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
General History of the Caribbean in 1981 to begin work on the project of writing a General History of the Caribbean – separately from the General History of Latin America. In conjunction with the Working Group and broad consultation carried out by the Regional Offices in Latin America and the Caribbean, a Drafting Committee was established by the Director-General. This Drafting Committee included 19 scholars and researchers from a range of places, two-thirds of whom were from the Caribbean, including Martinique, Santa Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, Barbados and Cuba. The six-volume History was officially launched in 1993 and is expected to be completed by