Le Lamentin (; ; ) is a city and town, located in the French overseas department and region of

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

. With its area of 62.32 km², it is the town with the largest area in Martinique. Le Lamentin, with close to 40,000 inhabitants, is the second most populated town of Martinique, after

Fort-de-France Fort-de-France (, , ; ) is a Communes of France, commune and the capital city of Martinique, an overseas department and region of France located in the Caribbean. History Before it was ceded to France by Spain in 1635, the area of Fort-de-Fra ...

. 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 rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southeast Florida, United States ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Af''). 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 on 25 December 1964.

History

This low region of Martinique, with its

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen and remove sal ...

and flooded lands, keeps in its name the memory of the pacific

manatees Manatees (, family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living spe ...

, 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 is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc w ...

. 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 from Martinique. He was "one of the founders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature" and coined the word in French. He ...

. 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 Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

* Treichville,

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...

References

External links

Official website
(in French)
Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport
(in French) * Communes of Martinique Populated places in Martinique {{Martinique-geo-stub