2007 Martinique earthquake America such as in Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. In Caracas, Venezuela, some people evacuated office buildings. The intensity reached VI to VII on the EMS98 scale in Martinique and Dominica. In the surrounding region, the South American Plate is subducting beneath the Caribbean Plate. This earthquake occurred within the South America Plate and was in response to stresses generated by the slow distortion of the plate. 2007 Martinique earthquake The 2007 Martinique earthquake took place on November 29 at in the Windward Islands region, underneath the Martinique Passage. It was a magnitude 7.4 earthquake which occurred from Fort-de-France,
Tourism in the Caribbean weeks or months at a time. The Caribbean islands were colonies of European countries, and early tourists went to their nation's colonies. Barbados and Jamaica were visited by the English, Curaçao by the Dutch, and Martinique by the French. American tourists traveled to The Bahamas and Cuba. In the 1920s, tourists visited the Caribbean for pleasurable, sun-bathing vacations. Sun exposure was considered healthy at that time and tans were a symbol of "spontaneity and sensuality" among the wealthy. Before World War II, more than 100,000 tourists visited the region a year. Tourism became an economically important industry as Caribbean bananas,