Ebony Sand
Leaned against the mountain Pelée (literally: Peeled Mountain) whose first eruptions made Martinique emerge above the sea, the town of Saint-Pierre preserved an indelible memory of the smoking monster last outbursts...
In February 1902, the mountain exhaled strong sulphur odours that made birds and snakes flee. On May 7, a special subcommittee ruled that all the phenomena occurred so far do not have anything abnormal...
On the following day, the volcano trembled, exploded, smoked, spit, set fire to and destroyed the town of Saint-Pierre and its 28,000 inhabitants in two minutes. A prisoner and a shoemaker were the only survivors.
Since then, ground and sand of the Saint-Pierre beaches are black tinted, which confers a singular aspect to the landscape.
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Glossaryexpressions and names used in this page
- Martinique
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Martinique ground was trodden by Christopher Columbus in 1502 and became French for the first time in 1635.
Napoleon Bonaparte's first wife, Josephine de Beauharnais was born in Trois-Îlets, Martinique on June 23, 1763. Later in France, she became Empress by 1804 until her divorce in 1809. Grandmother of Napoleon III, Josephine died on May 29, 1814 in Malmaison castle, which shelters Napoleon museum since 1906.
Slavery was practised in Martinique until February 1848.