Martinique is a French island lying between the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea in an archipelago known as the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.

Martinique is 417 square miles of hilly, volcanic land surrounded by magnificent beaches. The east coast receives much more rain and, consequently, is greener than the west side.

While the independent English-speaking island of Dominica separates Martinique from Guadeloupe, distances are short, and it’s quite possible to combine Martinique and Guadeloupe into one vacation.

Because the island is French, tourists get a two-for-one holiday. French pride and bon vivant chic temper the hot, wild, astonishing beauty of the tropics, creating a faux France in the Caribbean. Martinique is an overseas région or département of France with democratic representation in the National Assembly in Paris.

French is the official language on Martinique. All residents study French in school, and many also know English. Nevertheless, on the streets the locals often speak Créole, a hybrid language derived from French, Spanish, Portuguese, and various African dialects. Plantation slaves started the language, and it was once considered a bastardized version of French, but today it is gaining respect as the written and spoken language of the Caribbean.

Residents of Martinique enjoy a marvelous quality of life, and visitors may feel as if they’re in a small town on the French continent. The corner boulangerie sells fresh-baked croissants, le jazz plays in the bistros, and haute cuisine is served to fashionably dressed patrons at upscale restaurants. The consequence is France-like prices, rush-hour traffic, and the usual cosmopolitan stresses.

Most of the million tourists who visit Martinique each year are French, but the majority of residents on the island are black descendants of African slaves or mulattos with a mix of African and European ancestry. Still, white citizens, called békés, and white French citizens living on the island, called métros, control much of the economy and hold many administrative positions. As in France, literacy and life expectancy is high, infant mortality is low, and most residents consider themselves Catholics.

Martinique is mountainous, with complex ecosystems. Tropical vegetation covers most areas, but in some places it’s tropical desert and in others it’s tropical rain forest. Several of the beaches have black volcanic rock; some are blanketed in fine golden or coarse gray sand, while others have soft, pure white sand. Spectacular volcanos, gorgeous waterfalls and miles of flat sugar plantations mingle with dense forests, arid scrub brush and marshy salt ponds.

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