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
Tourism in the Caribbean weeks or months at a time. The Caribbean islands were colonies of European countries, and early tourists went to their nation's colonies. Barbados and Jamaica were visited by the English, Curaçao by the Dutch, and Martinique by the French. American tourists traveled to The Bahamas and Cuba. In the 1920s, tourists visited the Caribbean for pleasurable, sun-bathing vacations. Sun exposure was considered healthy at that time and tans were a symbol of "spontaneity and sensuality" among the wealthy. Before World War II, more than 100,000 tourists visited the region a year. Tourism became an economically important industry as Caribbean bananas,