Editing Martinique (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Martinique|New Spain|Spanish West Indies|French West Indies}}

===Pre-European contact and early colonial periods===
The island was occupied first by [[Arawak peoples|Arawaks]], then by [[Island Caribs|Caribs]]. The Arawaks came from Central America in the 1st century AD and the Caribs came from the Venezuelan coast around the 11th century.

[[Christopher Columbus]] charted Martinique (without landing) in 1493, during his second voyage, but Spain had little interest in the territory.<ref name="britannica1" /> Columbus landed during a later voyage, on 15 June 1502, after a 21-day [[trade wind]] [[Voyages of Christopher Columbus|passage]], his fastest ocean voyage.<ref name="britannica1" /><ref>Flint, Valerie I.J.. "Christopher Columbus". Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 May. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christopher-Columbus. Accessed 9 May 2025</ref> He spent three days there refilling his water casks, bathing and washing laundry.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morison |first1=Samuel |title=Admiral of the Ocean Sea |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.185259 |date=1942 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |location=Boston |isbn=978-0-316-58478-4 |pages=588–589}}</ref>

The Indigenous people Columbus encountered called Martinique "Matinino". He was told by Indigenous people of
San Salvador that "the island of Matinino was entirely populated by women on whom the Caribs descended at certain seasons of the year; and if these women bore sons they were entrusted to the father to bring up."<ref>''Columbus, Christopher, The Four Voyages''. Penguin Classics 1969. Translated by J. M. Cohen. p. 98.</ref>

In 1635, [[Spain]] formally ceded Martinique to [[France]] after 133 years of Spanish rule. On 15 September 1635, [[Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc]], French governor of the island of [[St. Kitts]], landed in the harbour of [[St. Pierre, Martinique|St. Pierre]] with 80 to 150 French settlers after being driven off St. Kitts by the English.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Family tree of Pierre BELAIN d'ESNAMBUC |url=https://en.geneastar.org/genealogy/belain/pierre-belain-d-esnambuc |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=Geneanet |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The statue of Belain d'Esnambuc in La Savane Park in the town of Fort-de-France, Martinique. {{!}} Royal Museums Greenwich |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-1151726 |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=www.rmg.co.uk}}</ref> D'Esnambuc claimed Martinique for the French king [[Louis XIII]] and the French "[[Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique]]" (Company of the American Islands), and established the first European settlement at Fort Saint-Pierre (now St. Pierre).<ref name="britannica1" /> D'Esnambuc died in 1636, leaving the company and Martinique in the hands of his nephew, [[Jacques Dyel du Parquet]], who in 1637 became governor of the island.<ref name="britannica1" />

In 1636, in the first of many skirmishes, the Indigenous [[Kalinago]] rose against the settlers to drive them off the island.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Murphy |first=Tessa |title=The torrid zone: Caribbean colonization and cultural interaction in the long seventeenth century |date=2018 |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |isbn=978-1-61117-891-3 |editor-last=Roper |editor-first=L.H. |series=The Carolina Lowcountry and the Atlantic World |location=Columbia |chapter=Kalinago Colonizers: Indigenous People and the Settlement of the Lesser Antilles}}</ref> The French repelled the natives and forced them to retreat to the eastern part of the island, on the Caravelle Peninsula in the region then known as the Capesterre. When the Caribs revolted against French rule in 1658, the governor [[Charles Houël du Petit Pré]] retaliated with war against them. Many were killed, and those who survived were taken captive and expelled from the island. Some Caribs fled to [[Dominica]] or [[Saint Vincent (island)|St. Vincent]], where the French agreed to leave them at peace.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}

After the death of du Parquet in 1658, his widow [[Marie Bonnard du Parquet]] tried to govern Martinique, but dislike of her rule led King [[Louis XIV]] to take over the sovereignty of the island.<ref name="britannica1" /> In 1654, Dutch Jews expelled from Portuguese Brazil introduced sugar plantations worked by large numbers of enslaved Africans.<ref name="britannica1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Martinique |url=https://www.jaimemontilla.com/martinique |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=jaimemontilla.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Glimpses into American Jewish History |url=https://personal.stevens.edu/~llevine/martinique_guad_part_30.pdf}}</ref>

In 1667, the [[Second Anglo-Dutch War]] spilled out into the Caribbean, with Britain [[Battle of Martinique (1667)|attacking]] the pro-Dutch French fleet in Martinique, virtually destroying it and further cementing British preeminence in the region.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_martinique_1667.html |title=Battle of Martinique, 25 June 1667 |access-date=10 July 2019 |archive-date=10 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710012651/http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_martinique_1667.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633-1707) - The Attack on the French Ships at Martinique, 6th July 1667 |url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/400086/the-attack-on-the-french-ships-at-martinique-6th-july-1667 |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=www.rct.uk |language=en}}</ref> In 1674, the Dutch [[Invasion of Martinique (1674)|attempted to conquer]] the island, but were repulsed.<ref name="britannica1" />

[[File:Martinique 1667.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|The [[Battle of Martinique (1667)|attack on the French ships]] at Martinique in 1667]]

Because there were few [[Catholic]] priests in the French Antilles, many of the earliest French settlers were [[Huguenots]] who sought religious freedom.<ref>{{cite web |title=Martinique — History and Culture |url=https://www.iexplore.com/articles/travel-guides/caribbean/martinique/history-and-culture |access-date=21 September 2020 |publisher=www.iexplore.com |archive-date=1 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301061300/https://www.iexplore.com/articles/travel-guides/caribbean/martinique/history-and-culture |url-status=live }}</ref> Others were transported there as a punishment for refusing to convert to Catholicism, many of them dying en route.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baird |first=Charles |year=1885 |title=History of the Huguenot Emigration to America |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofhugueno00bair/mode/1up |location=New York |publisher=Dodd, Mead and Co. |page=226}}</ref> Those who survived were quite industrious and over time prospered, though the less fortunate were reduced to the status of indentured servants. Although edicts from King Louis XIV's court regularly came to the islands to suppress the [[Protestant]] "heretics", these were mostly ignored by island authorities until Louis XIV's [[Revocation of the Edict of Nantes|Edict of Revocation]] in 1685.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Huguenots in France |first=Samuel |last=Smiles |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26524/26524-h/26524-h.htm |access-date=2022-10-13 |via=Project Gutenberg |archive-date=5 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230305221729/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26524/26524-h/26524-h.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Huguenot Refuge |url=https://museeprotestant.org/en/notice/the-huguenot-refuge/ |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=Musée protestant |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The period of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1661-1700) |url=https://museeprotestant.org/en/notice/the-period-of-the-revocation-of-the-edict-of-nantes-1661-1700/ |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=Musée protestant |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Escape from Babylon {{!}} Christian History Magazine |url=https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/escape-from-babylon |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=Christian History Institute |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Levush |first=Ruth |date=2019-12-11 |title=Report on Right of Huguenots to French Citizenship {{!}} In Custodia Legis |url=https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2019/12/report-on-right-of-huguenots-to-french-citizenship/ |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=The Library of Congress}}</ref>

As many of the planters on Martinique were Huguenots suffering under the harsh strictures of the Revocation, they began plotting to emigrate from Martinique with many of their recently arrived brethren. Many of them were encouraged by the Catholics, who looked forward to their departure and the opportunities for seizing their property. By 1688, nearly all of Martinique's French Protestant population had escaped to the [[Province of New York|British American]] colonies or Protestant countries in Europe.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} The policy decimated the population of Martinique and the rest of the French Antilles and set back their colonisation by decades, causing the French king to relax his policies in the region, which left the islands susceptible to British occupation over the next century.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/historyofhugueno00bair |title=History of the Huguenot Migration to America |year=1885 |pages=205–107 |location=New York |publisher=Dodd, Mead & Company}}</ref>

===Post-1688 period===
Under governor of the Antilles [[Charles de Courbon, comte de Blénac]], Martinique served as a home port for French pirates, including [[Captain Crapo|Captain Crapeau]], [[Étienne de Montauban]], and [[Mathurin Desmarestz]].<ref name="Gasser">{{cite journal |last1=Gasser |first1=Jacques |title=De la mer des Antilles à l'océan Indien (From the Caribbean Sea to the Indian Ocean) |journal=Bulletin du Cercle Généalogique de Bourbon (Bulletin of the Bourbon Genealogical Circle) |date=1992–1993 |volume=38–41 |url=http://membre.oricom.ca/yarl/livre/3F/0402gasser.html |access-date=31 August 2017 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303193228/http://membre.oricom.ca/yarl/Livre/3F/0402gasser.html |url-status=live }} French language original, as reprinted in ''Le Diable Volant: Une histoire de la flibuste: de la mer des Antilles à l'océan Indien (1688–1700)'' / (''The Flying Devil: A History of the Filibusters: From the Antilles to the Indian Ocean (1688–1700)'').</ref> In later years, pirate [[Bartholomew Roberts]] styled his [[jolly roger]] as a black flag depicting a pirate standing on two skulls labeled "ABH" and "AMH" for "A Barbadian's Head" and "A Martinican's Head" after governors of those two islands sent warships to capture Roberts.<ref name="Little-The Golden Age of Piracy">{{cite book |last1=Little |first1=Benerson |title=The Golden Age of Piracy: The Truth Behind Pirate Myths |date=2016 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. |location=New York |isbn=978-1-5107-1304-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M2uIDAAAQBAJ |access-date=15 September 2017 |language=en |archive-date=18 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818031653/https://books.google.com/books?id=M2uIDAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 28 November 1717 the pirate [[Blackbeard]] and his pirates captured a French [[frigate]] named ''La Concorde'' near the island of Martinique in the [[West Indies]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.qaronline.org/history/ships-journey|title=The Pirate Ship's Journey {{!}} Queen Anne's Revenge Project|website=www.qaronline.org|access-date=2017-12-01|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023174935/https://www.qaronline.org/history/ships-journey|archive-date=2017-10-23}}</ref> After selling her cargo of slaves on the island, Blackbeard made the vessel his [[flagship]], added more heavy [[cannon|cannons]] and renamed her ''[[Queen Anne's Revenge]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Preliminary Observations on British and American Documents Concerning the Activities of the Pirate Blackbeard, March 1717 to June 1718* |url=https://www.qaronline.org/preliminary-observations-british-and-american-documents-concerning-activities-pirate-blackbeard/open |website=QARonline.org |access-date=14 July 2024}}</ref>

[[File:Battle martinique 1779 img 9388.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The [[Battle of Martinique (1779)|Battle of Martinique]] between British and French fleets in 1779]]

Martinique was attacked or occupied several times by the British, in 1693, [[Invasion of Martinique (1759)|1759]], [[Invasion of Martinique (1762)|1762]] and [[Battle of Martinique (1779)|1779]].<ref name="britannica1" /> Excepting a period from 1802 to 1809 following signing of the [[Treaty of Amiens]], Britain controlled the island for most of the time from 1794 to 1815, when it was traded back to France at the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars.<ref name="britannica1" /><ref name="LP">{{Cite book|last=Ver Berkmoes|first=Ryan|title=Caribbean Islands|publisher=[[Lonely Planet Publications]]|others=Jens Porup, Michael Grossberg, et al|year=2008|isbn=978-1-74059-575-9|location=Footscray, Vic. & Oakland, CA}}</ref> Martinique has remained a French possession since then.

Despite the introduction of successful coffee plantations to Martinique in the 1720s, making it the first coffee-growing area in the Western hemisphere, the planter class lost political influence as sugar prices declined in the early 1800s.<ref>Auguste Lacour, ''Histoire de la Guadeloupe'', vol. 1 (1635–1789). Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, 1855 [https://books.google.com/books?id=Cch7AAAAMAAJ full text at Google Books] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726153705/https://books.google.com/books?id=Cch7AAAAMAAJ|date=26 July 2020}}, p. 235ff.</ref> Slave rebellions in 1789, 1815 and 1822, plus the campaigns of abolitionists such as [[Cyrille Bissette]] and [[Victor Schœlcher]], persuaded the French government to end [[Code Noir|slavery in the French West Indies]] in 1848.<ref>Robin Blackburn, ''The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, 1776–1848'' (Verso, 1988), p. 492.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Dessalles|first=Pierre|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/32856639|title=Sugar and slavery, family and race : the letters and diary of Pierre Dessalles, planter in Martinique, 1808-1856|date=1996|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|others=Elborg Forster, Robert Forster|isbn=0-8018-5153-X|location=Baltimore|page=52|oclc=32856639}}</ref><ref name="britannica1" /><ref name="LP" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Important Information |url=https://us.martinique.org/discover/important-information |access-date=2022-08-27 |website=Martinique - Best Caribbean Islands, Caribbean Tourism, Best Caribbean Destination |language=en-gb |archive-date=27 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827041522/https://us.martinique.org/discover/important-information |url-status=live }}</ref> Martinique was the first French overseas territory in which the abolition decree came into force, on 23 May 1848.<ref>Project manifest EU: https://www.projectmanifest.eu/the-march-of-23-may-1998-paris-france-en-fr/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306130717/https://www.projectmanifest.eu/the-march-of-23-may-1998-paris-france-en-fr/ |date=6 March 2023 }}</ref>

As a result, some plantation owners imported workers from India and China.<ref name="britannica1" /> Despite the abolition of slavery, life scarcely improved for most Martinicans; class and racial tensions exploded into rioting in southern Martinique in 1870 following the arrest of Léopold Lubin, a trader of African ancestry who retaliated after he was beaten by a Frenchman. After several deaths, the revolt was crushed by French militia.<ref>{{cite web|date=27 June 2015|title=MARTINIQUE 1870 : LA GRANDE INSURRECTION DU SUD|url=http://une-autre-histoire.org/martinique-1870-la-grande-insurrection-du-sud/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710022529/http://une-autre-histoire.org/martinique-1870-la-grande-insurrection-du-sud/|archive-date=10 July 2019|access-date=10 July 2019}}</ref>

===20th–21st centuries===
On 8 May 1902, [[Mont Pelée]] [[1902 eruption of Mount Pelée|erupted]] and completely destroyed St. Pierre, killing 30,000 people.<ref name="britannica1" /> Refugees from Martinique travelled by boat to the southern villages of [[Dominica]], and some of them remained permanently on the island. The only survivor in the town of Saint-Pierre, [[Ludger Sylbaris]], was saved by the thick walls of his prison cell.<ref name="EW">{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/457910974|title=The Caribbean|date=2009|publisher=Dorling Kindersley|others=Christopher P. Baker|isbn=978-0-7566-5372-9|location=London|oclc=457910974}}</ref> Shortly thereafter, the capital shifted to [[Fort-de-France]], where it remains today.<ref name="LP" />

During [[World War II]], the pro-Nazi [[Vichy France|Vichy government]] controlled Martinique under Admiral [[Georges Robert (admiral)|Georges Robert]].<ref name="britannica1" /> German [[U-boat]]s used Martinique for refuelling and re-supply during the [[Battle of the Caribbean]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stromberg Childers|first=Kristen|date=1 December 2012|title=The Second World War as a watershed in the French Caribbean|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14788810.2012.719323|journal=Atlantic Studies|volume=9|issue=4|pages=409–430|doi=10.1080/14788810.2012.719323|s2cid=218622195|issn=1478-8810|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 1942, 182 ships were sunk in the Caribbean, dropping to 45 in 1943, and five in 1944.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yardley |first=Christopher B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SkN2EAAAQBAJ&dq=martinique+182+ships+were+sunk+in+the+Caribbean&pg=PA31 |title=The Second World War Volume Two: Representing World Conflict on Postage Stamps. |date=2022-04-21 |publisher=Balboa Press |isbn=978-1-9822-9300-0 |language=en}}</ref> [[Free France|Free French]] forces took over on the island on [[Bastille Day]], 14 July 1943.<ref name="britannica1" /><ref name="Hubbard">{{cite book |last1=Hubbard |first1=Vincent |title=A History of St. Kitts |date=2002 |publisher=Macmillan Caribbean |isbn=978-0-333-74760-5 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofstkitts00vinc/page/136 136–139]|url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofstkitts00vinc/page/136}}</ref>

In 1946, the [[National Assembly of France|French National Assembly]] voted unanimously to [[transform the colony into an Overseas Department]] of France.<ref name="britannica1" /> Meanwhile, the post-war period saw a growing campaign for full independence; a notable proponent of this was the author [[Aimé Césaire]], who founded the [[Progressive Party of Martinique]] in the 1950s. Tensions boiled over in December 1959 when riots broke out following a racially-charged altercation between two motorists, resulting in three deaths.<ref name="autogenerated1959">{{cite web |url=https://www.nofi.media/2016/12/emeutes-de-1959-martinique-regle-comptes-colonialisme/33697 |title=Emeutes de 1959 : la Martinique règle ses comptes avec le colonialisme |date=16 December 2016 |access-date=10 July 2019 |archive-date=10 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710024009/https://www.nofi.media/2016/12/emeutes-de-1959-martinique-regle-comptes-colonialisme/33697 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1962, as a result of this and the global turn against colonialism, the strongly pro-independence OJAM ({{lang|fr|Organisation de la jeunesse anticolonialiste de la Martinique}}) was formed. Its leaders were later arrested by the French authorities. However, they were later acquitted.<ref name="autogenerated1959" /> Tensions rose again in 1974, when gendarmes shot dead two striking banana workers.<ref name="autogenerated1959" /> However the independence movement lost steam as Martinique's economy faltered in the 1970s, resulting in large-scale emigration.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://la1ere.francetvinfo.fr/martinique/2013/02/14/le-marigot-se-souvient-de-georges-marie-louise-tue-en-1974-15119.html |title=Le drame de février 1974 marque encore les esprits |date=15 February 2013 |access-date=10 July 2019 |archive-date=10 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710024008/https://la1ere.francetvinfo.fr/martinique/2013/02/14/le-marigot-se-souvient-de-georges-marie-louise-tue-en-1974-15119.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Hurricanes in 1979–80 severely affected agricultural output, further straining the economy.<ref name="britannica1" /> Greater autonomy was granted by France to the island in the 1970s–80s.<ref name="britannica1" />

In 2009, Martinique was convulsed by the [[2009 French Caribbean general strikes|French Caribbean general strikes]]. Initially focusing on cost-of-living issues, the movement soon took on a racial dimension as strikers challenged the continued economic dominance of the ''[[Béké]]'', descendants of French European settlers.<ref name="iht">{{cite news|date=13 February 2009|title=Blacks slam white minority in Martinique strike|work=[[International Herald Tribune]]|agency=[[Associated Press]]|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/02/13/news/CB-Caribbean-France-Unrest.php|url-status=live|access-date=15 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090216043828/http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/02/13/news/CB-Caribbean-France-Unrest.php|archive-date=16 February 2009}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gk4fdgdkSoLI7uwcWr8DPvufQdAg?hl=en |title=Race, class fuel social conflict on French Caribbean islands |work=[[Agence France-Presse]] (AFP) |date=17 February 2009 |archive-date=21 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221091147/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gk4fdgdkSoLI7uwcWr8DPvufQdAg?hl=en |url-status=dead }}</ref> President [[Nicolas Sarkozy]] later visited the island, promising reform.<ref name="visit">[https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iQcNm7wF2_1t5AffHQZY1jZwd9Cw "Sarkozy offers autonomy vote for Martinique"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090709063018/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iQcNm7wF2_1t5AffHQZY1jZwd9Cw |date=9 July 2009 }}, [[Agence France-Presse|AFP]]</ref> While ruling out full independence, which he said was desired neither by France nor by Martinique, Sarkozy offered Martiniquans a referendum on the island's future status and degree of autonomy.<ref name="visit" />

On 2 February 2023, Martinique adopted its [[Flag of Martinique|independent activist flag]], symbolising its three colors of [[Pan-Africanism]].
[[File:Mount pelée.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Mont Pelée and Bay of St Pierre as seen from the Grande Savane trail]]