Basse-Terre is the prefecture (capital city) of Guadeloupe, an overseas region and department of France located in the Lesser Antilles. The city of Basse-Terre is located on Basse-Terre Island, the western half of Guadeloupe.Although it is the administrative capital, Basse-Terre is only the second largest city in Guadeloupe behind Pointe-à-Pitre. Together with its urban area it had 44,864 inhabitants in 2012 (11,534 of whom lived in the city of Basse-Terre proper).