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Old 01-04-2013, 03:05 PM
 
Location: In the heights
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Well, that's about it. Are these islands very similar to others in the region in terms of cuisine and culture? Do they have standards of living similar to, better, or worse than many of their other west indian counterparts? Has anyone spent much time there?

I know that Saint Martin and St. Barthelemy are different as kind of stomping grounds for vacationers and the wealthy (I might be wrong on those though), but what are Martinique and Guadeloupe like?
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Old 01-04-2013, 04:01 PM
 
Location: Crooklyn, New York
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OyCrumbler View Post
Well, that's about it. Are these islands very similar to others in the region in terms of cuisine and culture? Do they have standards of living similar to, better, or worse than many of their other west indian counterparts? Has anyone spent much time there?

I know that Saint Martin and St. Barthelemy are different as kind of stomping grounds for vacationers and the wealthy (I might be wrong on those though), but what are Martinique and Guadeloupe like?
I've only been to Martinique. It's very developed as it's a départment of France. It's also way more expensive than other islands. Good shopping on the whole as you get nearly all the items there that you'd find in France.

The cuisine is different from Bajan or Trinidadian cuisine. Bajans eat a lot of pork and fried foods. Trinis have more of an Indian influence. On both islands, rice and peas (or "rice 'n pea" as we say), brown stew chicken, macaroni pie, sweetbread, bakes and doubles are staples. You'd be hard-pressed to find any of that in Martinique. They tend to be more seafood-oriented than the Big Three (JA, Bim and TnT). Lots of shellfish, crayfish, crab, etc.

Language differences create obvious barriers between Martinique and the Anglophone Caribbean. I would say that most Anglophone islands are similar to American states insofar as people go to different UWI campuses, have family on other islands, etc. My grandmother, for example, was a Jamaican who moved to Barbados. My wife's mother was a Trinidadian who moved to Jamaica. And that's fairly common in my experience.

Martinique does have a carnival and they produce some soca (although they are way behind on the scene compared to Bim and Trini).

Martinique.....they Reach !
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Old 08-02-2013, 11:21 PM
 
578 posts, read 958,022 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OyCrumbler View Post
Well, that's about it. Are these islands very similar to others in the region in terms of cuisine and culture? Do they have standards of living similar to, better, or worse than many of their other west indian counterparts? Has anyone spent much time there?

I know that Saint Martin and St. Barthelemy are different as kind of stomping grounds for vacationers and the wealthy (I might be wrong on those though), but what are Martinique and Guadeloupe like?
The French West Indies can be a very broad term. Martinique and Guadeloupe have just about everything in common with or several series of traditions, foods, cuisines, and folklore with other islands and nations such as Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada. All of these places speak virtually the same "patois" or Antillean French Creole dialects and languages. Haiti would be the odd one out of all of these nations given their differences and different pattern of history and isolation etc.

Martinique and Guadeloupe gave birth to zouk btw. Their food consists of French cuisine blended with that of Africans, and the Carib and Arawak indigenous peoples. Later on, influences from India were added into the fabric. Guadeloupe has a larger Indian(from India) population than Martinique.

Martinique and Guadeloupe are overseas departments of France.
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Old 08-06-2013, 02:54 PM
 
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St Vincent & Grenadines & Grenada were French over a hundred years ago, and though some cultural bits live on, they are definitely mainly English speaking with English based creole. St Lucia, Dominica, though officially English, retain the French creole..
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Old 08-07-2013, 01:15 AM
 
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Few people do actually know that in financial and bank terms, they are a tax haven, -with a different st of regulations than the Cayman islands or the Netherlands Antilles, though_. For instance, the citizens of the French Antilles pays on average 30% less taxes than in Mainland France , -in Tahiti, New Caledonia and Wallos and Futuna islands in the Pacific there isn't even a personel tax to speak of. It's bitter irony that the French government is leading the way in the fight against the tax havens (or 'heavens") and is does not even try to put its own house in order. But as nobody has the courage to make a stand up in front of the French state-,not even the US government-I say more power to France!
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Old 08-11-2013, 09:42 PM
 
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Culture is totally different.
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Old 08-12-2013, 12:31 AM
 
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. It's on par with a lot of African nations.
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Old 10-10-2013, 05:31 AM
 
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Originally Posted by The Postman View Post
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. It's on par with a lot of African nations.
Haiti is also culturally different from other French speaking nations in the Caribbean. The food and folklore is different too
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Old 10-10-2013, 05:37 AM
 
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Originally Posted by nj185 View Post
St Vincent & Grenadines & Grenada were French over a hundred years ago, and though some cultural bits live on, they are definitely mainly English speaking with English based creole. St Lucia, Dominica, though officially English, retain the French creole..
St Vincent and Grenadines and Grenada are still very culturally French. They still retain French patois/French creole. While they have some populations that have more of British influence, most of the base is of a Franco/French cultural orientation. St Barthelemy and St Martin are French as well too.

Trinidad is heavily Spanish and French and creole/Patois French influenced and many aspects of these still culturally remain.

Dominica and St Lucia are virtually French, but English is the mother tongue. Dominica and St Lucia still retain French patois/French Creole. Most people from Dominica would tell you to this day that they feel that they would be better off as being part of France. They also don't fit in much with the more British islands, they'd fit in and feel more in place with French places.
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Old 10-10-2013, 05:47 AM
 
308 posts, read 498,426 times
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Originally Posted by pigeonhole View Post
Few people do actually know that in financial and bank terms, they are a tax haven, -with a different st of regulations than the Cayman islands or the Netherlands Antilles, though_. For instance, the citizens of the French Antilles pays on average 30% less taxes than in Mainland France , -in Tahiti, New Caledonia and Wallos and Futuna islands in the Pacific there isn't even a personel tax to speak of. It's bitter irony that the French government is leading the way in the fight against the tax havens (or 'heavens") and is does not even try to put its own house in order. But as nobody has the courage to make a stand up in front of the French state-,not even the US government-I say more power to France!
Martinique and Guadeloupe are integral parts of France. They are overseas departments.
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