Le Carbet

History

The commune of Le Carbet is located on the Caribbean coast in the north of Martinique. To the south of Carbet lies the commune of Bellefontaine, to the east Morne-Vert and Fonds-Saint-Denis, and the north Saint-Pierre.

Le Carbet owes its name to the large huts where the Caribbean Indians used to gather. Today, the carbet is a large hut, a model of collective housing in the West Indies.

Le Carbet is the part of Martinique that saw the island go from being unknown on European maritime maps to becoming a Caribbean island. It was in Le Carbet, on June 15, 1502, that Christopher Columbus is said to have landed during his fourth and final voyage to the “West Indies.”

It was also in Saint-Pierre that the buccaneer Pierre-Belain d'Esnambuc took possession of the island with a hundred men. He placed his nephew, Du Parquet, there, who built a brick house near the river, and a chapel dedicated to Saint James was consecrated around 1645.

Between 1666 and 1667, the English made several attempts to capture Martinique via the commune of Carbet. It must be said that the rapid development of the town of Saint-Pierre aroused enormous envy among both the English and the Dutch. All English attempts were quickly contained by the French, who defended the island with all their might, seeing its enormous potential for development.

Even today, you can still see the holes left by English cannonballs in the cliff at Anse Turin, scars from these fierce battles.

The other major event in the history of Carbet was the 1822 slave revolt. On October 12, 1822, armed slaves decided to massacre all the whites and free people of color they encountered. They planned to leave Carbet and head for Saint-Pierre. But their revolt was discovered, and the plot was reported to the masters, who managed to quell the movement in a single day.

The 20 leaders were executed in the public square. Several residents of Le Carbet witnessed the executions.

Le Carbet was one of the first parishes in Martinique and was also one of the first areas to become deeply rooted in the Catholic religion.

The town grew thanks to its proximity to the city of Saint-Pierre, its markets, and the presence of several sugar refineries, agricultural estates, and rum distilleries.

Unfortunately, the eruption of Mount Pelée on May 8, 1902, put the brakes on the economic growth of the commune of Le Carbet. Hard hit, it took several decades to recover from its total destruction. In addition, the decline of the sugar economy and the shift to rum distilling at the expense of sugar severely affected the town's economy.

Economy

Today, Le Carbet is primarily an agricultural town. Fishing and market gardening play a key role. But tourism is not far behind.

It has several historic sites that are attractive to tourists and those who want to learn more about Martinique in one of its oldest and most influential towns.

Neighborhoods

The main districts of the municipality are Anse Latouche, Beauregard, Bel Event, Bout Bois, Dariste, Duvallon, Four, Godinot, Gros Coulirous, la Berlin, la Cafeiere, Lajus 1, Lajus 2, Lajus 3, le Coin, le Fromager, le Trou, Longvillier, Morne Aux Boeufs, Morne Gabillon, and Petite Rivière.