Editing History of Dominica (section)

==French colony: 1715–1763==
Spain had little to no success in colonizing Dominica and in 1690, the French established their first permanent settlements in Dominica. French woodcutters from [[Martinique]] and [[Guadeloupe]] begin to set up timber camps to supply the French islands with wood and gradually become permanent settlers. They brought the first enslaved people from West Africa to Dominica. In 1715, a revolt of "[[petit blancs|poor white]]" smallholders in the north of Martinique, known as [[La Gaoulé]],<ref>P.C. Emmer & BW Highman, (1999) ''General History of the Caribbean: Methodology and historiography of the Caribbean,'' volume 6 pp 637 [https://books.google.com/books?id=E12cpltazYgC&pg=PA637 ]</ref> caused an exodus of them to southern Dominica. They set up smallholdings. Meanwhile, French families and others from Guadeloupe settled in the north. In 1727, the first French commander, M. Le Grand, took charge of the island with a basic French government; Dominica formally became a colony of France, and the island was divided into districts or "quarters".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lennoxhonychurch.com/article.cfm?Id=394 |title=Important Dates in Dominica's History |publisher=Lennox Honychurch Article |date=1990-07-05 |access-date=2013-09-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130830091704/http://www.lennoxhonychurch.com/article.cfm?Id=394 |archive-date=2013-08-30 }}</ref> Already installed in Martinique and Guadeloupe and cultivating sugar cane, the French gradually developed plantations in Dominica for coffee. They imported African slaves to fill the labor demands replacing the indigenous Caribs.

In 1761, during the [[Seven Years' War]] a [[British expedition against Dominica]] led by [[Andrew Rollo, 5th Lord Rollo|Lord Rollo]] was successful and the island was conquered along with several other Caribbean islands. After France was defeated by Britain in the [[Seven Years' War]], it ceded the island to the British under the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)]]. In 1778, during the [[American Revolutionary War]], the French [[Invasion of Dominica (1778)|mounted a successful invasion]] with the active cooperation of the population. The [[1783 Treaty of Paris]], which ended the war, returned the island to Britain. French invasions in 1795 and 1805 ended in failure.<ref name=bn/>