Hard Times Living In New York

This small island, about half the size of Rhode Island, was discovered in 1502 by Christopher Columbus, as were many of the Caribbean islands. In those days the island was d easily by the Carib Indians who had already chased the Arawaks (an indigenous tribe as well as from the Orenoco valley), away from their shores. They named the island Madinina, The Island of Flowers. In 1635, Martinique was colonized by the French, and during the next one hundred thirty years, the English and the French fought for control of it. Finally, in 1763, Martinique was definitively declared French. Since then, it has followed the said(prenominal) course of history as France. It was an agricultural country, and in the eighteenth and 19th centuries, slaves worked the islands tobacco and sugar plantations until slavery was abolished in 1848. Its side as a French colony continued until afterward World War II, and it became a department in 1946. It was stipulation the further status of Region in 1974. In 1902, a blast from Mont Pelée (a still-active volcano) laid waste to Saint-Pierre with a burst of superheated gas and burning ash 40 multiplication stronger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Only one of the towns 30,000 residents survived (and he was in jail). Saint-Pierre, long regarded as the most cultured urban center in the French West Indies, was eventually rebuilt. However, the capital was travel permanently to Fort-de-France and Saint-Pierre has never been more than a shadow of its reason self.

In 1946 Martinique became an overseas department of France, with a status standardized to those of metropolitan departments, and in 1974 it was further assimilated into the political fold as a region of France. Both of Frances Caribbean outposts, Martinique and Guadeloupe, use French cash and stamps and fly the French flag. However, in recent years there have been increased rumblings for greater internal autonomy and separationist groups continue to organize.

A mix of Western-French language, Native-American vocabulary (anoli for lizard, manicou for opposum, toloman for arrow-root...) and African syntax, the Creole language still bears the marks of the conditions of its birth. The same is true for the all in all west-indian culture, which still contains aboriginal technics like the making of manioc dredge or basketwork, or the knowledge of plants (traditional phytotherapy), legacy of the Caribs. Being a French territory for more than three centuries, as well as Gaudeloupe, Guiana and Reunion Island, Martinique becomes a French Depatment in 1946, as requested by its representants, Aimé CESAIRE and Léopold BISSOL.

Being a part of France, Martinique benefits progressively of many social and economic laws.



The familiar context is changing : cane sugar is no nightlong competitive, the exoteric administrations recruit large amounts of educated mint, primary cultivation tends to be general...

The economy changes deeply. Agriculture is no longer the basis, bananas for export failing to really replace cane sugar, and the service assiduity dominates widely.

Despite a superficial wealth, unemployment is massive, mostly among the young. In 1963, the Bumidom (Bureau of Migrations from oversea Departments) is constituted, in order to send annually 10 000 masses to continental France. There, they mostly occupy the lowest functions in hospitals and public administrations, progressively constituting an important, yet unorganized community. About 400 000 people from Martinique, Guadeloupe or Guiana live around Paris.

By the end of the XX th century, Martinique faces a crucial interogation. Being well innovational in the way of assimilation to the French and European culture, it has to be aware of its geographical environment : Caribean countries, much poorer, with which it has scarce contacts, besides so much alike, after centuries of a similar history.

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