colony · Mesoamerica and the Caribbean

Hospitaller Caribbean colonies

1651 CE – 1665 CE · capital Basseterre

The Caribbean islands owned by the Knights of Malta, a crusading order that briefly ran Saint Kitts, Saint Martin, Saint-Barthélemy and Saint Croix.

Origins

Philippe de Longvilliers de Poincy, a Knight of Malta and governor-general of the French Antilles, persuaded the order to buy the French shares of Saint Kitts, Saint Martin, Saint-Barthélemy and Saint Croix from the bankrupt Compagnie des Îles d'Amérique. The purchase, approved by Grand Master Jean-Paul Lascaris-Castellar and Louis XIV, was completed in 1651.

Rule and society

Poincy governed the islands from his château near Basseterre on Saint Kitts as the order's lieutenant, while the French crown kept sovereignty. It was the only overseas colony the Hospitallers ever held. The economy rested on tobacco and early sugar, with enslaved Africans as labour. Saint-Barthélemy's settlement was destroyed by the Kalinago in 1656. After Poincy's death in 1660, Charles de Sales succeeded him.

Decline and legacy

The venture never paid the distant order much. In 1665 the knights sold their rights to the new French West India Company of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, returning the islands to ordinary French colonial rule. The episode left little trace beyond Poincy's buildings.

Lineage

Hospitaller Caribbean coloniesFrench Empire 1534 CE – 1980 CE

Connections (4)

French Saint-Christophe was part of Hospitaller Caribbean colonies1651 CE – 1665 CE
Hospitaller Caribbean colonies was a colony of Hospitaller Malta1651 CE – 1665 CE
French Saint-Barthélemy was part of Hospitaller Caribbean colonies1651 CE – 1665 CE
French Saint Croix was part of Hospitaller Caribbean colonies1651 CE – 1665 CE

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Cite this page

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). Hospitaller Caribbean colonies. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/hospitaller-caribbean-colonies
MLA: “Hospitaller Caribbean colonies.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/hospitaller-caribbean-colonies. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “Hospitaller Caribbean colonies.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/hospitaller-caribbean-colonies.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Hospitaller Caribbean colonies’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/hospitaller-caribbean-colonies (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻