The islands settled for France under the direction of the Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique before it was dissolved in 1651 were: In 1635, France's Cardinal Richelieu charged François Fouquet, the head of a small group of his councilors, with revitalizing the less than dynamic Compagnie de Saint-Christophe in which the Cardinal was a shareholder.
D'Esnambuc claimed Martinique for the French King Louis XIII and 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) under governor Jean Dupont.
D'Esnambuc died prematurely in 1636, leaving the company and Martinique in the hands of his nephew, Du Parquet.
He governed the island of Saint Christopher from 1639 to his death in 1660, first under the Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique and later under the Knights of Malta themselves.
In 1665, the Knights sold the islands they had acquired to the newly formed (1664) Compagnie des Indes occidentales.