Flag of Martinique Flag of Martinique Martinique, an overseas territorial collectivity of France located in the Caribbean, has no flag with official status other than the French national flag. This flag features a white cross like St George’s cross on a blue background filled in with a white snake in each quarters. It is used sometimes by the French military on their buildings and/or uniforms. Gendarmes bear the Coat of Arms version of the flag. This flag dates from an edict issued 4 August 1766, specifying that vessels of the French Colony of Martinique and Saint Lucia should fly a version of the
Piracy in the Caribbean in Europe increasingly drove their plantation-based economies. The English had also expanded their dominion in the Caribbean and settled several new islands, including Bermuda in 1612, Antigua and Montserrat in 1632, and Eleuthera in the Bahamas in 1648, though these settlements began like all the others as relatively tiny communities that were not economically self-sufficient. The French also founded major new colonies on the sugar-growing islands of Guadeloupe in 1634 and Martinique in 1635 in the Lesser Antilles. However, the heart of French activity in the Caribbean in the 17th century remained Tortuga, the fortified island haven off the coast