitants as of January 2019.9 One of the Windward Islands, it is directly north of Saint Lucia, northwest of Barbados and south of Dominica. Martinique is an Outermost Region and a special territory of the European Union; the currency in use is the euro. Virtually the entire population speaks both French (the sole official language) and Martinican Creole.10

It is thought that Martinique is a corruption of the Taíno name for the island (Madiana/Madinina, meaning 'island of flowers', or Matinino, 'island of women'), as relayed to Christopher Columbus when he visited the island in 1502.11 According to historian Sydney Daney, the island was called Jouanacaëra or Wanakaera by the Caribs, which means 'the island of iguanas'.12