The history of the Dutch occupation of Tobago has been studied by Prof Arie Boomert, after the seventeenth century Couronian settlements had been by Prof Edgar Anderson ; the eighteen-century French occupation is also well kown after the work of Dr Jean-Claude Nardin. The early French attemps alone seem to escape historical investigation, thought early French settlers can be identified among the Dutch and Couronian immigrants.
Dr Nardin considered a colonial history of Tobago in the XVIIth century was laking. In his view, the study should use the complete set of availble and accessible sources ; especially hardly known French sources and totally ignored Spanish ones.
I intend with this paper to present some French sources and references hastily collected in the Libraries and Archives of Martinique. If the harvest had been little things and may disapoint some readers, my concern remains to show the keen interest that some French scholars still take in the history of Trinidad and Tobago, and to express mine. Most of this documents, I am sure, are already known to the historians of the Caribbean, but I hope that some novelties will be found, especially among the papers published in Martinique and Guadeloupe by local Historical Societies.
To these documentary publications I add the result of my personnal investigations listed below, I also present copies of some articles available in Martinique. (...)
{{Dr Vincent HUYGHUES BELROSE}}
_ Lecturer in Early Modern History
_ Department of Creole Studies (GEREC)
_ University of French Antilles and Guyana
_ Schoelcher, Martinique F. W. I.
_ E-mail : [huygbelrose@wanadoo.fr->huygbelrose@wanadoo.fr]
(...) La totalité du document au format pdf ci-dessous.