The surface is mountainous, the highest peak being Mt. Pelée, which rises 4428 feet above sea-level. The appalling eruption of this volcano in May, 1902, was one of the greatest disasters of modern times and cost the lives of 40,000 people. About one-third of the island’s surface consists of extensive plains, most of them occurring in the south. The soil of the northern part is of volcanic formation, while in the south it is composed of clay. There are a number of streams, some of them of considerable size.
Near the coast the average temperature for June is 83 degrees, and for January 77 degrees, the mean for the year being about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The wet season extends from June to October and the total yearly rainfall approximates 87 inches. August is the wettest month and March the driest. In the low region of the sea coast the climate is not healthful for Europeans during the hot period, but a more salubrious atmosphere and a temperature 10 degrees lower is found in the wooded uplands, 1500 feet above the sea. Fresh, dry northerly winds prevail from November to February, easterly winds from March to June, and damp, warm southerly winds from July to October. Earthquakes are frequent, but hurricanes seldom visit the island.
Martinique was discovered by Columbus on June 15, 1492, and the French Compagnie des Iles d’Amérique took possession of it in 1635. It was settled in the same year by Pierre Belain, captain-general of the island of St. Christopher, and in 1674 it became the property of the crown.
Sugar culture was begun in 1650, and a few years later the aboriginal Caribs were exterminated, their place being filled by negro slaves, of whom there were 60,000 in the island by 1736. Slavery was abolished in 1848.[71]
During the seventeenth century Martinique was attacked several times by the British and the Dutch. It was captured in 1762 by the British under Admiral Rodney, but restored to the French in the following year. It was held by the British from 1793 to 1801 and also between 1809 and 1814.
The capital of the island is Fort de France, on the west coast. It is situated upon a fine harbor and has 18,000 inhabitants. Besides the chief product, sugar, the colony raises coffee, cocoa, tobacco and cotton.
GUADELOUPE AND MARTINIQUE
Sugar planting in these islands dates from 1635, the year in which they were first occupied by the French, and the industry grew apace, so that much sugar was exported to France during the latter half of the seventeenth century. The import duties levied by France in 1664 shut out foreign raw sugars from that country, while protecting raw sugars from her colonies; but at the same time the tariff laws excluded white sugar produced in the colonies. This was a death blow to the refineries of Martinique. A decree entirely prohibiting the refining of sugar in the colonies and the exportation of raw sugar to foreign countries was issued in 1669, while an export duty was imposed upon the raw sugar shipped to France. The tax upon raw sugar was removed in 1682, but the duty on refined was increased. The colonial planters then turned their attention to the manufacture of clayed sugars, which they sold in North America and southern Europe.
In 1717 France established relations with her colonies that were almost tantamount to free trade. No duties were assessed upon French goods going into the colonies, and commodities produced in the colonies entered the mother country without duty. As a result of this policy, the sugar industry grew until the production of Guadeloupe, Martinique and Saint Dominique was more than France could consume, and a law was passed permitting the sale of the surplus in other countries.
During the closing years of the eighteenth century, the war between England and France crippled the trade of the French West Indies, but when peace was finally restored the sugar industry revived and continued to flourish until the abolition of slavery in 1848.