Saint Pierre and Miquelon is a French overseas collectivity in the

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and the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

. It consists of an island

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

, off the coast of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, near

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. The collectivity shares a maritime boundary with

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Location

Saint Pierre and Miquelon is situated south of

in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in the North Atlantic Ocean. Its distance north–south from Newfoundland is . The islands are even closer to the long

Burin Peninsula The Burin Peninsula ( ) is a peninsula located on the south coast of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Marystown is the largest population centre on the peninsula.Statistics Canada. 2017. Marystown, T ensus ...

, which is situated just to the east. In addition, Green Island, which belongs to Newfoundland, is located about halfway between the southern part of Miquelon-Langlade and Newfoundland at , only from both Langlade and St. Pierre.

Physical geography

Saint Pierre and Miquelon is an archipelago of eight islands, Saint-Pierre (25 km²) and

Miquelon-Langlade Miquelon-Langlade is the larger but less populated of the two communes (municipalities) making up the French overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, located to the south of Newfoundland in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It consists of th ...

(216 km²) being the major ones. Collectively the area of the islands is 242 km², which is about the size of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The total coastline is 120 km. The territory also includes the surrounding fishing areas in the North

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

Saint-Pierre

The island of Saint-Pierre is surrounded to the south-east by smaller dependencies, Petit Colombier, Île aux Marins,

Île aux Pigeons Île aux Pigeons (French: Pigeon Island; formerly called ''Île Canaille'') is a small uninhabited island located about off the coast of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France and the last remainin ...

and

Île aux Vainqueurs Île aux Vainqueurs (French: Isle of Winners/Vanquishers) is a small uninhabited island located about off the coast of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France and the last remaining part of New Fran ...

, and

Grand Colombier Grand Colombier is a small, uninhabited island in the French North American territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Only 50 ha in area, it lies 500 m off the north coast of Saint Pierre Island and rises to an elevation of 150 m. It ...

to the north. These islands have all been inhabited at one time or another. The settlement of Saint Pierre on Saint Pierre Island is the largest settlement in Saint Pierre and Miquelon. St. Pierre is separated from Miquelon-Langlade by a strait with very fierce currents. Fishermen call this section of ocean "The Mouth of Hell". The waters around these islands are very treacherous, and there have been over 600 shipwrecks along the coasts of the islands. The terrain is also described as mostly barren rock.

Miquelon-Langlade

The island(s) of

consists of three formerly separate islands

Miquelon Miquelon-Langlade is the larger but less populated of the two communes (municipalities) making up the French overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, located to the south of Newfoundland in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It consists of t ...

(110 km²), Langlade (91 km²) and Le Cap. In the 18th century, an isthmus of sand called

La Dune LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

was formed naturally between Miquelon and Langlade. The isthmus was reinforced by hand with sand and

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

deposits to what is now a sand dune. Along the isthmus, there are over 500 wrecked ships. What was originally the ''island'' Miquelon is now also called ''Grande Miquelon'' while ''Petite Miquelon'' refers to Langlade. The settlement of

lies at the junction of the northwest corner of Miquelon Island and Le Cap.

Climate

Winter in saint-pierre, SPM, white house

The climate is very damp and windy and winters are harsh and long. The spring and early summer are foggy and cool. Late summer and early fall are sunny. Winds pick up during spring and autumn.

Environment

Seals and other wildlife can be found in the

Grand Barachois Grand Barachois is a large natural lagoon in Saint Pierre and Miquelon. It lies immediately south of Miquelon Island, and is formed largely by the 12 kilometre-long tombolo of La Dune. See also *Barachois A barachois is a term used in Atlantic ...

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...

of Miquelon. Every spring,

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

s migrating to Greenland are visible off the coasts of Miquelon and St Pierre.

Trilobite Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the At ...

fossils have been found on Langlade. There were a number of stone pillars off the island coasts called "L'anse aux Soldats" that have been eroded away and disappeared in the 1970s. Maritime claims:
''exclusive economic zone:''
''territorial sea:'' Elevation extremes:
''lowest point:'' Atlantic Ocean 0 m
''highest point:''

Morne de la Grande Montagne Morne de la Grande Montagne is the highest point of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, an overseas collectivity of France located in the Atlantic Ocean, with an elevation of 240 metres (787 ft). It is located near the center of Miquelon Island, ...

240 m Natural resources: fish, deepwater ports Land use:
''arable land:'' 13%
''permanent crops:'' 0%
''permanent pastures:'' 0%
''forests and woodland:'' 4%
''other:'' 83% (1993 est.) Natural hazards: persistent

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...

throughout the year can be a maritime hazard Environment - current issues: The fishing beds have been overfished, and may or may not recover. Geography - note: vegetation scanty

Notes

External links

"Saint Pierre and Miquelon" CIA Factbook 2016
{{Americas topic, Climate of