About Cool Maps of France’s Overseas Territories and Departments

March 1, 2008 by W. Frederick Zimmerman

Dear readers,

I am fond of  Cool Maps of France’s Overseas Territories and Departments because I love exotic places.  This is a sort of companion volume to

  Cool Maps of France: Paris and Beyond

I say "sort of" because the business case for doing this book was pretty tenuous compared to the case for Cool Maps of France.  France is one of the most heavily touristed (sic?) countries in the world, and a quick Amazon search reveals that books on "France maps" sell well.  I can’t say the same about "maps of St. Pierre and Miquelon" or any of the 20+ other French overseas territories illustrated in this book.   Nevertheless, I felt impelled to do this book, simply because I think the places shown in it are cool.

This book includes the following 48 figures and tables:


Figure 1.  France’s
overseas territories and departments


Table 1. Status and population


Table 2.  Uninhabited
islands


Figure 2. Martinique 1632 (Library of Congress)



Figure 3.  Martinique
(Central Intelligence Agency 2006)



Figure 4. Fort-de-France 1984 
(U.S. State Department)


Figure 5.  French Guiana
shaded relief 1992 (Central Intelligence Agency)


Figure 6.  French Guiana
political 1992 (Central Intelligence Agency)


Figure 7.  French Guiana
vegetation 1972 (Central Intelligence Agency) 
The territory is mostly rainforest.


Figure 8.  French Guiana
economic activity 1972 (Central Intelligence Agency)


Figure 9. French Polynesia 1989 (Central Intelligence Agency)


Figure 10. Guadeloupe (Central Intelligence Agency)


Figure 11.  Île
Saint-Barthélemy (Central Intelligence Agency)


Figure 12. Île Saint-Martin (Central Intelligence Agency)


Figure 13. Mayotte 
(Central Intelligence Agency). The Comoros Islands are to the west.


Figure 14. Location of Mayotte (WikiMedia Commons, 2008)


Figure 15.  New
Caledonia (Central Intelligence Agency)


Figure 16.  Réunion
(Central Intelligence Agency)


Figure 17. Réunion – the day after the volcano erupted,
January 16, 2002 (NASA).  Red, indicating
patches of active lava, is just barely visible at the volcanic cone on the
southwestern  island.


Figure 18.  Île
Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (Central Intelligence Agency)


Figure 19. Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (NASA)


Figure 20. Îles Wallis and Iles de Horne (Central Intelligence
Agency)


Figure 23.  Île Alofi,
to the southeast of Futuna (NASA).


Figure 22.  Futuna
Island (NASA)


Figure 21.  Uvea, one of
the Wallis Islands (NASA).




Figure 24. Île Amsterdam (WikiMedia Commons)


Figure 25. Île St. Paul (WikiMedia Commons)


Figure 26.  Bassas da
India  (Central Intelligence Agency)


Figure 27. Bassas da India from space (NASA)


Figure 28.  Clipperton
Island (Central Intelligence Agency)


Figure 29. Clipperton Island from space (NASA)


Figure 30.  Crozet
Islands (Central Intelligence Agency)


Figure 31. Crozet Islands eastern group (NASA)


Figure 32. Ile Europa (Central Intelligence Agency)


Figure 33. Île Europa land use (WikiMedia Commons)


Figure 34. Île Europa (NASA)


Figure 35. French Antarctic and Southern Lands (Central
Intelligence Agency)


Figure 36.  Îles
Glorieuses (Central Intelligence Agency)


Figure 37.  Îles
Glorieuses (NASA)


Figure 38.  Île Juan de
Nova (Central Intelligence Agency)


Figure 39.  Île Juan de
Nova (NASA).


Figure 40. Île Kerguelen (Central Intelligence Agency)


Figure 41. Île Kerguelen (NASA)


Figure 42. Landsat infrared image of Kerguelen (NASA)


Figure 43.  Baie du
Morbihan, Kerguelen Islands (NASA)


Figure 44. Map of Kerguelen drawn during the expedition of
Captain James Cook (WikiMedia Commons)


Figure 45. Île Tromelin (Central Intelligence Agency)


Figure 46. Île Tromelin (NASA)

If you are like me, you will love flipping through these beautifully printed color maps of some of the world’s most isolated and unusual places.

Enjoy!

Cordially,

Fred Zimmerman
Publisher, Nimble Books LLC

P.S. Check out the other books in the Cool Maps series:


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