Mangrove of the baie de Génipa is greatly located in the town of Ducos, but also partly in the towns of Rivière-Salée and Trois-Ilets. With 1,200 hectares, it represents 65% of mangroves in Martinique.
History
The municipality of Ducos is located in the heart of Martinique, more particularly in the center-south of the island. Its proximity to the economic center and the towns of Lamentin and Fort de France have made it a “suburb” of its two sisters and has greatly helped the demographic and economic development of Ducos.
Ducos is located on the Caribbean side of the island and despite its geographical position, it does not have a beach. Indeed, its coastal part is populated by a thick mangrove.
To the north of Ducos we find the town of Lamentin, to the east Le François and Saint-Esprit and to the south, Rivière-Salée.
Ducos used to be called “Trou-au-Chat” (meaning Cat hole). We do not yet know the sure and certain explanation of the origin of this name. According to some, at the beginning of colonization Monsieur Le Chat was one of the first French to settle on this point of the island and his house was located below a slope which made his contemporaries say: "Let's go see Le Chat. in his hole ”. Afterwards, the habit would have come to say "Trou au Chat" and would have stuck to the locality.
According to other sources, a settler who lived in a background owned many cats and so when going to his house it was commonly said that we were going to "Trou aux Chats" (Cat hole).
These two explanations seem not very credible because on the registers of the time, no inhabitant was called "Le Chat" and on the other side the town was called "Trou au Chat" with "cats" in the singular.
Trou-au-Chat was part of the parish named Cul-de-Sac-à-Vache which included in addition to it, the municipalities of Rivière Salée, Saint Esprit and Trois-Îlets.
It was in 1687 that it was set up as a parish, which despite everything makes it one of the oldest municipalities in Martinique. Its first mayor was Élie Charles Huygues Derivry.
On June 12, 1837, it officially became a commune of Martinique and 18 years later, in 1855, it was renamed by the name of Ducos.
Ducos was a tribute to Théodore Ducos (1801-1855) Minister of the Navy and the Colonies under Napoleon III. The town acquired this name on the latter's death.
In May 1925, Martinique was in an electoral period which caused a lot of tension. At Le Diamant if riots break out, at Ducos, another news item affects the island. Louis des Étages, the Mayor of Rivière Salée and Charles Zizine, general councilor of the canton of Ducos are cowardly murdered inside a house in the village of Ducos by a gendarme.
Freshly elected, just a week before he was assassinated on Sunday May 24, 1925. The Ducos municipal elections took place in a very tense atmosphere. The current mayor Saint Ange Amant has just been suspended by the Governor.
The town hall is occupied by the gendarmes who have installed several rows of barbed wire in front of it. Zizine and Des Étages go to the town accompanied by a photographer to take pictures of the town hall surrounded by barbed wire.
Annoyed by this initiative, police commissioner Labalette gives the order to shoot gendarme Roquet. The same bullet hit the two men Zizine and Des Étages in the back, who were then having lunch at Madame Narem's home.
They die instantly. The Governor is trying to disguise this assassination as an act of self-defense. The two men will be buried a few days later after a fiery chapel in the town hall of Rivière Salée.
Subsequently, the gendarme who fired will be acquitted. The town hall street bears the name Rue Zizine et des Étages.
Economy
Ducos has taken advantage of its proximity to the economic heart of Martinique to become the third economic hub of the island after Fort-de-France and Lamentin. It went from a town where craftsmanship was the first economic activity to shops and services.
It has the largest industrial zone in the south of Martinique (the Zone Industrielle (Industrial Zone) de Champigny), another smaller industrial zone (Zone Industrielle Petite-Cocotte) and also the large shopping center in the south of Martinique (Center commercial de Génipa) .
More recently, green tourism has developed thanks to the authentic character of the mangrove where different companies offer excursions (canoeing, boats).
Neighborhoods
The municipality's main districts are Baringthon, Bois Neuf, Canal, Chemin de Fer, Cote d'Or, Croix Rivail, du Bac, Durivage, Fenelon, Fond d'Or, Fond d'Orange, Fond Savane, Fonds Brule, Genipa, Grande Rochelle, la Beauville, la Boby, la Cadeau, la Chassaing, la Cheneaux, la Leandre, la Marie, la Roman, Lazaret, le Repos, Lourdes, Morne Carette, Morne Coco, Morne Lapointe, Morne Pitault, Morne Vert, Pays Noye, Petit Paradis, Petit Parc, Petite Rochelle, Pignol, Rivière Pierre, Saint Pierre, Syndic and Vaudrancourt.