Islam in Martinique: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Martinique

This is an Overseas Department of France which consists of one island with an area of 1,128 sq km and its map is presented in Figure 5.1.7. It was given its name by Columbus when he visited the Island in 1502. It was taken over by the French in 1635 as part of their “Compagnie des Iles d’Amerique” then became part of the French royal domain in 1674. The British attacked or conquered the Island in 1666, 1667, 1762-1763, 1793-1801 and 1809-1814. The French used the Island at first to cultivate cotton and tobacco, then sugarcane in 1650 and coffee in 1723. The original Arawaks and Caribs were exterminated and replaced by enslaved Africans whose numbers reached 60,000 in 1736. Some of those were Muslims but there is no record of the size and Islam was not preserved among their descendants.

Slavery was abolished in 1848 and in 1851 France started bringing indentured laborers here from its colonies in India. Then in 1861, France signed a convention with the British to bring more workers from the British Indian territories to its Caribbean possessions. This Indian immigration lasted 32 years until 1883, bringing a total of 25,509 Indians to Martinique. Of these 11,077 Indians returned home after the expiration of their contracts and 14,432 Indians remained in Martinique, which was further reduced to 4,665 in 1900 including their descendants. It is estimated that 14.5% of these numbers were Muslims. In other words, a total of 3,700 Muslims were brought from India over the 32-year period, of whom 660 remained by 1900, but by 1950 no Muslim Indians were present in Martinique, either because of their departure of the Island, or because Islam was not preserved among their children.

In October 1780, Martinique and its neighboring islands were hit by the Great Hurricane of 1780 which claimed more than 20,000 lives in total, 9,000 in Martinique and destroyed its former capital St. Pierre. In 1902, Mount Pelée volcano erupted in the north of the Island, destroying the former capital St Pierre and claiming more than 30,000 lives. The Capital was abandoned as a result and the Volcano erupted again in 1929.

The third wave of Muslim migration started in 1920s from Palestine and the fourth in 1970s from Senegal and Mali. By 1982, the number of Muslims was 500 or 0.15% in 1982. The number then increased to 1,000 or 0.25% in 2010 and 2,500 or 0.7% in 2020.

Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will increase by a quarter of a percentage point each decade; then the Muslim population is expected to increase from 5,000 or 1.5% in 2050, to 6,000 or 2.8% by 2100.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Martinique

The figures below are from the CoMPS historical dataset. Population values are expressed in thousands; 2100 is a modelled projection, not a present-day count.

For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.