Invasion of Martinique (1674) Martinique, the headquarters of the French colonial venture in the Caribbean. The Dutch believed that the capture of Martinique would enable them to quickly conquer France's other island outposts and rebuild their own war-ravaged network of Caribbean plantations, giving them dominance of the entire Lesser Antilles island chain. To achieve these aims, the Dutch assembled a powerful invasion force under Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, widely regarded as the greatest naval commander of the age, whose crushing victories had driven the English out of the war. Under his commanded sailed a fleet of eighteen major warships including his 80-gun flagship "De
Caribbean elaenia Caribbean elaenia The Caribbean elaenia ("Elaenia martinica") is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae found in the West Indies and parts of Central America. Its natural habitats are tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, and heavily degraded former forest. In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the Caribbean elaenia in his "Ornithologie" based on a specimen collected on the island of Martinique. He used the French name "Le gobe-mouche hupé de la Martinique" and the Latin "Muscicapa Martinicana cristata". Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not