III. French West Indies.—The French, at present, possess but few of the islands of this Western main, having lost some of their most important ones, as the result of oppression or warfare. Of those that remain to them, two are of some consequence.
1. Martinique.—This island is about fifty miles long and sixteen broad. It has an uneven surface, and, in some instances, mountainous eminences. Sugar, coffee, cassia, cotton, indigo, cocoa, and ginger, are among its principal productions.
This island was settled by the French in 1635. The British took it in 1794; it was restored to France in 1802. It changed hands again in 1809, but was finally restored to France in 1815.
2. Guadaloupe.—This island is somewhat extensive, being seventy miles long, and twenty-five broad at its widest part. In many parts, it has a rich soil, and among its productions are enumerated sugar, coffee, rum, ginger, cocoa, logwood, &c. It has been repeatedly captured by the British, and as often restored to France.
IV. Dutch West Indies.—The Dutch possess four islands in the West Indian group, viz: Curaçoa, St. Eustatius, St. Martin, and Saba. Curaçoa was first possessed by the Spaniards, in 1527. It was taken by the Dutch in 1634. It is an island of thirty miles in length and ten in breadth. Its chief productions are sugar and tobacco, but its soil is not of the best quality, and for its supply of water it is dependent on the rains. St. Eustatius is said to be one of the finest and best-cultivated islands of all the Caribbees. Its chief product is tobacco. The English captured the island in 1801, but restored it to the Dutch in 1814.
V. Danish West Indies.—These islands are three in number, viz: St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas. They are all small, the largest, St. Croix, having only eighty square miles. St. John is celebrated for its fine and capacious harbor. It has a number of salt ponds. St. Croix has a salubrious climate and fertile soil. Every part of it is under the highest cultivation. The Danes first obtained possession of these islands, and still retain them.
VI. Independent Island, Hayti.—The island of Hayti, which now forms an independent negro republic, was formerly called St. Domingo and Hispaniola—St. Domingo, from the name of its chief city, and which became its common appellation in Europe; Hispaniola, meaning little Spain, so called by Columbus. Hayti is its original name, and, after a lapse of three hundred years, has been revived since the revolution. The island belonged, the western part of it, to France, and the eastern to Spain. It is the second in size of the West India islands, having an area of about thirty thousand square miles. It is traversed by mountains in two chains, from east to west, with several collateral branches, from which the rivers pour over the plains below.
Besides the tropical fruits and vegetables which this region affords, Hayti abounds with many valuable kinds of wood. The mahogany is of a superior quality, and a species of oak affords planks sixty or seventy feet long. The pine is also abundant in the mountains. The annual value of exports is about four millions of dollars, the principal article being coffee, with mahogany, campeachy-wood, cotton, tobacco, hides, cacas, tortoise-shell, wax, ginger, &c.
This island was discovered by Columbus in his first voyage, and became early the scene of many an adventure, as the civilized European mingled with the native Carib. In the course of about half a century, however, from the time of their settlement here, the Spaniards exterminated the whole native population, estimated at more than two millions. They remained undisputed masters of the island till 1630, when some English and French, who had been driven out of St. Christopher's, took refuge there, and established themselves on the northern coast. The French finally obtained a firm footing on the island, and, after many ineffectual attempts on the part of the Spanish government to expel them, were, by the treaty of Ryswick, in 1691, formally confirmed in the possession of the western half of Hayti. The French portion of the island became, at length, the far most important part of it in productiveness and wealth.
The convulsions in France, in the latter part of the last century, reached to this, its distant and beautiful colony. The doctrines of liberty and independence had begun to affect the minds of the blacks, who constituted seven-eighths of the population. They soon became ripe for a rebellion, which accordingly broke out in 1791, in the French portion of Hayti. On the 1st of July, 1801, the independence of this island was proclaimed, the celebrated Toussiant L'Ouverture being at that time the leader. Toussiant died in 1803, and the command devolved upon Dessalines, one of the chiefs, who was appointed governor for life; but afterwards assumed, in 1804, the title of Jacques I., Emperor of Hayti. His tyrannical reign was terminated by assassination in 1806. Christophe, the second in command, assumed the administration of affairs; in 1807, he was appointed chief-magistrate for life, and, in 1811, he assumed the title of King Henry I. But he found a formidable rival in Petion, who possessed himself of the south part of the island, which was formed into a republic, of which he was, in 1816, appointed president for life.