Mount Pelée is a dormant volcano on the northern tip of the French overseas department of Martinique in the Lesser Antilles island arc of the Caribbean. It is among the deadliest stratovolcanoes on Earth; its volcanic cone composed of layers of volcanic ash and hardened lava

• Martinique was the main setting of the 1944 film To Have and Have Not starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
• The island is mentioned in the song Uffington wassail by Half Man Half Biscuit.
• In the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, the characters of Angelique Bouchard Collins, Josette du Pres, and Josette’s family are from Martinique.
• Martinique was also featured in the 1999 remake of “The Thomas Crown Affair,” and in the movie “Sugar Cane Alley”.
• It is also mentioned in the Beach Boys hit “Kokomo” with the line “To Martinique, that Montserrat mystique”

The inhabitants of Martinique are French citizens with full political and legal rights.

Martinique sends four deputies to the French National Assembly and two senators to the French Senate.

• Surface area: 1,130 km² (length 75 km, width 35 km)
• Status: overseas department since 19 March 1946, overseas region since 1982
• Prefectorial office: Fort-de-France (a total of 34 habitations).

Martinique is warm year-round, with temperatures usually peaking close to 30°C (around 85°F) during the day. The best time to visit Martinique is the slightly cooler, drier season of late winter to early spring (February to May) when temperatures average about 26°C (85°F). Note that this is also the peak tourist season and prices will be at their highest and attractions and lodgings most crowded.

Fort-de-France is the capital of France’s Caribbean département d’outre-mer of Martinique. With a population of 134,727 inhabitants (1999 census) in the urban area, 94,049 of whom live in the city (commune) of Fort-de-France proper, it is also one of the major cities in the Caribbean. Exports include sugar, rum, tinned fruit, and cacao.

Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, having a land area of 1,128 km². It is an overseas department of France. As with the other overseas departments, Martinique is also one of the twenty-six regions of France (being an overseas region) and an integral part of the Republic. As part of France, Martinique is part of the European Union, and its currency is the euro. Its official language is French, although almost all of its inhabitants also speak Antillean Creole (Créole Martiniquais). Martinique is pictured on all euro banknotes, on the reverse at the bottom of each note, right of the Greek ΕΥΡΩ (EURO) next to the denomination.

• Largest urban areas: Fort-de-France (134,727 inhabitants in 1999, 35% of Martinique’s population), Le Lamentin (35,460 in 1999), Sainte-Marie (32,988 in 1999), Le Robert (31,905 in 1999)
• Population: 381,427 inhabitants after the census of 1999 (359,572 en 1990), estimated 401,000 in January 2007.
• Population density: 338 inhab./km² (1999, estimated 354 in 2006)
• Urban population: 42%
• Life expectancy: 79 years (men) and 82 (women) (2000)
• Official language: French
• Principal religion: Roman Catholicism
• GDP/inhab.: €19,050 in 2006, i.e. US$23,931 at 2006 market exchange rates^[1]
• Total GDP: €7.65 billion in 2006, i.e. US$9.61 billion at 2006 market exchange rates^[1]
• Exports: €606 million (2006)^[1]
• Imports: €2,584 million (2006)^[1]
• Principal suppliers: Metropolitan France, European Union, Latin America
• Unemployment rate: 23% (2004, (without taking into account “non-declared” revenues). 26,3% in 2000).