LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Martinique: French Caribbean
built 605 days ago
The Sofitel Bakoua Martinique Resort has two restaurants and two bars as well as their banquet facilities. Chateaubriand, on the hotel’s ground floor, serves French and West Indian cuisine for dinner only, with a beautiful view of the bay. La Sirene is a casual, West Indian restaurant, which serves exotic salads, grilled entrees and fish. The resort bars include the Coco Bar, a popular meeting spot, built on stilts along the beach.
Source:
Other than the rarely seen fer-de-lance, a poisonous snake in Martinique, there is not much in the way of really dangerous land critters in the French islands. However, the Manchineel tree (le Manceniller) puts out a highly toxic sap. You should never stand under one in the rain or taste its little green berries. These trees are usually marked with red paint by the locals. The Martinique tap water is drinkable in most places and excellent local bottled water is available in stores and restaurants.
Source:
As an overseas département, Martinique is divided into three arrondissements, comprising 34 communes, each of which is administered by an elected municipal council. Executive authority is represented by a commissioner and other officials, and there is an elected legislative council. Martinique is represented in the French National Assembly, in the French Senate, and on the French Economic and Social Council. Since 1974 Martinique has ... had the status of a full région of France.
Source:
When Columbus sighted Martinique it was inhabited by Carib Indians who called the island Madinina, 'Island of Flowers.' Three decades passed before the first party of French settlers, led by Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc, landed on the northwestern side of the island. They built a small fort in 1635 and established a settlement that would become the island's first capital, Saint-Pierre. The following year, French King Louis XIII signed a decree authorizing the use of slaves in the French West Indies.
Source:
Between 1794 and 1815, there was a strong British interest in Martinique, with control of the island changing several times within that period. Slavery was abolished under British rule, but reinstated after 1802, when the Treaty of Amiens gave Martinique back to France, and Napoléon Bonaparte allowed slavery again. Slavery was not officially abolished until 1848, with Victor Schoelcher’s law. All slaves became French citizens.
Source:
Exotic orchids thrive on the island of Martinique but they aren’t the only blooms that blossom here. In colonial days, the island was famous for its beautiful women even giving birth to Napoleon’s Josephine. Many islanders dress in colourful Parisian outfits. And of course, there’s a rich colonial heritage in this overseas French department. But there’s ... the Creole side: friendliness, warmth, banana plantations and rum!
Source:
MORE ABOUT
French Caribbean