Beginning The Beguine Trivia Quiz

Answer: Euro

Both countries are overseas regions of France, and are considered an integral part of that country. As such they are part of the European Union and have the Euro as their currency. The first European to set foot on either island was Christopher Columbus in 1493, when he landed on Guadeloupe, but his party left no settlers behind. Guadeloupe became part of the Kingdom of France in 1674. Over the next hundred years the island was invaded and seized by the British several times, mainly because of the lucrative sugar trade.

At the end of the seven years war the British decided that keeping Canada was more important than keeping Guadeloupe, and it was returned to France as part of the 1763 Treaty of Paris.

Answer: St. Pierre

Up until 1902 St. Pierre was the capital of Martinique. The volcanic eruption completely destroyed the town and killed 30,000 people who lived there. This caused the capital to be moved to Fort-de-France, and this has been the capital ever since. One of three survivors of the volcano was August Cyparis.

His life was saved because he was in prison, and the prison walls were thick enough to withstand the eruption. He went on to travel with Barnum and Bailey's Circus.

Answer: Caribbean plate

The island lies along what is known as the subduction fault, which is the area where the North American plate slides under the Caribbean plate. This gives the island eight areas of volcanic activity. The oldest lava rocks found are about twenty four million years old, but the oldest volcano on the island is Mont Pelee, which formed about 400,000 years ago, which makes it quite young in mountain terms.

It last erupted in 1902 and is still regarded as an active volcano.

Answer: Leeward Islands

Set in the south Caribbean Sea, Guadeloupe is the most southern of the Leeward Islands. It has two main islands, Basse-Terre and Grand-Terre, which are separated by a narrow sea channel. Three adjacent French islands come under the jurisdiction of Guadeloupe.

Whilst it enjoys a warm climate its position in the Caribbean Sea does mean it suffers from hurricanes, and over the years it has been hit by several big ones, which have caused extensive damage. When Hurricane George made landfall there in 1998 it destroyed almost 90% of the banana crop, a large part of Guadeloupian economy.

The other main economic activity is tourism, with many large cruise ships now choosing to stop there.

Answer: Snakes

The warm climate means that Martinique is home to many varieties of snake, most of which are venomous. In the 1800s the settlers introduced the mongoose in an effort to control the snake population. Unfortunately they preyed on the eggs of wild birds, which has led to extermination or extreme endangerment for some native ground laying species, including the Martinique trembler.

The snake population however remains largely untouched.

Answer: Huguenots

The earliest French settlers in Martinique were Huguenots looking for religious freedom. There were few Catholic priests in the area at the time, so despite various edicts issued by King Louis XIV they lived a quite prosperous and peaceful life. This changed in the mid 1680s when Huguenots were forcibly deported to Martinique if they refused to convert to Catholicism.

They were transported in ships reminiscent of the slave trade, and were treated as serfs when they reached the island. The harsher regime imposed by France led to the Huguenot population emigrating from Martinique to British Protestant colonies in America as well as Protestant European countries.

This decimation of the population set the economy of Martinique back for decades.

Answer: Christine Arron

Christine Arron was born on Guadeloupe in 1973. She represented France at European, World and Olympic level. She won many medals, including European Gold in 1998 in a new European record time. She also won gold in the 4 x 100 metres relay in the same games. 1998 also saw her named European Woman Athlete of The Year.

She is not the only famous sports person to come from the island. Thierry Henry of Arsenal and France football fame is of Guadeloupian parentage. Lilian Thuram of France and FC Barcelona was born on the island as was Marie-Jose Perec. Internationally the island hosts the jet ski world championship each year. This event has established a reputation as one of the most difficult in the world for competitors.

Answer: Mosquito bites

As with many tropical climates both islands suffer from mosquitos, and whilst yellow fever is not an issue on either island, dengue fever epidemics occur every few years, with isolated cases popping up at other times. It is transmitted by several different types of mosquito, and five separate types of the virus have been identified. Once you have had one of the types you have life long immunity to it and short term immunity to the other types. Fortunately it is rarely life threatening.

As at 2014 there is no vaccine for this disease, although work is continuing to find one.

It is estimated that over fifty million people worldwide have the disease during any one year. At the moment prevention is centred on control of the mosquito population.

Answer: Rum

Rum can be made direct from sugarcane juice or from sugarcane by products such as molasses. Traditionally it has been made on Caribbean islands, and they still account for the majority of the output. The sugar trade in Martinique was, at one time, the backbone of the economy, but the decline in it has led to tourism and the growing of bananas now being the biggest economic factors on the island.

There is not much sugarcane grown now in comparison to the past, and most of it goes to the rum producing industry. Martinique has to import almost all of its meat, vegetable and grain food requirements.

Answer: Creole

"Beguine" comes from the Creole language spoken on both islands. "Beke" or "Beque" means a white person while "Beguine" is the feminine equivalent. The dance is a cross between Latin folk dance and French ballroom dancing - the nearest modern dance to it would be a slow rumba.

It is danced close together, and hip rolls are an integral part of it. It was popular in the Caribbean area in the 1930s, but became more widely known after Cole Porter wrote "Begin the Beguine", which he featured in two musicals, and which became a big band hit for Artie Shaw.