Inscribed over the portico of Martinique’s Government House are the French words for “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.” Although the island was first populated by the Arawaks and then the Caribs before being discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1493, it has been predominately French since they first arrived in 1635. Today it is an overseas department of France. As a result, it is part of the European Union, its currency is the euro and its population of about 400,000 people speak primarily French but also Creole.
