Martinique is an overseas insular region of France,
similar to the French provinces although not identical. As a part of greater Overseas France, the official flag is the French tricolor,
but locally an unofficial flag, with a great and long history,
can be seen flying alongside or underneath that blue, white, and red of the flag of greater France.
Martinique is to some extent the sister island of the last location we visited, Guadeloupe. Martinique is just to the south of Guadeloupe, separated only by the island nation of Dominica, in the Lesser Antilles.
As such, the two French islands share some history and economic patterns. We will explore some of this below.
Martinique was “discovered” by the Europeans in 1502 when Columbus landed after a very rapid 21 day voyage across the Atlantic. Columbus had charted the island, but apparently didn’t land there, in 1493. The name has evolved over time to become the Martinique which we know today. The Spanish had little interest in the island, being primarily motivated by the search for gold in the New World, a commodity that Martinique simply didn’t possess.
Martinique became French in 1635 when French settlers landed after being driven off of the island of St. Christopher, (St. Kitts in today’s parlance) by the British.
The indigenous Carib peoples would revolt against the French in 1636 and 1638. The French defeated them both times and finally at the end of the 1638 revolt the Caribs were either killed or driven off to neighboring islands, especially to Dominica and St. Vincent.
While it is now a tourist paradise,
Martinique was once a place of banishment for those found to be unacceptable in mainland France. Therefore, the first major settlement of the island was made by the French Protestant group, the Huguenots. However, the Huguenots didn’t stay long, but instead escaped to British possessions or Protestant countries back in Europe where their religion would be a bonus instead of a cause for persecution and banishment. The departure of the Huguenots set back the development of Martinique by a great deal of time.
For some time during the 17th and 18th centuries Martinique was a base for French pirates in the region. Later, during the Seven Years War, the British would intermittently occupy the island but the French remained in control for the vast majority of the time, a position they still hold to this day. In 1946 the French Assembly voted unanimously to promote Martinique from a status of colony to that of Overseas Department of France, a status which the island retains to this day.
Martinique is located in the Caribbean Sea about 450 km (280 mi) northeast of the coast of South America and about 700 km (435 mi) southeast of the Dominican Republic.