Geopolitics of the French Caribbean, 1635 – 1789

At the gates of the Spanish Indies

Established under the authority of Cardinal Richelieu, the new French colonies of Saint-Christophe (1627), Martinique and Guadeloupe (1635) were founded fn the context of Franco-Spanish rivalry and the Thirty-Year war. Mirroring the contemporaneous policies of the British monarchy or of the Dutch republic, the French monarchy saw its colonies as gateways to the Spanish empire, functioning as naval bases for French fleets (whether merchants, privateers, or royal) – poised to conquer new territories and capture the fabled riches of Spanish America.

The French presence in the Caribbean was connected early on with the organization of the trade in enslaved persons from Africa.  During the reign of Louis XIV, the slave trade was placed under the control of new companies with royal privileges (the West India Company in 1664, the Senegal Company in 1673, the Guinea Company in 1684).  By means of the slave trade, France meant to extend its markets into the Spanish empire, with the new colonies of Saint Domingue (1664) and Louisiana (1699) serving as launching bases.  The Atlantic segment of Louis XIV’s wars illustrated the important rivalries between France and its competitors in the slave trade bound for Spanish America: the war with the Dutch, where the French Royal Navy’s objectives on the coasts of Africa and in the Caribbean illustrated the monarchy’s wish to eliminate Dutch commercial competition from its trade with Spanish America; the war of the Augsburg Ligue – the 1694 attack on Port-Royal in Jamaica, a British commercial hub focused on Spanish America – or the war of Spanish succession.  One of the triggers of the latter war was the fact that a French company obtained the asiento de negros, the commercial privilege for delivering enslaved persons throughout Spanish America, a privilege ultimately ceded to Great Britain in 1713. 

The plantation complex and the French interests in the Caribbean and the Atlantic world. 

Starting in the 1660’s, the violent exploitation of enslaved people from Africa led to the growth of sugar industries in the French Atlantic, which bestowed new political significance on these territories. The crown’s relations with the political and economic elites in the colonies defined at least in part the way French interests were defended in the Caribbean and in the Atlantic world. Between 1669 and 1671, on Colbert’s advice, the monarchy forbade foreign trade in the colonies, thereby establishing the system of Exclusivity that remained in place until the end of the Old Regime: it made the French Antilles economically dependent on France, which supplied commodities and enslaved workers, and oversaw the commercialization of the islands’ agricultural products.  This system generated tensions which greatly impacted French geopolitics in the Caribbean.  The opposition of  overseas elites to the system of Exclusivity contributed to the planters’ reputation of disloyalty and made them the target of regular accusations of illegal trading. The fight against smuggling and the preoccupation with clarifying imperial frontiers in the Caribbean prompted the French monarchy to cede the French part of the island of Saint-Christophe, notorious for its illegal trade with the British and the Dutch, during the first great transfer of territories between France and Great Britain at the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). 

Despite tensions connected with the system of Exclusivity, the crthe political and economic interests of the islands’ so-called “great planters” were reliably supported by royal powers. The success of colonial commerce at the beginning of the 18th century and the  simultaneous liberalization of trade in the interior of the empire enabled the monarchy to maintain a positive fiscal balance sheet and to obtain important fiscal revenues, within the framework of the global Franco – British rivalry and the “second 100-years war” (1689 – 1815).  The development of the plantation complex also informed the French monarchy’s aspirations in the Caribbean, championing the colonial elites’ territorial claims over islands that had not yet been colonized (Saint-Lucia and Tobago) whose resources (timber, foodstuffs) were necessary for the functioning of the plantations and the provisioning of the French islands. Throughout the first half of the 18th century, competing French and British claims to these islands caused simmering conflicts which only ended with France acquiring Saint-Lucia with the Treaty of Paris (1763) and Tobago with the Treaty of Versailles (1783). 

For the French monarchy, the political and economic significance of the Caribbean colonies were so great that, in negotiating the Treaty of Paris, the crown privileged the Antilles over its North American empire, which France handed over to Great Britain in exchange for the restitution of Guadeloupe and Martinique (conquered by the British in 1759 and 1762).   In the wake of the Seven Years’ War, the new centrality of Saint Domingue (“the pearl of the Antilles”) in the French empire and the influence of the physiocrats made possible the reform of the Exclusivity system, within two Antilles ports opening to foreign trade in 1767 and 1784. Favored by colonials, the amended system of Exclusivity was also a response to European debates regarding the freedom of the seas and the status of neutral commerce in the Atlantic at a time when Britain dominated the seas and North America (subsequently the United States) grew increasingly more assertive in commercial relations with the French Antilles. 

War and slave societies

Initially a theater at the periphery of the European wars of the 17th century, the Caribbean Sea became one of the principal arenas of European conflict in the 18th century. This evolution led to a significant militarization of the societies of the French Antilles, where the monarchy had stationed Naval companies since the beginning of the Dutch war and where, since the foundation of the colonies, a militia had been created, to which all free men were conscripted for the defense of the colonies.  This corps was also of essential importance for maintaining the social order based on slavery and for crushing the enslaved population’s revolts – a permanent threat in the eyes of local elites. 

In the 17th and 18th centuries, war was an omnipresent part of reality in Antilles societies. The colonial elites derived significant prestige from serving in the king’s armies, holding senior militia positions, or establishing careers in Navy regiments. In times of war, overseas troops always maintained an advantage over their counterparts sent from Europe, who suffered higher mortality rates from yellow fever, for which they had no immunity. At the same time, the Caribbean conflicts came with an abundance of material and human consequences.  The colonials were obligated to provide labor for fortifications, to serve in the militia, and to provide lodging to royal troops at their own expense. In addition to the violence and destruction wrought by the armies on the ground, the maritime war disrupted commercial activities leading to scarcity; in addition, slave societies were severely tested in periods of conflict, when revolts increased.  Repeatedly, the colonies tried to insulate themselves from the wars’ consequences by negotiating neutrality treaties with their neighbors (such as the French – English concordats of Saint Christopher in the 17th century) or by turning to foreign commerce sailing under neutral flags to compensate for the decrease in French commerce. 

For multiple reasons, the Seven Years’ War (1756 – 1763) marked a turning point in the history of these societies.  At Versailles, the British conquest of Guadeloupe and Martinique damaged the reputation of the planters who were seen as flawed subjects who put their private interests above military service to the king.  In the wake of the Seven Years’ War, the trauma of defeat combined with doubts about the colonials’ loyalty caused the monarchy to enact in a significant reform of the Saint-Domingue militia, much to the dismay of the colonials; in October 1768, the militia’s reestablishment  sparked a rebellion in the Southern and Western parts of the colony, whereby members of the white underclass (petits blancs) and free people of color made common cause.  Although the American war of independence had no major geopolitical impact on the Caribbean, debates about how the Antilles could contribute to their own defense and about the military involvement of free people of color – whose participation in militia units was the object of contentious discussions between white planters and the royal administration – continued until the end of the Old Regime.  During the French-British wars of the second half of the 18th century, free people of color and African enslaved persons enrolled massively in one or the other of the armies, and this shaped the military culture of both groups: the experience of combat was an essential factor in the outbreak of the Haitian revolution (1791), the only slave revolt in the history of the Americas to overthrow a society based on enslavement.   

Published in december 2024