High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Basse-Terre Island is the name of the western-half of Guadeloupe proper, in the Lesser Antilles. It is separated from the other half of Guadeloupe proper, Grande-Terre, by a narrow sea channel called the Rivière Salée. Basse-Terre Island has a land area of 847.82 km². At the 2006 census the population of Basse-Terre Island was 186,661 inhabitants living in 16 communes. The population density was 220 inhabitants per km². The largest city on Basse-Terre Island is the city of Basse-Terre which had 37,455 inhabitants in its urban area at the 2006 census. The city of Basse-Terre is the prefecture of Guadeloupe.