Le Lamentin (; gcf, label= Martinican Creole, Lanmanten; ) is a city and town, located in the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

overseas department and region of

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label= Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in ...

. With its 62,32 km², it is the town with the largest area of Martinique. Le Lamentin, with near to 40 000 inhabitants, is the second most populated town of Martinique, after

Fort-de-France Fort-de-France (, , ; gcf, label= Martinican Creole, Fodfwans) is a commune and the capital city of Martinique, an overseas department and region of France located in the Caribbean. It is also one of the major cities in the Caribbean. Histo ...

. It is also the first industrial town and the heart of the island's economy.

Geography

The town, incorporated in the region of Fort-de-France, is located in the center of the island of Martinique. Originally a giant

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

land and mangrove region, it is now a riparian town, located by the sea in the Bay of Fort-de-France and crossed by the island's longest river (36 km): the Lézarde.

Climate

Le Lamentin has a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

''Am''). The average annual temperature in Le Lamentin is . The average annual rainfall is with November as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in February, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Le Lamentin was on 7 October 2012; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 25 December 1964.

History

This low region of Martinique, with its

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in sever ...

and flooded lands, keeps in its name the memory of the pacific manatees, hunted for their meat by the island's first inhabitants. The river La Lézarde was frequently visited by Manatees, now extinct in the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc be ...

. The legend says that, once upon a time, a manatee was found dead on the river banks and since then, the town has adopted the name Le Lamentin. Nowadays, a symbolic statue of a manatee rests in front of city hall.

Population

Economy

Le Lamentin is Martinique's economical and industrial center. Specialized mainly in tertiary industries, it is home to five industrial zones and two joint development zones (La Lézarde, La Jambette, Les Mangles Acajou, Les hauts de Californie, Place d'Armes, Lareinty and Manhity), an oil refinery named La Sara and the two largest shopping centers of the island (La Galleria and Place d'Armes). On the administrative aspect, Le Lamentin is home to large groups such as the Caisse Générale de Sécurité Sociale, the Caisse d'Allocations Familiales and the Chambers of Agriculture. It also houses the headquarters of various groups such as Société Martiniquaise des Eaux (the island's water company) and banks such as Crédit Agricole. The town of Le Lamentin is also home to the island's only international airport, Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport, named after local author and politician

Aimé Césaire Aimé Fernand David Césaire (; ; 26 June 1913 – 17 April 2008) was a French poet, author, and politician. He was "one of the founders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature" and coined the word in French. He founded the P ...

. The airport had, in 2019, a total passenger traffic of 2,050,030 peopleStatistiques annuelles Aéroport de Martinique - Aimé Césaire
UAF and represents the 12th busiest airport in the Caribbean, just behind Guadeloupe and Curaçao.

Twin towns

* Santiago de Cuba,

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

Treichville Treichville is a neighborhood in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It is one of the 10 urban communes of the city. Treichville is one of four communes of Abidjan that are entirely south of Ébrié Lagoon, the others being Port-Bouët, Koumassi, and Marcory. ...