MARTINIQUE, mar-ti-nek', West Indies, an island of the Lesser Antilles and, except Guadeloupe, the largest in the Caribbean chain. Area, 381 square miles. It is very mountainous (Mount Pelee, in the northwest, 4.900 feet; Mount Carbet but a little lower, while a peak near the southern coast rises to the height of 3,950 feet. The thermometer ranges between 76° and 88° F., the summers being hot and dry, autumn and a part of winter hot and rainy, and spring comparatively cool. The inhabitants number about 185,000. About 3 per cent are Caucasians, who reside chiefly in Saint Pierre; the balance of the population — those who, in the main, suffered least from the disaster of 1902— are described as negroes, mulattoes, chabin and mates"— that is, blends of the African, Carib Indian (q.v.), Mongolian and French races. A large part of the surface is covered with forests of silk-cotton, species of mahogany, etc. The flora is closely related to that of South America; the fauna abound in minor reptiles and insects. Of the snake kind the most dreaded is the fer-de-lance, whose bite is fatal. The mongoose has practically exter minated this serpent within recent years. Sugar and cocoa are the chief productions, followed by coffee, tobacco and cotton. There are over 40,000 acres under cultivation and tobacco growing is subject to special regulation. There are 45 sugar mills and many distilleries. In 1916 sugar to the value of $5,300,000, rum to the value of $5,600,000 and cocoa to the value of $150,000 were exported. In the same year the total of all imports was $6,770,000 and of exports $12,195,000. There entered that year 557 vessels of 465,502 tons.
Martinique is a colony of France, sending one senator and one deputy (two deputies until 1903) to the French legislature. Its affairs are administered by a governor, general council and elective municipal councils. Educational insti
tutions are a law school at Fort-de-France, with 56 students; several secondary or normal schools and about 100 primary schools with 18,000 pupils. The island was acquired by the French in 1635. Toward the close of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries it was temporarily held by the British. In May 1902 volcanic eruptions from Mount Pelee destroyed Saint Pierre, which was the largest city on the island, with a population of 26,011, and the residents of that place perished, almost without exception; but the statement commonly made, that "a great part of the island was over whelmed,)) is incorrect. The scope of Pelee's work was limited. (See Puts., Morn). About 10,000 persons besides those in Saint Pierre lost their lives (in all, 20 per cent of the total population) ; the best agricultural regions, how ever, in the south and along the eastern coast were uninjured. The capital, Fort-de-France (pop. 26,399), is situated in the southwest and is important as being the military and naval headquarters and rendezvous in the French Antilles; the terminus of the French trans atlantic steamers and West Indian cable sys tem. For local traffic there are mail coaches and motor-cars, which receive a subsidy from the government, and subsidized steamers ply on the coast. The Bank of Martinique, situated at Fort-de-France, has a capital of $600,000. A statue of the Empress Josephine, who was born in Martinique, is one of the ornaments of the public gardens of Fort-de-France. In 1918 the military force consisted of 39 officers and 2,255 men. The capital has had its share of misfortunes in the past : it was nearly con sumed by fire in 1890 and partially destroyed by an earthquake in 1839.