MARTINIQUE, an island of the West Indies, a French colony in the chain of the Lesser Antilles, 25 m. S. of Dominica and 20 m. N. of St. Lucia, both British islands, about 14° 40' N., 61° W. Length 4o m., greatest width 21 M. ; area 38o sq.m. A cluster of volcanic mountains in the north, a similar group in the south, and a line of lower heights between them, form the back bone of the island. Its deep ravines and precipitous escarpments are clothed in forest. The massif of Mont Pele in the north is the culminating point ft.) ; that of Carbet reaches 3,963 ft., the mountains in the S. are much lower.
Of the numerous streams which traverse the strip between the watershed and the sea (the longest radiating from Mount Carbet), about seventy-five are of considerable volume, and in the rainy season often become destructive torrents. On the north-west and north the coast is elevated; on the south a lateral range, branching from the backbone of the island, forms a blunt peninsula bound ing the low-shored bay of Fort de France. Another peninsula, Caravelle, projects from the middle part of the east coast, and south of this the coast is low and fretted, with many islets, cays and coral reefs. Plains, most numerous and extensive in the south, make up about one-third of the total area of the island.
Mean annual temperature, 80° F in the coast region, the monthly mean for June being 83° ; for January 77°. Annual rain fall, 87 in. August has the heaviest share (I1.3 in.), though the rainy season extends from June to October; March, the driest month, has 3.7. The low coastal districts are not very healthy for Europeans in the hotter months, but there are numerous sanatoria in the forest region at an elevation of about 1,500 ft., where the average temperature is some io° F lower. The north winds which prevail from November to February are comparatively fresh and dry;. those from the south (July to Oct.) are damp and warm. From March to June easterly winds prevail.
Population (1931) 234,695. In 1905, shortly after the first erup tion of Mont Pele, the population was only 182,024. The bulk of the population consists of negroes, coloured people of various grades, ranging from the "Saccatra," who has retained hardly anv trace of European blood, to the so-called "Sangmele," with only a suspicion of negro commixture. The capital of the island is Fort de France, on the bay of the same name, with a fine harbour defended by three forts, and a population of 43,338. Other principal centres of population are, on the west coast Lamentin, on the same bay as the capital, and on the east coast Le Francois and Le Robert. The colony is administered by a
governor and a general council, and returns a senator and two deputies. There are elective municipal councils. The island is served by French, British, Canadian and American steamship lines, and local communications are carried on by small coasting steamers and by subsidized coaches on excellent roads. In 1925 the total value of the exports (mainly sugar, rum, coffee, cocoa and vanilla) was fr. 154,871,706, France taking by far the greater part. Imports were valued at fr. 132,566,419, of which more than two-thirds by value came from France, the United States of America being the next principal importing country.
Martinique, the name of which may be derived from a native form Madiana or Mantinino, was probably discovered by Colum bus on June 15, 1502; although by some authorities its discovery is placed in 1493. It was inhabited by Caribs who had expelled or incorporated an older stock. On June 25, 1635, possession was taken of the island in the name of the French Compagnie des Iles d'Amerique. Actual settlement was carried out by Pierre Belain, Sieur d'Esnambuc, captain-general of the island of St. Christopher. In 1637 his nephew Dyel Duparquet became captain general of the colony, now numbering seven hundred men, and subsequently obtained the seigneurie of the island by purchase from the company under the authority of the king of France. In 1654 three hundred Jews, expelled from Brazil, landed, and by 1658 there were at least five thousand people exclusive of the Caribs, who after much fighting, were exterminated. Purchased by the French government from Duparquet's children for 120,000 livres, Martinique was assigned to the West India Company, but in 1674 became part of the royal domain. The habitants (French landholders) at first cultivated cotton and tobacco ; but in 1650 sugar planting was begun, and in 1723 the coffee plant was intro duced. Slave labour was an early feature (there were 6o,000 blacks in the island by 1736), but was abolished in 186o. In 1666 and 1667 the island was attacked by the British, but hostilities were terminated by the treaty of Breda. The Dutch made similar attempts in 1674, and the British again in 1693. Captured by Rodney in 1762, Martinique was next year restored to the French; but after the conquest by the British in 1793 it was retained for eight years; and, seized again in 1809, it was not surrendered till 1814. The island was the birth-place of the Empress Josephine.