Macouba is a small municipality of 4,183 acres (1,693 ha) created on March 1, 1845, in the northeast of Martinique between Grand-Rivière and Basse-Pointe. Bordered to the south by Mount Pelée, to the north by its steep cliffs corroded by the Atlantic Ocean, to the east by the Potiche river, and to the west by Ajoupa-Bouillon, its territory extends from the coast to 4,265 ft (1,300 m) above sea level. Its population of 1,715 inhabitants is marked by a strong Indian presence. The culture of the eponymous tobacco, very famous in Europe, made its prosperity in the 18th and 19th centuries. The tobacco leaf has, in fact, remained the emblem of the town, the name of which is borrowed from a freshwater fish much appreciated by Father Labat, the local parish priest from 1694 to 1696, or from an old expression indicating the north.