MARTINIQUE, one of the West India islands, belonging to the chain of the Lesser Antilles, and constituting a French colony, lies 33 miles south of Dominica and 22 north of Saint Lucia, between 14° 23' and 14° 52' N. lat. and 63° 6' and 63° 31' W. long. The greatest length is 43 miles, the mean width 19; and the surface comprises 244,090 acres, or 380 square miles. A cluster of volcanic mountains in the north, a similar group in the south, and a line of lower heights between them, form the backbone of the island, which culminates in the north-west in Mont Pelée (4430 feet), and has altogether a much more irregular and strongly marked relief than it presents to the eye,—the deep ravines and precipitous escarpments with which it abounds being reduced in appearance to gentle undulations by the drapery of the forests. Of the numerous streams which traverse the few miles of country between the watershed and the sea, about seventy or eighty are of considerable size, and in the rainy season become deep and too often destructive torrents. The east coast of the island, exposed to the full sweep of the Atlantic, is a succession of inlets, headlands, islands, and rocks; the south coast is much more regular, but bold and steep; and the west alone presents, in the bay of Fort de France, a stretch of mangrove swamp. Of the total area, about 83,990 acres are under cultivation, 83,843 occupied by forest and savanna, and 68,837 by fallow. On an average, according to the returns for 1874-78 inclusive, 47,440 acres are devoted to the sugar crop, 1290 to coffee, 640 to cotton, and 1660 to cocoa. The mean annual temperature is 81° in the coast region,—the monthly mean for June being 83°, and that of January 77°. Of the annual rainfall of 87 inches, August has the heaviest share ...(11 '3 inches), though the rainy season extends from June to October; March, the lowest, has 3 - 7. Martiniqueenjoys a remarkable immunity from hurricanes; half a century may pass without serious disaster from such a visitation. In 1878 there were 162,861 inhabitants (77,782 males, 85,079 females) in the island, which is thus nearly as densely peopled as Belgium. Since 1848 the increase amounts to about 42,800. Of the twenty-five communes, fourteen have more than 5000 inhabitants; the largest are Saint Pierre (23,909), Fort de France (15,414), Lamentin (13,409), and François (10,297). The great mass of the population consists of Creole negroes and half-castes of various grades, ranging from the “Saccatra,” who has hardly retained any trace of Caucasian blood, to the so-called “Sangmêlé,” with his mere suspicion of negro commixture. Marriage is frequently ignored, and of the births no less than 66 per cent, are illegitimate.
Fort de France, the chief town, a place of about 11,000 inhabitants, stands on a bay on the west coast. Since the earthquake of 1839 nearly all the houses are of wood, and have only one story; the streets are laid out with great regularity. An abundant supply of water was introduced in 1856. St Pierre, the commercial centre of the island, with about 20,000 inhabitants, lies farther north on the same coast. It consists of a lower and an upper town,—the one close and unhealthy, and the other for the most part well-ventilated and pleasant.
Martinique, also called Madiana or Mantinino, was discovered by Columbus 15th June 1502. It was at that time inhabited by Caribs (Galibis) who had expelled or incorporated an older stock. In 1635 a Norman captain, D’Enambuc, from St Christopher’s, took possession of the island, and in 1637 his nephew Duparquet became captain-general of the colony, now numbering seven hundred men. In 1654 welcome was given to three hundred Jews expelled from Brazil, and by 1658 there were at least five thousand people exclusive of the Câribs, who were soon after exterminated. Purchased by the French Government from Duparquet’s children for 120,000 livres, Martinique was assigned to the West India Company, butin 1674 it became part of the royal domain. The habitants (French landholders) at first devoted themselves to the cultivation of cotton and tobacco; but in 1650 sugar plantations were commenced, and in 1726 the coffee plant was introduced by Desclieux, who, when water ran short during his voyage to the island, shared his scanty allowance with his seedlings. Slave labour having been introduced, there were 72,000 blacks in the island by 1736. Martinique has several times been occupied by the English Captured by Rodney in 1762, it was next year restored to the French; but after the conquest by Sir John Jervis and Sir Charles Grey in 1794 it was retained for eight years · and seized again in 1809, it was not surrendered till 1814.
See Renonard, Stat.de la'.Martinique, 1822; Sidney Daney, Hist. de la Martinique, 1816; E. Rufz, Studes hist, et slat, sur la population de la Martinique; Pai don, La Martinique, 1877; H. Rev, Étude sur la col. de la Martinique, 1881.
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