Jean-Charles de Baas

King Louis XIV of France pardoned him for this, and he played an important role in the fighting in Italy.

He improved the administration, developed the defenses of Fort Royal, and helped fight off an attempted Dutch invasion in 1674.

He joined in the Fronde rebellion (1648–53) and participated with his brother in abduction plots of César, Duke of Vendôme and Cardinal Mazarin.

[2] De Baas was amnestied after the Fronde and maintained his rank as maréchal des camps et armées du roi.

[3] De Baas arrived in Martinique with the squadron of Admiral Jean II d'Estrées, and registered his commission with the Sovereign Council of the island on 4 February 1669.

[2] In the lead-up to the Franco-Dutch War of 1672–77 Colbert told de Baas it would greatly please Louis XIV if he could hamper the trade of the Dutch and drive them from their islands "if this were possible without encroaching directly on the treaties His Majesty has with them.

[8] In 1674 de Baas asked for 200 soldiers to either annihilate the Caribs on Dominica or make them galley slaves.

After de Baas moved his headquarters to Martinique in 1669 the population and the level of sugar production on Saint Christopher slowly declined between 1671 and 1689.

[2] In February 1674 de Baas wrote to Colbert of the colonists living on Martinique, "...one need not worry about them dying of starvation in the absence of French merchant vessels, Monseigneur; in every month of the year, the habitants have local foodstuffs available to them – peas of different kinds, manioc, yams, potatoes, as well as many delicious fruits.

There is good water with which they make refreshing drinks;..."[12] In 1676 he began to develop the colonial settlement at the strategically important site of Fort Royal.

[19] A royal ordinance of 10 June 1670 banned all trading between the French colonies in the Americas and foreign countries.

[20] That year de Baas reported that owing to lack of supplies from France the colonists of Guadeloupe and Martinique often traded in Barbados.

He reported to France that due to shortage of food he had been forced to let four English vessels deliver supplies, and a few African slaves.

[24] In the second half of 1672 de Baas learned of the outbreak of the Franco-Dutch War, and began to organize an expedition against the Dutch base on Curaçao.

[27] De Baas continued as governor and lieutenant general after the French West India Company was dissolved in 1674.

He then sailed north to Martinique, where de Baas raised several hundred men as reinforcements and gave information about the Dutch in Tobago.