The Guadeloupe Archipelago includes the large islands of Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre, the nearby islands of Marie-Galante and La Desirade, Les Saintes, the island of Saint Barthelemy and the French controlled part of the island of Saint Martin. The islands are situated at 7000 km from the Metropolitan France in the middle of the Carribean Ocean.
It is an overseas region of France consisting of a single overseas department, and the prefecture of Guadeloupe is Basse-Terre. Christopher Columbus named the island Santa Maria de Guadalupe in 1493 after the Virgin Mary, venerated in the Spanish town of Guadelupe in Extremadura.