La Désirade is a commune

Communes of France

The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 overseas region and department of Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...

, in the Lesser Antilles

Lesser Antilles

The Lesser Antilles are a long, partly volcanic island arc in the Western Hemisphere. Most of its islands form the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, with the remainder located in the southern Caribbean just north of South America...

. The commune of La Désirade is made up of the island of La Désirade

La Désirade

La Désirade is a French West Indies island located at the eastern of Guadeloupe, in the Lesser Antilles.It has a land area of 20.64 km² and a population of 1,595 in 2006 , with a population density of 77 inh. per km² in 2006...

 and the uninhabited Petite Terre Islands

Petite Terre Islands

Petite Terre Islands are two small uninhabited islands located about to the south-east of the island of Grande-Terre in the archipelago of Guadeloupe, itself in the Lesser Antilles...

 located about 10 kilometres (6 mi)(6 miles) to the south of the island of La Désirade.

The administrative centre of the commune is the settlement of Beauséjour on the island of La Désirade.