Saint-Martin is part of Guadeloupe, an overseas
department of France. Yet the area (1780 sq km) is
not included in France (547,030 sq km) - it even notes
this on the CIA Factbook page for France. Under
Netherlands Antilles: "border countries: Guadeloupe
(Saint Martin) 10.2 km." But under France, the
overseas departments (French Guiana, Guadeloupe,
Martinique, Reunion) and territorial collectivities
(Mayotte, Saint Pierre and Miquelon) are included in
administrative divisions, while 10 dependent areas are
also shown in another category. Still if you go to
Saint Pierre and Miquelon it says it is a
"self-governing territorial collectivity." What are
the arguments for and against overseas departments and
overseas territories being France? And if they are
France and not French possessions or dependencies,
shouldn't they be included in the area of France?

--- Kevin Meynell <knm@...> wrote:

>
> >so why cant i get over gibraltar being british
>
> IMO, you have to separate the realm from the
> political units. The Virgin
> Islands are demonstratively American, but not an
> integral part of the
> United States. I think there is a valid argument for
> suggesting that the
> French DOMs should be considered France proper, but
> not the likes of
> Greenland and Aruba being part of Denmark and the
> Netherlands respectively.
> I must stress that this has nothing to do with
> recognising claims for
> self-determination or otherwise, but merely a matter
> of clarifying the
> nomenclature.
>
> Regards,
>
> Kevin Meynell
>
>

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