Martinique an Overseas Department of France. In 1974, it became simply a Department. In 2009, the French Caribbean general strikes exposed deep ethnic, and class tensions and disparities within Martinique. Together with Guadeloupe, La Réunion, Mayotte and French Guiana, Martinique is one of the Overseas Departments of France. It is also an outermost region of the European Union. The inhabitants of Martinique are French citizens with full political and legal rights. Martinique sends four deputies to the French National Assembly and two senators to the French Senate. On January 24, 2010, during a referendum, the inhabitants of Martinique approved by 68.4%
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