ABOUT THE ISLANDS

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St. Pierre and Miquelon is a small archipelago lying a few miles off the south coast of Newfoundland. Portuguese explorer Joa Alvarez Fagundes discovered the islands in the 1500s. On Cartier's second voyage to the St. Lawrence River, he stopped at St. Pierre and claimed the archipelago in the name of the King of France.

After the Seven Years War, France was forced to relinquish her claim to the St. Lawrence River colonies, and Cape Breton Island. St. Pierre and Miquelon was returned to France by the signatories of the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The English had occupied the islands since 1713.

France had been awarded the islands to shelter their fishing vessels, but rivalry over fishing brought St. Pierre fishermen in constant conflict with their Newfoundland neighbours. As a result, the islands changed ownership on several occasions and it wasn't until 1815 that the islands remained in French hands permanently. The islands have long been a French colony, later an overseas territory, and now a Collectivité Territoriale.

The islands have a colourful history, much of it associated with its fishing heritage, its hundreds of shipwrecks that were scattered all around the rocky shores. On the other hand, the islands gained prominence when the great prohibition experiment took place in North America. St. Pierre became a huge offshore base where the Canadian distillers warehoused huge stocks of Canadian distilled whiskies which were legally exported to St. Pierre. The American rum-runners purchased up to 300,000 cases per month from the St. Pierre facility.

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