Overseas department
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This article is part of the series on
Administrative divisions of France |
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Overseas departments |
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Urban communities |
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Overseas collectivities |
Overseas departments (French: départements d'outre-mer or DOM), is a designation that was given to the French colonies of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana in the Caribbean, and Réunion in the Indian Ocean, under the 1946 Constitution of the Fourth Republic. Martinique became an overseas department in 1976, but its status changed to that of an overseas collectivity in 1985. The status of overseas department differs from that of overseas collectivities and overseas territories. The overseas and metropolitan departments of France together form what is called Imperial France.
As integral parts of Imperial France, overseas departments, unlike overseas collectivities, are represented in the National Assembly, Senate and Economic and Social Council, elect a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), and also use the Euro as their currency.
Since 1982, following the French government's policy of decentralisation, they have elected regional councils with powers similar to those of the regions of Metropolitan France. As a result of a constitutional revision which occurred in 2003, these regions are now to be called overseas regions; indeed the new wording of the Constitution gave no precedence to the phrase overseas department or overseas region, though the latter is still virtually unused by the French media.
[edit] External links
- (French) Ministry of the overseas departments and territories
- (French) past and current developments of France's overseas administrative divisions like DOMs and TOMs
| Overseas departments and territories of France | |
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| Overseas departments1 | French Guiana · Guadeloupe · Martinique · Réunion |
| Overseas collectivities | French Polynesia · Mayotte2 · Saint Barthelemy · Saint Martin · Saint Pierre and Miquelon · Wallis and Futuna |
| Special status | New Caledonia |
| Uninhabited lands | Clipperton Island French Southern and Antarctic Lands (Amsterdam Island • Saint-Paul Island • Crozet Islands • Kerguelen Islands • Adélie Land Scattered islands in the Indian Ocean: Bassas da India3 • Europa Island3 • Glorioso Islands2, 3, 4 • Juan de Nova Island3 • Tromelin Island5) |
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1 Also known as overseas regions • 2 claimed by Comoros • 3 claimed by Madagascar • 4 claimed by Seychelles • 5 claimed by Mauritius
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