21 Oct 1520: Saint Pierre and Miquelon discovered
On this day in 1520, Portuguese explorer João Alvares Fagundes discovered Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Fagundes originally christened them the “islands of 11,000 virgins”.
Today, Saint Pierre and Miquelon is an overseas territory of France; it is the country’s only remaining holding bordering the North American continent.
Saint Pierre and Miquelon are part of France’s overseas départements and territories, collectively known in French as DOM-TOM. Here are some others:
- French Guiana (home of Devil’s Island), in South America
- French Polynesia, a large collection of islands in the south Pacific, with five groups including the
- Marquesas Islands
- Society Islands, which are composed of the
- Windward Islands, including Tahiti
- Leeward Islands, including Bora Bora
- Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean
- Martinique, also in the Caribbean
- Réunion, southeast of Madagascar, most recently notable for wreckage of Malaysian Airlines flight 370
Image: unofficial flag of Saint Pierre and Miquelon
A couple of bits: Firstly, French Polynesia is a Collectivity d’Outre Mer (COM), different from the others in that it has more sovereignty and is not considered an integral part of France like Reunion and Guadeloupe are. (Think of French Polynesia and St. Pierre as like Alaska and Hawaii and Reunion and Guadeloupe like American Samoa and Guam.)
Also the St. Pierre flag is missing the hoist bit that has representations of other flags (including the Basque one) on it.