Politics of the Collectivity of Saint Martin Politics of the Collectivity of Saint Martin Saint Martin was a French commune for many years and formed part of Guadeloupe, which is an overseas "région" and "département" of France and is therefore in the European Union. In 2003, the population of the French part of the island voted in favour of secession from Guadeloupe in order to form a separate overseas collectivity (COM) of France. On 9 February 2007, the French Parliament passed a bill granting COM status to both the French part of Saint Martin and neighbouring Saint Barthélemy. The new status took effect once the local assembly
Biodiversity of New Caledonia colonized New Zealand and New Caledonia, from South America, along the Antarctic margin of Gondwana. At the beginning of the Tertiary, New Zealand and New Caledonia moved north to a warmer climate. This led to a long period of evolution in near complete isolation. New Caledonia's natural heritage includes species whose ancestors were present on New Caledonia when it broke away from Gondwana; not only species but entire genera and even families are unique to the island. The species of the archipelago of New Caledonia are relicts of a type of vegetation which earlier covered much of the tropics of