Saint-Pierre, Martinique two valleys between the volcano and the city. The city of Saint-Pierre was never restored to its former entirety, though some villages were built in later decades on its place. Today, the town is the district capital of the Caribbean North district of Martinique. It has been designated as a "City of Art and History". There are many historic remains, and a Volcanological Museum ("Musée vulcanologique Franck Perret"). Saint-Pierre, Martinique Saint-Pierre () is a town and commune of France's Caribbean overseas department of Martinique, founded in 1635 by Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc. Before the total destruction of Saint-Pierre in 1902 by
Martinique Spain had little interest in the territory. On 15 September 1635, Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc, French governor of the island of St. Kitts, landed in the harbor of St. Pierre with 150 French settlers after being driven off St. Kitts by the English. D'Esnambuc claimed Martinique for the French King Louis XIII and the French "Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique" (Company of the American Islands), and established the first European settlement at Fort Saint-Pierre (now St. Pierre). D'Esnambuc died in 1636, leaving the company and Martinique in the hands of his nephew, Jacques Dyel du Parquet, who in 1637, became governor