colony · Mesoamerica and the Caribbean

Colony of Martinique

1635 CE – 1946 CE · capital Saint-Pierre; later Fort-Royal (Fort-de-France)

French Caribbean sugar colony, birthplace of the Empress Joséphine and later of the négritude movement, which became an overseas department of France in 1946.

Origins

Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc landed at Saint-Pierre in 1635 and claimed the island for the Compagnie des Îles d'Amérique. The Kalinago were pushed to the east and then expelled by 1660. Martinique came under direct royal rule in 1674 and became the seat of the governor-general of the French Windward Islands.

Rule and society

Planter society was built on sugar, coffee and cacao estates worked by enslaved Africans under the Code Noir. Saint-Pierre was the commercial and cultural centre, while Fort-Royal, later Fort-de-France, held the administration. Britain occupied Martinique several times, notably during 1794 to 1802, which kept slavery in force there during the revolutionary abolition. Joséphine de Beauharnais was born at Trois-Îlets in 1763.

Decline and legacy

Slavery ended in 1848 after a rising in Saint-Pierre. The eruption of Mount Pelée in 1902 destroyed Saint-Pierre and killed about 28,000 people. Under a 1946 law championed by Aimé Césaire, Martinique became an overseas department of France, as it remains.

Connections (1)

  • Colony of Martinique was a colony of French Empire1635 CE – 1946 CE

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Colony of Martinique. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/colony-of-martinique
MLA
“Colony of Martinique.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/colony-of-martinique. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Colony of Martinique.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/colony-of-martinique.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Colony of Martinique’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/colony-of-martinique (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻