History of Saint Pierre and Miquelon
From the end of the 17th century, English attacks led to the island's French settlers abandoning Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and the British took possession from 1713 to 1763.
France joining the American Revolutionary War against Britain led to a British attack and the deportation of the French settlers.
France finally reclaimed the islands after Napoleon's second abdication in 1815, and there followed 70 years of prosperity for the French fishing industry and residents.
There was a short 13-year economic boom on the island associated with the period of Prohibition in the United States, when Saint Pierre and Miquelon were prominent bases for alcohol smuggling.
[2][failed verification] A map drawn by Johannes Ruysch published in 1507 depicts Miquelon, St. Pierre and the surrounding islands, and labelled as Barbatos.
[3] Jacques Cartier of France referred to Saint Pierre and Miquelon and the neighboring islands as the 'Islands of Saint-Pierre' in a written report after his visit in 1536.
[citation needed] Alonzo de Santa Cruz wrote that the islands of the 'Eleven Thousand Virgins' were the destination of many fishermen from Ireland and Brittany in 1541.
The first use of the name 'Miquelon' for the large western island in the St. Pierre island group appears in Les voyages aventureux du Capitaine Martin de Hoyarsal, habitant du çubiburu a reference book for sailors known as a "navigational pilot", written by Basque seaman Martin de Hoyarçabal in 1579.
[citation needed] During the 16th century, the islands were used as a base for the seasonal cod fishery by the French of La Rochelle, Granville, Saint-Malo and the Basque Country.
The Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 brought such wars to an end, and France ceded possession of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, as well as Newfoundland, to Great Britain.
A Newfoundland planter and merchant, William Taverner, surveyed the region west of Placentia Bay for the British Board of Trade.
Cook wrote that: By the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, France had lost a good fraction of its North American empire.
However, two of the provisions of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht were that France would be granted fishing rights in the waters around Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and provided a refuge or "abri" for the fishermen.
Britain therefore returned Saint Pierre and Miquelon to France in 1763, and allowed visiting French fishermen to come ashore in Newfoundland to dry their catch.
The French Revolution erupted in 1789, and events on Saint Pierre and Miquelon were not immune to the twists and turns that ensued.
The Acadian population of Miquelon were loyal to French royalty, and decided to leave the colony for the Magdalen Islands, a small archipelago just north of Nova Scotia.
The seasonal fishermen and captured French military personnel were deported in 1793, followed by the 950 residents in 1794, who were shipped to Halifax and held for two years.
A post office was created in 1854, a bank in 1889 ("Banque des Îles") and in 1866 the island administration began a newspaper, Feuille Officielle.
Although the British had intended that the French not erect any permanent structures or live on Newfoundland, the terms of the treaty were ambiguous.
The introduction of steamships meant that fishing vessels were able to return to France with their catch without stopping at Saint Pierre and Miquelon for supplies.
Canadian whisky, Caribbean rum and legally imported French wines and spirits were the main products smuggled into and then reshipped from the islands.
[citation needed] During the US Prohibition period, many gangsters including Al Capone and Bill McCoy set up operations in the islands, using them as a base to smuggle alcohol into the US.
[20][failed verification] Fishermen and armateurs gave up their regular jobs to unload alcohol from Canada, Europe and Bermuda and store it in warehouses.
[citation needed] Also, a substantial fraction of the French fishing fleet decided not to return to Nazi-controlled France and remained in the harbor of St.
[citation needed] During the early years of World War II, the United States maintained formal relations with Vichy France.
De Gaulle realized that Canada might want to capture Saint Pierre and Miquelon (thereby eliminating French territory so close to Quebec), so he secretly planned its seizure by Free France.
On Christmas Eve 1941, Free French forces (three corvettes and the submarine Surcouf, led by Rear-Admiral Émile Muselier) "invaded" the islands.
In response, the residents of Saint Pierre and Miquelon mounted a three-day general strike in protest of this interference in local affairs.
To the consternation of law enforcement officials, there continues to be smuggling of alcohol and tobacco from Saint Pierre and Miquelon to Newfoundland.
At this point, Saint Pierre and Miquelon represent the sole remaining vestige of France's once vast North American possessions.
