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
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States economic bloc of states. Part of the bank's oversight lends to maintaining the financial integrity of the East Caribbean dollar (XCD). Of all OECS member-states, only the British Virgin Islands and Martinique do not use the East Caribbean dollar as their de facto native currency. All other members belong to the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union. The OECS sub-region has a military support unit known as the Regional Security System (RSS). It is made up of the independent countries of the OECS along with Barbados. The unit is based in the island of Barbados and receives funding and training from various