Shock of civilizations: the inhabitants of Martinique are decimated a few years after the arrival of the colonists. Their oral culture having disappeared with them, we mainly know them, only through the accounts of the European chroniclers of the first times of colonization. Today archaeology brings new elements to us.
Indian Population
Wandering populations coming from Amazonia perhaps contacted the island between 5000 and 2000 years before J-C. But these fishermen gatherers not having left any trace, the dating is delicate. The archaeological evidence of a presence on the island goes up only at the beginning of the Christian era. At that time, Arawaks Indians settle near the Pelée mountain in the north of Martinique (site of Vivé). Fishermen Gatherers but also farmers, they were undoubtedly attracted by the fertility of this volcanic zone. Later, from 800 to 1600 years after J-c, a second wave of settlement colonizes the south of the island (site of Diamond). Hawking for a long time the vision of the first chroniclers, the historians opposed these two populations. Nice Arawaks "eaters of flour" on a side, the malicious Caribbean cannibals of the other. The latter exterminating and tasting the first. Today, progress of archaeology, linguistics and anthropology cancels this thesis. We know from now on, who these people were not so distant one from the other. Coming both from Amazonia, their languages are close, their way of life also. We also know, and especially, that the first accounts describing them, even if they do not miss interests, are the fact of often religious Europeans of which the writings will be used to justify the extermination of people.
Sites
Several sites discovered recently in Martinique delivered many lesson to the archaeologists. But much remains to be made. Significant zones of shade remain, in particular on the history of the island between the two waves of settlement.
Le Vivé : Old site of dwelling gone back to 300 after J-c on the commune from Lorrain in the north of the island.
Plage de Dizac : Old site of dwelling gone back to 800 after J-c on the commune of Diamond in the south of the island.
Forêt de Montravail : Rocks engraved of petroglyphs on the commune of Sainte-Luce in the south of the island.
Anse
Trabaud : Old site of dwelling gone back to 1600 after J-c on the commune of Sainte-Anne in the south of the island.
Quartier Paquemar : Old indian site inhabited until about 1700, to 5 km in the south of the commune of Vauclin.
Museum of Archaeology and Prehistory
Created in 1971, the departmental museum of archaeology and prehistory devotes to the history of the island. Its collection of 1500 parts resulting from the archaeological excavations and of deprived collections make of it the richest museum of archaeology of the Small-Antilles.
Chronology
5000 to J-C : First contacts with wandering populations of Amazonia.
300 after J-C : Arawaks are established in the north of the island. (Site of Vivé).
800
to 1600 : The second vagueness of Amazonian population. (Site of Montravail, Diamant and the Anse Trabaud).
1500 to 1630 : First contacts with Europeans.
1635 : Arrival of French. Larval war counters the colonists.
1645 : Approximately 3000, the Indians move back in front of the French projection and are withdrawn on the peninsula of the Caravel.
1660 : With rare exceptions, the last Indians are exterminated or constrained to flee towards the Domenica and Saint-Vincent.
Wandering populations coming from Amazonia perhaps contacted the island between 5000 and 2000 years before J-C. But these fishermen gatherers not having left any trace, the dating is delicate. The archaeological evidence of a presence on the island goes up only at the beginning of the Christian era. At that time, Arawaks Indians settle near the Pelée mountain in the north of Martinique (site of Vivé). Fishermen Gatherers but also farmers, they were undoubtedly attracted by the fertility of this volcanic zone. Later, from 800 to 1600 years after J-c, a second wave of settlement colonizes the south of the island (site of Diamond). Hawking for a long time the vision of the first chroniclers, the historians opposed these two populations. Nice Arawaks "eaters of flour" on a side, the malicious Caribbean cannibals of the other. The latter exterminating and tasting the first. Today, progress of archaeology, linguistics and anthropology cancels this thesis. We know from now on, who these people were not so distant one from the other. Coming both from Amazonia, their languages are close, their way of life also. We also know, and especially, that the first accounts describing them, even if they do not miss interests, are the fact of often religious Europeans of which the writings will be used to justify the extermination of people.
Created in 1971, the departmental museum of archaeology and prehistory devotes to the history of the island. Its collection of 1500 parts resulting from the archaeological excavations and of deprived collections make of it the richest museum of archaeology of the Small-Antilles.
French Version