Why Martinique is called ...Martinique?

Carte de la Martinique datant de 1768 This is a question that many have certainly asked themselves when setting foot on the island for the first time. So what is the origin of the name of Martinique?

To date, the answer is ... unknown!!! The versions diverge and no version should be ignored.

  • For some, the name "Martinique" would be a French version of "Madinina" or "Madiana" old names of the island that the Arawaks would have given it. This name meant "island of women". Indeed according to the Arawaks, the island was only inhabited by women at the time of explorers' travels in the area. This version of the Arawaks is false because the island was inhabited by both men and women when Christopher Columbus arrived. From Madinina or Madiana, the name would have become Martinique to resemble the name given to the island just north of Martinique, Dominica (Dominique in french). Another contradiction concerning this version, according to some researchers, the Arawaks would never have named the island Madinina or Madiana, but they would call it "Jouanakaera", that means the Island of iguanas.
  • According to other sources, the island was called Martinino in reference to a legendary island inhabited by the Amazons according to the Arawaks.
  • Guadeloupe et la Dominique, îles au nord de la MartiniqueFinally, the latest version reported that the island was called Martinica, Martinico or Martinina because Christopher Columbus sighted the island on Nov. 11, 1493, the day of Saint Martin in the calendar. In fact, the date of the "discovery" of Martinique was adopted as June 15, 1502, the day that Columbus landed on the island, but he would have sighted the island during his second voyage in 1493, travel when he notably "discovered" Guadeloupe and Dominica, islands at the north of Martinique.

So, three versions exist on the origin of the name of Martinique. The three deserve being recognized as reliable and worthy of further study. Anyway, the island bears this name for centuries and was finally adopted later by France after the colonization of the island from 1635.

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