Carib expulsion from Martinique

The Arawak were the first settlers of Martinique (which they called Madinina, "flower island"), arriving around the 1st century BC.

[3] Because the Carib people resisted working as laborers to build and maintain the sugar and cocoa plantations which the French began to develop in the Caribbean, in 1636 King Louis XIII proclaimed La Traite des Noirs.

This authorized the capture or purchase of slaves from Africa, who were then transported as labor to Martinique and other parts of the French West Indies.

The French had pushed the remaining Carib people to this northeastern coast and the Caravalle Peninsula, but the colonists wanted the additional land.

When the Carib revolted against French rule in 1660, the Governor Charles Houel sieur de Petit Pré retaliated with war against them.

Illustration of Kalinago people (19th century)
1690 map of Martinique; the western part is labelled "abode of the French" while the east is called " Cabesterre , or abode of the savages ."