Coffee production in Martinique Coffee production in Martinique Coffee production in Martinique dates to 1723 and its establishment is credited to the French naval officer Gabriel de Clieu. It later spread to other places in the Caribbean and South America from Martinique, an overseas region of France. Jules Rossignon wrote that in 1723, Royal Physician Pierre Chirac gave Gabriel de Clieu, a French navy lieutenant, a coffee tree to be planted in Martinique. In spite of King Louis XV refusing permission to do so, de Clieu took a cutting from a coffee plant in the royal gardens and planted it in Martinique. He gave
Invasion of Martinique (1674) had won a dramatic and unexpected victory. French historians still describe Martinique as an astounding military success: the great de Ruyter and the all-conquering Dutch navy had been defeated by a single frigate. Martinique would remain French. Captain Renart was rewarded with the grand noble title of Marquis d'Amblimont; he would later return to Fort-Royal as governor-general of the French Caribbean. The humiliated Dutch fleet retreated back across the Atlantic, their combat losses compounded by the ravages of sickness. Their ambitions to expand their colonial empire in the Americas were permanently stalled, leaving them with only Suriname and the Netherlands