History

Le Lorrain is a municipality in the North Atlantic of Martinique. It is located west of Marigot and east of Basse-Pointe, d'Ajoupa-Bouillon and Morne-Rouge.

Its old name was "Grande-Anse" from the name of a river in the town. It was renamed "Lorrain" in 1874.

The Arawaks are the first inhabitants of the town with traces of settlement dating from the 1st century, discovered on the archaeological sites of Vivé near the Capot River and Fonds Brûlé.

Subsequently, the Carib Indians settled there but were forced to leave the area in 1658 after a lost battle against the French who had seized Martinique in 1635.

Shortly afterwards, a parish (administrative and religious division under the Ancien Régime) was erected there in 1680 and a built-in church in 1680.

During slavery, the town of Grande-Anse will be a garden of strong agricultural production where many slaves worked. The city had about 3,000 inhabitants. The evolution of crops follows that of the whole island where sugar cane succeeds tobacco.

In 1755, the parish had 8 sugar refineries and nearly 50,000 coffee trees. In the 18th century it will count up to 17 sugar factories.

At Christmas 1833, a revolt of free mulattoes was violently repressed and ended in a bloodbath. It will help awaken the liberal ideas of young Mulattoes.

In 1840, the parish was set up as a commune and is henceforth called “le Lorrain”. Lorrain included the current territory of Lorrain and that of Marigot. It was in 1889 that it will have its current contours when the Marigot will be recognized as a town in its own right.

Lorrain will remain a rich agricultural commune even after the abolition of slavery in 1848 when the first Indian workers landed on the island to take the place of the blacks who had recovered their freedom.

Le Lorrain, located on the Atlantic side, was not destroyed following the various eruptions of Mount Pelée in 1902.

From 1939 to 1943, under the governance of Admiral Robert, Le Lorrain, like other municipalities on the island, suffered from the deprivations caused by the blockade of Martinique which had joined the Vichy regime by the decision of the Admiral.

After the departmentalization in 1946, the town of Lorrain will continue to depopulate. While there were around 10,000 Lorrinois (inhabitants) in 1946, there were only 6,824 in 2018.

Le Lorrain is the fourth largest municipality on the island with an area of 5,033 hectares.

Economy

Le Lorrain remains a town where agriculture remains the primary economic activity. The cultivation of bananas is predominant, which earned Lorraine the nickname "Kingdom of the banana."

List of places to visit in the municipality

Places to visit

"Case à manioc" is owned by Ragald family.

In her house, a Martinican has assembled an amazing collection of dolls. She realized all textile suits or banana leaf to trace the wardrobe of the Creole woman in the circumstances, his social position and trades.