Martinique

island of the eastern Caribbean Sea, an overseas département of France. It is included in the Lesser Antilles island chain. Its nearest neighbours are the island republics of Dominica, 22 miles to the northwest, and Saint Lucia, 16 miles to the south. The main islands of Guadeloupe, also a French overseas département, lie about 74 miles to the north. Martinique has an area of 436 square miles (1,128 square kilometres) and measures about 50 miles in length and about 22 miles at its widest extent. The second smallest (after Saint-Pierre and Miquelon) of all the French overseas départements, Martinique has a population density that is one of the highest in the Antilles. The administrative capital and chief town is Fort-de-France.

The name Martinique is probably a corruption of the Indian name Madiana ("Island of Flowers") or Madinina ("Fertile Island with Luxuriant Vegetation"), as reputedly told to Christopher Columbus by the Caribs in 1502. Empress Joséphine, consort of Napoleon I, was born on the island in 1763; she was the daughter of a Martinique planter named Joseph Tascher de La Pagerie.

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Physical and human geography

The land

Martinique

Relief and drainage

The mountainous relief of Martinique represents the outermost edge of what remained of the original geologic formation after the subsidence of the trench that became the Caribbean Sea. The relief of the island takes the form of three principal massifs (mountainous masses). These are a still active volcano, Mount Pelée, 4,583 feet (1,397 metres) high, to the north; the Carbet Mountains, of which Lacroix Peak reaches 3,923 feet, in the centre; and Mount Vauclin, 1,654 feet high, in the south.

The tortuous relief of the island has led to a complex drainage pattern, characterized by short watercourses. In the south, the Salée and the Pilote rivers flow down from the scarps of Mount Vauclin. In the centre the rivers flow outward from the Carbet Mountains in a starlike pattern; they include the Lorrain, Galion, Capot, and Lézarde rivers. In the north the Grande River, the Céron River, the Roxelane River, the Pères River, and the Sèche River are little more than irregular torrents.

The northern coastline of Martinique is characterized by steep cliffs; farther south, however, the cliffs become lower, with two large bays--Fort-de-France and Marin--being located on the western coast. Coral reefs, headlands, and coves line the east coast.

Climate

The climate is remarkably constant, the average temperature being about 79 F (26 C), with average minimums of 68 to 72 F (20 to 22 C), average maximums of 86 to 90 F (30 to 32 C), and temperature extremes of 59 F (15 C) and 93 F (34 C). The northeast trade winds, which blow almost 300 days a year, temper the heat, but winds from the south are hot and humid and sometimes bring hurricanes.

The year consists of two distinct seasons--a relatively dry season, which lasts from December to June, and the rainy winter season from July to December. Rainfall is abundant, especially in July and September, but is very irregularly distributed; it varies from about 40 inches (1,000 millimetres) to almost 400 inches a year, depending upon elevation and the orientation of the relief.

Plant and animal life

The climate, together with the fertile volcanic soil, produces a luxuriant vegetation, which is divided, according to altitude, into four zones: the maritime zone, the lowlands, the former forest zone, and the upper mountain slopes. The maritime zone includes an enormous mangrove swamp, half of which is located in the bay of Fort-de-France. The beaches are invaded by morning glory, tropical twining herb, and sea grape. The lowland vegetation zone, extending from the coast to a height of about 1,500 feet, has ferns and orchids, as well as various trees, including mahogany, white gum, and other species. Above 1,500 feet is the former virgin forest zone, where large trees and bracken are still to be found. As the altitude increases the trees grow smaller. A transitional zone is characterized by peat moss. Above 3,000 feet the upper slopes are almost bare, except for some stunted forest. Forests cover about one-fourth of the total land area.

There are relatively few kinds of animals on the island. The mongoose was introduced in the 19th century in the hope of eliminating the deadly rat-tailed viper, but without doing so. Also found are the manicon (a kind of opossum), wild rabbit, wild pigeon, turtledove, and ortolan (a small bird about six inches long, often netted and fattened as a table delicacy).

The people

In 1658 French settlers on the island numbered about 5,000. The Carib element gradually disappeared, partly as a result of conflicts and partly as a result of assimilation. The importation of slaves from Africa added a further ethnic component. Today the racial composition of the island is extremely mixed, but the mulatto element is the largest. The white Creole (locally born) element, however, controls an important part of the island's economy. A creole dialect, similar to that spoken in Haiti, is commonly heard, but French is the official language. The majority of the population is Roman Catholic.

The population of Martinique increased rapidly until the late 1970s, when, plagued by unemployment and other economic maladies, the residents of the island began to emigrate in large numbers to France and in smaller numbers to French Guiana. As a result of the high growth rate in the 1950s and '60s, almost two-fifths of the population is under age 20. About a third of the total population lives in the capital city of Fort-de-France.

The economy

Agriculture

Industry

Economic planning has laid emphasis on land reform (providing certain planters with lands that have been insufficiently reclaimed from swamp), the diversification of agricultural crops, and industrialization. Local industry includes cement, fertilizer, and polyethelyne plants and an oil refinery at Fort-de-France. Other industries include rum distilling, fish and fruit canning, sugar refining, the processing of cattle feed, soft drinks, and food, and the manufacture of pottery, wooden furniture, and chemicals. The growth of light manufacturing is being encouraged. One of the most popular tourist areas in the Caribbean, Martinique has a flourishing cruise ship business that brings tourists mainly from France, Canada, and the United States.

Trade

Martinique's economy is heavily dependent on trade with France, which provides about two-thirds of the island's imports and receives more than three-fifths of its exports. The value of imports far surpasses the value of exports, resulting in large trade deficits. Exports include refined petroleum products in addition to agricultural products; chief imports are foodstuffs, consumer goods, petroleum products, and electrical machinery.

Transportation

Martinique maintains regular air and sea links with France and North America. The main port is Fort-de-France. There is an international airport at Lamentin, to the east of Fort-de-France. The road network links Fort-de-France by an expressway with coastal towns. There are local bus services, and small coastal steamers connect various points around the island.

Government

As an overseas département, Martinique is divided into three arrondissements, comprising 34 communes, each of which is administered by an elected municipal council. Executive authority is represented by a commissioner and other officials, and there is an elected legislative council. Martinique is represented in the French National Assembly, in the French Senate, and on the French Economic and Social Council. Since 1974 Martinique has also had the status of a full région of France.

Justice

The French system of justice is in force. The Court of Appeal at Fort-de-France also has jurisdiction over Guadeloupe and French Guiana. There are two higher courts (grande instance), two lower courts (tribunaux d'instance), one administrative court, and a commercial court.

Education

Free and compulsory education is provided for children between six and 16 years of age. There are primary, secondary, and vocational schools. The enrollment of children of school age is exceptionally high. Higher education is usually pursued in metropolitan France, for which a number of scholarships are available. Institutes of law and economics, letters and human studies, and Creole studies constitute part of the University of the Antilles and Guiana.

Health and welfare

There are several general and maternity hospitals, as well as some dispensaries. Martinique receives the same social benefits as mainland France.

Cultural life

The Fort-de-France carnival, featuring a parade with masks, is an annual event. Voodoo ceremonies are far less important on the island than they are in Haiti. Cockfighting is a popular sport.

The Caribs inhabited the island at the time Christopher Columbus sighted it in 1493. It was not until 1502, on his fourth voyage, that he visited the island, leaving there some pigs and goats. Neglected by the Spaniards, who sought more material rewards than those the island offered, Martinique was occupied in 1635 by a Frenchman, Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc, who established 80 settlers at Fort-Saint-Pierre at the mouth of the Roxelane River. A year later d'Esnambuc, who had fallen sick, entrusted Martinique to his nephew, Jacques-Dyel du Parquet, who bought the island from the Compagnie des Isles d'Amérique and developed it into a remarkably prosperous colony. In 1654 a group of 250 Dutch Jews, chased from Brazil by the Portuguese, introduced sugarcane. In 1660 cacao trees were planted in place of cotton.

French rule

After the death of du Parquet, his widow governed the island in the name of her children but disagreed with the settlers; and in 1658 the French king, Louis XIV, resumed sovereignty over the island, paying an indemnity to du Parquet's children. In 1664 the island was placed under the authority of the Compagnie des Indes Occidentales; in 1674 it was made part of the French crown domain, being administered according to the Pacte Colonial, a body of principles summarized in the statement, "The mother country founds and maintains the colonies; the colonies enrich the mother country." Supplies and slaves were brought out to the French Antilles by the Compagnie du Sénégal, founded in 1664; the slave ships called at Martinique before proceeding to Guadeloupe, permitting the colony first choice of the slaves. In 1723 Arabian coffee was introduced, thus further contributing to the island's prosperity. In 1787 Louis XVI granted Martinique the right to establish a colonial assembly.

At various times Martinique was subjected to attack by various foreign fleets. An attack by the Dutch was repulsed in 1674; further attacks by the English were repelled in 1693 and in 1759. In 1762, however, the English captured the island, only to return it to France under the terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The English recaptured it in 1794 and occupied it until 1802; captured once more by the English in 1809, it was definitively restored to France in 1814. Slave uprisings occurred in 1789, 1815, and 1822. The abolition of slavery in 1848 created a labour problem, as a result of which labourers from India and China were introduced. Universal suffrage was proclaimed in 1848 but was abolished once more under Napoleon III; after 1870 the Third Republic of France restored representation for the island in the French Parliament.

In 1902 the volcanic eruption of Mount Pelée destroyed the town of Saint-Pierre, killing about 30,000 people. During World War II Martinique adhered to the Vichy government of Nazi-occupied France for three years before rallying to the Free French cause in 1943. In 1946, Martinique was granted the status of a French département, and in 1974 it was made a région.

Martinique, more vociferous in its demands for independence than Guadeloupe, has had its postwar politics influenced by Aimé Césaire, the Martinique writer who was one of the founders of the Negritude movement. Césaire, first elected as a deputy in 1945, had originally been a member of the Communist Party, but by 1956 he had resigned and formed his own party, the Progressive Party of Martinique. In 1957 Césaire's party won the Martinique elections by an enormous margin, and it seemed that independence would be achieved.

Martinique's economy was depressed, however, and massive unemployment worked against the independence movement. Emigration to France and French foreign aid had always been a palliative for Martinique's economic problems, and demands for independence resulted only in Martinique's being given greater autonomy. Even the visits of Charles de Gaulle (1956, 1960, and 1964) could not smooth over the political unrest, however, and by the late 1970s the French government, in an apparent about-face, decided to help Martinique become economically self-sufficient in preparation for independence. Economic problems were exacerbated by the widespread destruction from hurricanes in 1979 and 1980. Liberation groups were responsible in the 1980s for several bombings in Paris and the French Caribbean islands. Despite such actions, there was little official movement toward independence.