A French island group and overseas territory in the northern Atlantic Ocean south of Newfoundland, Canada. The two main islands include Saint Pierre, site of the capital, also named Saint Pierre, and Miquelon, the largest of the islands. Settled by Basque and Norman fishermen in 1604, the islands were taken by the British three times and finally awarded to France in 1814. They are the sole remnants of the once vast French territory in North America.