An overseas department (French: département d’outre-mer or DOM) is a department of France that is outside metropolitan France. They have the same political status as metropolitan departments. As integral parts of France and the European Union, overseas departments are represented in the National Assembly, Senate, and Economic and Social Council, vote to elect European Parliament (MEP), and also use the Euro as their currency. Each overseas department is also an overseas region.
As of March 2011, the overseas departments of France are the following:
- French Guiana in South America
- Guadeloupe in North America (the Caribbean)
- Martinique in North America (the Caribbean)
- Réunion in Africa (the Indian Ocean)
- Mayotte in Africa (the Indian Ocean)
Read more about Overseas Department: History, Demographics
Famous quotes containing the word department:
“The African race evidently are made to excel in that department which lies between the sensuousness and the intellectual—what we call the elegant arts. These require rich and abundant animal nature, such as they possess; and if ever they become highly civilised, they will excel in music, dancing and elocution.”
—Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896)