Antillean Creole (also known as Lesser Antillean Creole ) is a French-based creole that is primarily spoken in the Lesser Antilles . Its grammar and vocabulary include elements of French , Carib , English , and African languages .
73-592: Martinique ( / ˌ m ɑːr t ɪ ˈ n iː k / MAR -tin- EEK , French: [maʁtinik] ; Martinican Creole : Matinik or Matnik ; Kalinago : Madinina or Madiana ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies , in the eastern Caribbean Sea . A part of the French West Indies (Antilles), Martinique is an overseas department and region and
146-825: A single territorial collectivity of the French Republic . It is a part of the European Union as an outermost region within the special territories of members of the European Economic Area , and an associate member of the CARICOM , but is not part of the Schengen Area or the European Union Customs Union . The currency in use is the euro . Martinique has a land area of 1,128 km (436 sq mi) and
219-660: A : If a word ends in a nasal vowel , it becomes an : If the last sound is a nasal consonant , it becomes nan , but this form is rare and is usually replaced by lan : Note that in Guadeloupean Creole there is no agreement of sounds between the noun and definite article and la is used for all nouns Demonstrative article Like the definite article this is placed after the noun. It varies widely by region. sa'a Charles Hou%C3%ABl du Petit Pr%C3%A9 Charles Houël du Petit Pré ( French pronunciation: [ʃaʁl wɛl dy pəti pʁe] ; 1616—22 April 1682)
292-640: A consonant and 'w' and 'y' after nouns ending in a vowel. All other possessive adjectives are invariable. Kaz ou - Your house, Kouto'w - Your knife Madanm li - His wife, Sésé'y - Her sister The indefinite article is placed before the noun and can be pronounced as on, an, yon, yan . The word yonn means "one". On chapo, Yon wavèt An moun, Yan tòti This exemples doesn't work for Guadeloupe Creole where article are always "la", and for haitian creole whose article are more similar but have "nan" in addition. In Creole, there are five definite articles (la, lan, a, an, nan) which are placed after
365-651: A greater degree of autonomy than the DOMs. They have an executive council, a territorial council and an economic and social council. The prefect is the representative of the French State in the overseas collectivity. However, the French Constitution specifies in Article 72-4 that "no change may be made, for all or part of one of the communities mentioned in the second paragraph of Article 72-3, from one of
438-521: A home port for French pirates, including Captain Crapeau , Étienne de Montauban , and Mathurin Desmarestz . 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. On 28 November 1717
511-603: A literary revival of Creole in the French-speaking islands of the Lesser Antilles, with writers such as Raphaël Confiant and Monchoachi employing the language. Édouard Glissant has written theoretically and poetically about its significance and its history. Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc was a French trader and adventurer in the Caribbean who established the first permanent French colony, Saint-Pierre , on
584-521: 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. 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
657-631: A population of 349,925 inhabitants as of January 2024. One of the Windward Islands , it lies directly north of Saint Lucia , northwest of Barbados and south of Dominica . Virtually the entire population speaks both French (the sole official language) and Martinican Creole . It is thought that Martinique is a corruption of the Taíno name for the island ( Madiana / Madinina , meaning 'island of flowers', or Matinino , 'island of women'), as relayed to Christopher Columbus when he visited
730-508: A punishment for refusing to convert to Catholicism, many of them dying en route. 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 Edict of Revocation in 1685. As many of
803-462: A referendum held on 7 December 2003. On 10 January 2010, a consultation of the population was held. Voters were asked to vote in a referendum on a possible change in the status of their territory. The ballot proposed voters to "approve or reject the transition to the regime provided for in Article 74 of the Constitution". The majority of voters, 79.3%, said "no". The following 24 January, in
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#1732765149605876-558: A result, some plantation owners imported workers from India and China. 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. On 8 May 1902, Mont Pelée erupted and completely destroyed St. Pierre, killing 30,000 people. Refugees from Martinique travelled by boat to
949-400: A result, they were forced to develop a new form of communication by relying on what they heard from their colonial enslavers and other slaves. According to Jesuit missionary Pierre Pelleprat, French settlers would change their way of speaking to a simpler form to be more accommodating to the enslaved people. For example, to say "I have not eaten" settlers would say "moi point manger" even though
1022-555: A second referendum, 68.4% of the population of Martinique approved the transition to a "single collectivity" under Article 73 of the Constitution, i.e., a single assembly that would exercise the powers of the General Council and the Regional Council. The project of the elected representatives of Martinique to the government proposes a single territorial community governed by Article 73 of the Constitution, whose name
1095-468: A sentence, the word "point" to inflect the negative, and the non-distinguished adverbs and adjectives. The language emerged in a context of plantation slavery in the French Antilles . Due to differing native tongues, it was difficult for French settlers to communicate with the enslaved Africans and vice versa, as well as for slaves of different ethnic origins to communicate between each other. As
1168-456: A small colony on the island in 1805. As a result, Dominica uses English as an official language, but Antillean Creole is still spoken as a secondary language because of Dominica's location between the French-speaking departments of Guadeloupe and Martinique. In Trinidad , the Spanish possessed the island but contributed little towards advancements, with El Dorado being their focus. Trinidad
1241-564: A white man separated by pineapples. The President of the Executive Council of Martinique is Serge Letchimy as of 2 July 2021. The Executive Council of Martinique is composed of nine members (a president and eight executive councilors). The deliberative assembly of the territorial collectivity is the Assembly of Martinique , composed of 51 elected members and chaired by Lucien Saliber as of 2 July 2021. The advisory council of
1314-458: Is "Territorial Community of Martinique". The single assembly that replaces the General Council and the Regional Council is called the "Assembly of Martinique". The Assembly of Martinique is composed of 51 councilors, elected for a six-year term of office by the proportional representation system (the electoral district is divided into four sections). A majority bonus of 20% is granted to the first place list. The executive body of this community
1387-614: Is also spoken in various Creole-speaking immigrant communities in the United States Virgin Islands , British Virgin Islands , and the Collectivity of Saint Martin . Antillean Creole has approximately thirteen million speakers and is a means of communication for migrant populations traveling between neighboring English- and French-speaking territories. Since French is a Romance language, French Antillean Creole
1460-457: Is called the "executive council", which is composed of nine executive councilors, including a president. The president of the community of Martinique is the president of the executive council. The executive council is responsible to the Assembly of Martinique, which may overrule it by a motion of constructive censure. Unlike the previous functioning of the General Council and the Regional Council,
1533-522: Is considered to be one of Latin America’s languages by some linguists. In a number of countries (including Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Brazil ( Lanc-Patuá ) and Venezuela) the language is referred to as patois . It has historically been spoken in nearly all of the Lesser Antilles , but its number of speakers has declined in Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada . Conversely, it is widely used on
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#17327651496051606-632: Is limited by varying key vocabulary and different words for basic grammar. Nevertheless, it is easy to begin to understand each other completely, as long as one of the two has a basic knowledge of the other's language. Antillean Creole is spoken natively, to varying degrees, in Haïti , Saint Lucia , Grenada , Guadeloupe , Îles des Saintes , Martinique , Saint-Barthélemy (St. Barts), Dominica , French Guiana , Trinidad and Tobago , and Venezuela (mainly in Macuro , Güiria and El Callao Municipality ). It
1679-527: Is represented in Martinique by a prefect (Stanislas Cazelles since 5 February 2020), and by two sub-prefects in Le Marin (Corinne Blanchot-Prosper) and La Trinité / Saint-Pierre (Nicolas Onimus, appointed on 20 May 2020). The prefecture was criticized for racism following the publication on its Twitter account of a poster calling for physical distancing against the coronavirus and showing a black man and
1752-567: Is some variation in orthography between the islands. In St. Lucia, Dominica and Martinique 'dj' and 'tj' are used whereas in Guadeloupe 'gy' and 'ky' are used. These represent differences in pronunciations. Several words may be pronounced in various ways depending on the region: The letter 'r' in St. Lucia and Dominica represents the English / ɹ / whereas in Guadeloupe and Martinique it represents
1825-583: Is to better support operations in the territory and region. About 700 National Gendarmerie are also stationed in Martinique. Martinican Creole There are two main geographical and linguistic groups in the Antilles or Caribbean Islands : the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles . Intercomprehension between these two groups is possible, but despite a large proportion of shared vocabulary and largely similar grammatical functioning, it
1898-490: The Confiance -class patrol vessel Combattante and the coastal harbor tug (RPC) Maïtos . The naval aviation element includes Eurocopter AS565 Panther and Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin helicopters able to embark on the two Floréal -class surveillance frigates as required. One Engins de Débarquement Amphibie – Standards (EDA-S) landing craft is to be delivered to naval forces based in Martinique by 2025. The landing craft
1971-610: The Battle of the Caribbean . In 1942, 182 ships were sunk in the Caribbean, dropping to 45 in 1943, and five in 1944. Free French forces took over on the island on Bastille Day , 14 July 1943. In 1946, the French National Assembly voted unanimously to transform the colony into an Overseas Department of France. Meanwhile, the post-war period saw a growing campaign for full independence; a notable proponent of this
2044-734: The British American colonies or Protestant countries in Europe. 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. Under governor of the Antilles Charles de Courbon, comte de Blénac , Martinique served as
2117-588: The Compagnie des Indes occidentales , formed one year earlier. Dominica is a former French and British colony in the Eastern Caribbean , about halfway between the French islands of Guadeloupe (to the north) and Martinique (to the south). Christopher Columbus named the island after the day of the week on which he spotted it, a Sunday (Latin: dies Dominica ), on 3 November 1493. In the 100 years after Columbus's landing, Dominica remained isolated. At
2190-599: The European Union . The inhabitants of Martinique are French citizens with full political and legal rights. Martinique sends four deputies to the French National Assembly and two senators to the French Senate . On 24 January 2010, during a referendum, the inhabitants of Martinique approved by 68.4% the change to be a "special (unique) collectivity" within the framework of article 73 of the French Republic's Constitution. The new council replaces and exercises
2263-483: The French Armed Forces . Some 1,400 military personnel are deployed in Martinique and Guadeloupe – centred on the 33e régiment d'infanterie de Marine in Martinique and incorporating a reserve company of the regiment located in Guadeloupe. Five French Navy vessels are based in Martinique, including: the surveillance frigates Ventôse and Germinal , the patrol and support ship Dumont d'Urville ,
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2336-592: The Second Anglo-Dutch War spilled out into the Caribbean, with Britain attacking the pro-Dutch French fleet in Martinique, virtually destroying it and further cementing British preeminence in the region. In 1674, the Dutch attempted to conquer the island, but were repulsed. Because there were few Catholic priests in the French Antilles, many of the earliest French settlers were Huguenots who sought religious freedom. Others were transported there as
2409-668: The territorial collectivity of Martinique is the Economic, Social, Environmental, Cultural and Educational Council of Martinique (Conseil économique, social, environnemental, de la culture et de l'éducation de Martinique), composed of 68 members. Its president is Justin Daniel since 20 May 2021. Martinique has been represented since 17 June 2017, in the National Assembly by four deputies (Serge Letchimy, Jean-Philippe Nilor , Josette Manin and Manuéla Kéclard-Mondésir ) and in
2482-422: The Assembly of Martinique is separate from the Executive Council and is headed by a bureau and a president. The new collectivity of Martinique combines the powers of the general and regional councils, but may obtain new powers through empowerments under Article 73. The executive council is assisted by an advisory council, the Economic, Social, Environmental, Cultural and Educational Council of Martinique. The bill
2555-465: The Caribs descended at certain seasons of the year; and if these women bore sons they were entrusted to the father to bring up." On 15 September 1635, Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc , French governor of the island of St. Kitts , landed in the harbour of St. Pierre with 80 to 150 French settlers after being driven off St. Kitts by the English. D'Esnambuc claimed Martinique for the French king Louis XIII and
2628-546: 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). 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. In 1636, in the first of many skirmishes, the Indigenous Kalinago rose against
2701-470: The French settlements in the Caribbean. Dyel du Parquet became governor of the island. He remained in Martinique and did not concern himself with the other islands. The French permanently settled on Martinique and Guadeloupe after being driven off Saint Kitts and Nevis ( French : Saint-Christophe ) by the British. Fort Royal (now Fort-de-France) on Martinique was a major port for French battle ships in
2774-527: The Senate by two senators ( Maurice Antiste and Catherine Conconne ) since 24 September 2017. Martinique is also represented in the Economic, Social and Environmental Council by Pierre Marie-Joseph since 26 April 2021. During the 2000s, the political debate in Martinique focused on the question of the evolution of the island's status. Two political ideologies, assimilationism and autonomism , clashed. On
2847-566: The Western hemisphere, the planter class lost political influence as sugar prices declined in the early 1800s. 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 slavery in the French West Indies in 1848. Martinique was the first French overseas territory in which the abolition decree came into force, on 23 May 1848. As
2920-456: The example of St. Martin and St. Barthelemy . Since the constitutional revision of 28 March 2003, Martinique has four options: Unlike the overseas departments , the overseas collectivities are subject to legislative specialization. The laws and decrees of the Republic apply to them under certain conditions established by the organic law defining their status. The overseas departments have
2993-563: The governors of the various islands. However, by the late 1640s, Cardinal Mazarin had little interest in colonial affairs, and the company languished. In 1651, it dissolved itself, selling its exploitation rights to various parties. The Du Paquet family bought Martinique, Grenada and Saint Lucia for 60,000 livres . The sieur d' Houël bought Guadeloupe , Marie-Galante , La Desirade and the Saintes . The Knights of Malta bought Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin and then sold them in 1665 to
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3066-530: The influences from its origins, this creole has some distinctive linguistic features. Features of French included in Lesser Antillean Creole include infinitive forms of verbs, the use of only the masculine noun forms, oblique pronouns, and its subject to verb word order. Features from African languages include their verbal marking system as well as providing a West-African substrate. Other features of this creole also include doubling to emphasize
3139-602: The island in 1502. According to historian Sydney Daney, the island was called Jouanacaëra or Iouanacaera by the Caribs , which means 'the island of iguanas'. The island was occupied first by Arawaks , then by 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
3212-429: The island of Martinique in 1635. Belain sailed to the Caribbean in 1625, hoping to establish a French settlement on the island of St. Christopher (St. Kitts). In 1626, he returned to France , where he won the support of Cardinal Richelieu to establish French colonies in the region. Richelieu became a shareholder in the Compagnie de Saint-Christophe , created to accomplish that with d'Esnambuc at its head. The company
3285-552: The island to the French and retreated to the island of Dominica. However, a small number of Indians took refuge north and east of Grande-Terre (pointes de la Grande-Vigie et des Châteaux, Anse-Bertrand ). Charles Houël founded the town of Basse-Terre in 1649. He gave his name to Houëlmont , one of the highest mounts in the Caribbean. Created by Colbert in August 1664, the French West India Company has to
3358-441: The island. Some Caribs fled to Dominica or St. Vincent , where the French agreed to leave them at peace. 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. In 1654, Dutch Jews expelled from Portuguese Brazil introduced sugar plantations worked by large numbers of enslaved Africans. In 1667,
3431-459: The islands of Dominica and Saint Lucia ; though they are officially English-speaking, there are efforts to preserve the use of Antillean Creole, as there are in Trinidad and Tobago and its neighbour, Venezuela . In recent decades, Creole has gone from being seen as a sign of lower socio-economic status, banned in school playgrounds, to a mark of national pride. Since the 1970s, there has been
3504-544: The long history of British rule, Grenada's French heritage is still evident by the number of French loanwords in Grenadian Creole and the French-style buildings, cuisine and placenames ( Petit Martinique , Martinique Channel , etc.) In 1642, the Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique received a 20-year extension of its charter. The king would name the governor general of the company, and the company would name
3577-538: The more French-like sound / ɣ / . Form Personal pronouns in Antillean Creole are invariable so they do not inflect for case as in European languages such as French or English. This means that mwen, for example, can mean I, me or my; yo can mean they, them, their etc. Possessive adjectives are placed after the noun; kay mwen 'my house', manman'w 'your mother' 'ou' and 'li' are used after nouns ending in
3650-412: The nouns they modify, in contrast to French. The final syllable of the preceding word determines which is used with which nouns. If the last sound is an oral consonant and is preceded by an oral vowel , it becomes la : If the last sound is an oral consonant and is preceded by a nasal vowel , it becomes lan : If the last sound is an oral vowel and is preceded by an oral consonant , it becomes
3723-480: The one hand, there are those who want a change of status based on Article 73 of the French Constitution, i.e., that all French laws apply in Martinique as of right, which in law is called legislative identity, and on the other hand, the autonomists who want a change of status based on Article 74 of the French Constitution, i.e., an autonomous status subject to the regime of legislative specialty following
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#17327651496053796-687: The pidgin "baragouin" in 1635. It was spoken by French settlers, the Africans they enslaved, and Aboriginal peoples that resided on the islands. It originated in the Guadeloupe and Martinique areas of the Lesser Antilles. It was not until 1700, when there was an increase in African influences, that this pidgin transitioned into the creole that it is today. The formation of this creole was influenced by many different dialects and languages. These include dialects of French, other European languages, Carib (both Karina and Arawakan), and African languages. Due to
3869-414: The pirate Blackbeard and his pirates captured a French frigate named La Concorde near the island of Martinique in the West Indies . After selling her cargo of slaves on the island, Blackbeard made the vessel his flagship , added more heavy cannons and renamed her Queen Anne's Revenge . Martinique was attacked or occupied several times by the British, in 1693, 1759 , 1762 and 1779 . Excepting
3942-522: 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
4015-511: The powers of both the General Council and the regional council . Martinique is divided into 4 arrondissements and 34 communes . It had also been divided into 45 cantons , but these were abolished in 2015. The four arrondissements of the island, with their respective locations, are as follows: The prefecture of Martinique is Fort-de-France. The three sub-prefectures are Le Marin, Saint-Pierre and La Trinité. The French State
4088-416: The proper French translation is "Je n'ai pas mangé". This simpler form of French, along with linguistic influences from other languages, eventually evolved into Antillean Creole. (or à before an n) p à n (when not followed by a vowel) nasalized [ a ] (when not followed by a vowel) nasalized [ ɛ ] (when not followed by a vowel) nasalized [ o ] There
4161-559: The regimes provided for in Articles 73 and 74, without the prior consent of the electors of the community or part of the community concerned having been obtained, under the conditions provided for in the following paragraph. In 2003, a new organization is envisaged, in which the regional and departmental institutions would be merged into a single institution. This proposal was rejected in Martinique (but also in Guadeloupe ) by 50.48% in
4234-526: The region from which the French were able to explore the region. In 1638, Dyel du Parquet decided to have Fort Saint Louis built to protect the city against enemy attacks. From Fort Royal, Martinique, Du Parquet proceeded south in search for new territories, established the first settlement in Saint Lucia in 1643 and headed an expedition that established a French settlement in Grenada in 1649. Despite
4307-545: The settlers to drive them off the island. 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
4380-469: 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. Shortly thereafter, the capital shifted to Fort-de-France , where it remains today. During World War II , the pro-Nazi Vichy government controlled Martinique under Admiral Georges Robert . German U-boats used Martinique for refuelling and re-supply during
4453-503: The statutory evolution of the island: there are the assimilationists (in favor of an institutional or statutory evolution within the framework of Article 73 of the French Constitution), the autonomists and the independentists (in favor of a statutory evolution based on Article 74 of the French Constitution). Indeed, on 18 December 2008, during the congress of Martinique's departmental and regional elected representatives,
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#17327651496054526-410: The territory. Columbus landed during a later voyage, on 15 June 1502, after a 21-day trade wind passage , his fastest ocean voyage. He spent three days there refilling his water casks, bathing and washing laundry. 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
4599-420: The thirty-three pro-independence elected representatives (MIM/CNCP/MODEMAS/PALIMA) of the two assemblies voted unanimously in favor of a change in the island's status based on Article 74 of the French Constitution, which allows access to autonomy; this change in status was massively rejected (79.3%) by the population during the referendum of 10 January 2010. The defence of the department is the responsibility of
4672-693: The time, it was inhabited by the Island Caribs , or Kalinago people. Over time, more settled there after they had been driven from surrounding islands, as European powers entered the region. In 1690, French woodcutters from Martinique and Guadeloupe begin to set up timber camps to supply the French islands with wood and gradually become permanent settlers. France had a colony for several years and imported slaves from West Africa , Martinique and Guadeloupe to work on its plantations. The Antillean Creole language developed. France formally ceded possession of Dominica to Great Britain in 1763. The latter established
4745-452: Was a French governor of Guadeloupe from 1643 to 1664. He was also knight and lord. He became, by a royal proclamation dated August 1645, the first of the island judicial officer. He is named Marquis de Guadeloupe by Louis XIV. On 4 September 1649, Charles Houël, who partnered with his brother in law John Boisseret Herblay, bought the bankrupt Compagnie Guadeloupe, Marie-Galante, La Désirade and Les Saintes for 60000 books pétun (tobacco) and
4818-546: Was approved on 26 January 2011, by the French Government . The ordinary law was submitted to Parliament during the first half of 2011 and resulted in the adoption of Law No. 2011-884 27 July 2011, on the territorial communities of French Guiana and Martinique. Political life in Martinique is essentially based on Martinican political parties and local federations of national parties (PS and LR). The following classification takes into account their position with regard to
4891-399: Was committed to deliver 600 pounds of sugar per year. In order to secure the site and solidify its grip on the population, he built Fort Saint-Charles ( Fort Delgrès [ fr ] ) in 1650. Despite the 1640 peace treaty between Indians and France, clashes with the Caribbean continued. On 31 March 1660, Charles Houël signed a treaty with the Caribbean, who abandoned the majority of
4964-410: Was desired neither by France nor by Martinique, Sarkozy offered Martiniquans a referendum on the island's future status and degree of autonomy. On 2 February 2023, Martinique adopted its independent activist flag , symbolising its three colors of Pan-Africanism . Like French Guiana , Martinique is a special collectivity (Unique in French) of the French Republic. It is also an outermost region of
5037-427: Was formed. Its leaders were later arrested by the French authorities. However, they were later acquitted. Tensions rose again in 1974, when gendarmes shot dead two striking banana workers. However the independence movement lost steam as Martinique's economy faltered in the 1970s, resulting in large-scale emigration. Hurricanes in 1979–80 severely affected agricultural output, further straining the economy. Greater autonomy
5110-458: Was granted by France to the island in the 1970s–80s. In 2009, Martinique was convulsed by the 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. President Nicolas Sarkozy later visited the island, promising reform. While ruling out full independence, which he said
5183-465: Was not particularly successful, and Richelieu had it reorganised as the Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique. In 1635, d'Esnambuc sailed to Martinique with 100 French settlers to clear land for sugarcane plantations . After six months on Martinique, d'Esnambuc returned to St. Christopher , where he soon died prematurely in 1636, leaving the company and Martinique in the hands of his nephew, Jacques Dyel du Parquet , who inherited d'Esnambuc's authority over
5256-506: Was perfect for its geographical location. Because Trinidad was considered underpopulated, Roume de St. Laurent, a Frenchman living in Grenada, was able to obtain a Cédula de Población from King Charles III of Spain on 4 November 1783. Trinidad's population jumped to over 15,000 by the end of 1789, from just under 1,400 in 1777. In 1797, Trinidad became a British crown colony, despite its French-speaking population. Antillean Creole began as
5329-541: 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. In 1962, as a result of this and the global turn against colonialism, the strongly pro-independence OJAM ( Organisation de la jeunesse anticolonialiste de la Martinique )
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