Va-PoReg Country Report Guadeloupe 1900–2025

Caribs successfully resisted Spanish forces and settlers in 1515, 1520, and 1523. In 1626, a Frenchman named Pierre Bélain, sieur d’Esnambuc, ousted the Spanish who had settled on the coast and established a trading company. On 06/28/1635, Frenchmen Léonard de L’Olive and Jean Duplessis d’Ossonville founded a colony. The introduction of the slave trade in 1644 provided labor for sugar, coffee, and other plantations, leading to the establishment of slavery. In 1674, Guadeloupe shifted from chartered companies to French crown rule, becoming a dependency of Martinique until 1775. The British occupied Guadeloupe in 1759 but returned it to France in 1763. In 1794, the British briefly reoccupied Guadeloupe, later reclaimed by French revolutionary official Victor Hugues, who abolished slavery and executed numerous white planters. The British occupied Guadeloupe again in 1810, and after some changes in its status, it was returned to France in 1816. The most significant 19th-century development in the region was the complete abolition of slavery in 1848.¹

On this date, Guadeloupe was designated as a French département.² An independence movement gained momentum during the 1970s, leading to France’s decision to designate Guadeloupe as a French region in 1974. In 2000, Guadeloupe was given increased autonomy. In 2003, through a referendum, Saint-Martin and Saint Barthélemy voted to break away from Guadeloupe’s administrative jurisdiction, and this separation was fully implemented by 2007.³ Due to the legal equality of the overseas territory with the regions of mainland France, as well as its representation in the French Parliament and in the European Union, Guadeloupe can be regarded as a part of France. Alongside Martinique, La Réunion, Mayotte, and French Guiana, Guadeloupe is part of the overseas departments, constituting a unique entity that serves as both a region and a department. The residents of Guadeloupe are French citizens enjoying complete political and legal rights.⁴ FH, LIED and V-Dem do not register Guadeloupe in their database.

Part of Other Country [of France, Liberal Democracy] as of 07/01/2025 continued.