The French colonial settlers in Martinique are…
1648 CE to 1659 CE
The French colonial settlers in Martinique are peasants who had been attracted by propaganda promising fortune and a life under the sun.
The "volunteers" are indentured servants who have to work for their master for three years, after which they are promised their own land.
However, the tiring work and hot climate results in few of the workers surviving their three years, with the result that constant immigration is necessary for maintaining the workforce.
Still, under the directorship of Jacques Dyel du Parquet, Martinique's economy has developed as it exported products to France and the neighboring British and Dutch colonies.
The Sovereign council had been established in 1645 with several powers, among them the right to grant titles of nobility to families in the islands.
Cardinal Mazarin, a principal in the Company of the Isles of America, had little interest in colonial affairs and the company languished in the late 1640s.
It dissolves itself in 1651, selling its exploitation rights to various parties.
The du Parquet family buys the rights to Martinique, Grenada, and Saint Lucia for sixty thousand livres.
In the previous year, Father Jacques du Tetre had built a still for converting the waste from the sugarcane mills into molasses, which is to become a major export industry.
Du Parquet in 1654 allows two hundred and fifty Dutch Jews, who are fleeing Brazil following the Portuguese conquest, to settle Martinique, where they engage in the sugar trade.
This is by far the most sought after product in Europe and the crop soon become Martinique's biggest export.
After the death of du Parquet, his widow rules on behalf of his children until 1658, when Louis XIV resumes sovereignty over the island, paying an indemnity of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds to the du Parquet children.
At this time, Martinique's population numbers some five thousand settlers and a few surviving Carib Indians.