The Compagnie de Saint-Christophe was a company created and chartered by French adventurers to exploit the island of Saint-Christophe, the present-day

Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis, officially the Federation of Saint Christopher (St Kitts) and Nevis, is an island country consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of the Less ...

. In 1625, a French adventurer, Pierre Bélain sieur d'Esnambuc, landed on Saint-Christophe with a band of adventurers and some slaves. Returning to France, in 1626 he applied for and received a charter from

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...

to create the ''Compagnie de Saint-Christophe''. Richelieu was a major stockholder in the company, contributing some 10,000 livres out of the company's capital stock of 45,000 livres. The company was not very successful. In 1635 Richelieu directed his councilor François Fouquet to reorganize the company under the new name ''

Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique The Company of the American Islands () was a French chartered company that in 1635 took over the administration of the French portion of ''Saint-Christophe island'' (Saint Kitts) from the Compagnie de Saint-Christophe which was the only French settl ...

'' ('Company of the American Islands') and with a charge to colonize Sainte-Christophe,

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

and

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

. On 15 September 1635, d'Esnambuc landed in the harbour of St. Pierre with 150 French settlers after being driven off Saint-Christophe by the English. He claimed Martinique for King

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. ...

and the Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique, establishing the first European settlement at Fort Saint-Pierre (now St. Pierre). His nephew, Jacques Dyel du Parquet, assisted d'Esnambuc and in 1637 became he governor of the island.

Sources

*{{cite book, title=Les grandes compagnies de commerce: étude pour servir à l'histoire de la colonisation, language=fr, trans-title=The grand companies of commerce: A study of their use in the history of colonization, first=Pierre, last=Bonnassieux, date=1892, publisher=E. Plon, Nourrit et Cie., location=Paris, url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9692870s.texteImage Trading companies History of Martinique History of Guadeloupe 1626 establishments in France 1635 disestablishments History of the Caribbean French colonization of the Americas Chartered companies 17th century in Martinique

See also

Sources