Queen Mary 2 in Fort-de-France Bay in March 2004.

Fort-de-France dominated by the peaks of Carbet.

Location

Fort-de-France is located on the Caribbean coast of Martinique, to the west of the island, and almost halfway between the northern and southern ends of the department. The town is built on the north coast of the Bay of Fort-de-France.

It is a very large town (7 miles from north to south and 3 miles from east to west): some areas, such as Balata, are very far from the city center. The northern part of the communal territory stretches along RN 3, known as the Balata road or the Trace road. It leads to the Morne Rouge and Mount Pelée volcano, surrounded by an exceptional tropical forest.

Geology, relief and hydrography

The topography is very varied. The town of Fort-de-France stretches from the foothills of the volcanic massif of the Pitons du Carbet (the highest point of the town is about 1,100 meters high, near the summit of the Piton Dumauzé) and from the Morne Césaire (603 meters) to the Caribbean Sea. The steep and wooded volcanic slopes are cut by a few small streams, but the flow rate is torrential in rainy times. The heights that dominate the central part of the city, between the Pitons du Carbet and the plain of the Lamentin, form a sort of piedmont dissected into hills (the hills) and torches of plateaus sloping gently. The two main waterways leading to the sea in Fort-de-France are the Madame River and the Monsieur River. The town's hypercenter, known as the low town, unfolds in a flat area once marshy (mangrove) between the Morne Tartenson and the Morne Pichevin (High Port). It overlooks a rocky spur that forms a 300-meter advance in the bay on which Fort Saint-Louis is built. It is the main defense of the city, with the forts of Tartenson and Desaix on slopes of an altitude of 140 meters overlooking the city center.

The coast, along the coast of the country, alternates cliffs and low parts, and the beaches, of gray sand, are not very wide. Only a few remaining mangrove reliquats remain on the edge of the Pointe des Sables.

Sismicity

The Caribbean plaque. Martinique is located on the subduction zone (in blue) on the eastern facade.

Located on a subduction fault on the eastern edge of the Caribbean plate, the island is subject to a major seismic risk like the entire Caribbean island space. The most violent event recorded was the earthquake of 11 January 1839, which completely ruined the city (then called Fort-Royal).

Climate

The climate in Fort-de-France is tropical humid, characterized by high average temperatures throughout the year (26.5 °C) and a high volume of precipitation (1,950 mm). However, the average monthly temperatures are the hottest from August to October (31 °C maximum during the day, 24 to 25 °C minimum at night) and the lowest in January and February (29°C maximum during the day and 22°C minimum at night). Like all Martinique, Fort-de-France is subject to trade winds, easterly winds, whose general circulation determines the rainy seasons. Thus, there are:

• Lent, from February to April, a drier season during which trade winds are less humid (average monthly precipitation is 60 to 90 mm) and the sky is relatively clear; the beautiful days do not exclude a few showers;
• wintering (or rainy season), from July to October, the warmer season during which showers are more numerous and intense. Between two disturbances, however, the weather is nice, the sky is not very cloudy and the trade winds are weak. Wintering is the period of tropical cyclones. Among the most violent or devastating cyclones, the one of August 19, 1891, which killed 400 people in Fort-de-France (1,000 in total in Martinique), destroyed most of the hospital and the Balata military camp. During the passage of Hurricane Allen on 3 and 4 August 1980, 167km/h of wind was recorded at Desaix and 159 mm of precipitation was recorded in 18 hours. During the passage of Edith on September 25, 1963, the flow of the Madame River to Fort-de-France reached 150 m³/s, while it normally varies between 20 m³/s during the flood season and 0.050 m3/s during the period of drying.

If interseasons (from November to January, from May to June) have intermediate climatic characteristics, they may be marked by exceptional episodes. For example, due to the rainy episode of May 4-5, 2009, the rainfall of May 2009 was the highest in the last fifty years in Fort-de-France for a month of May (three times the average volume), causing major flooding.

One of the consequences of the monumental nature of most of the territory of the municipality of Fort-de-France and of the episodes of heavy rains is the instability of the slopes, with the risk of a landslide.

With temperatures dropping as the altitude rises, people of the middle and upper classes sought out these more airy spaces to build their homes, such as in Balata, Tivoli, La Redoubt or Haut Didier. Moreover, the plant and forest area still holds a large place in the city, especially on the slopes of the north of the municipality. The mesophilic vegetation of the first slopes gives way to the hygrophilic vegetation (forest with lianas and large trees) above 2,300 feet. In addition, the houses surrounded by their gardens are home to species that can complement the diet of the Fruit city dwellers, such as bread trees, mango trees, coconut trees...

Communication and transport routes

Roads

The A1 motorway connects Fort-de-France to the airport.

The A1 motorway (972) links Fort-de-France to the airport, then leads to the RN5 towards the south of the island. It is the only French motorway located overseas. The other main access to the city is:

• RN 1 to Trinidad;
• RN 2 to Saint-Pierre;
• RN 3 (Route de la Trace) to Le Morne-Rouge;
• RN 4 to Saint Joseph.

The city is bypassed by the RD 41 ring road from east to west.

Cycling paths

The city is lagging behind in terms of cycling. In 2012, the department plans to create 129 km of cycle tracks for 15 years for the whole island. However, bicycle enthusiasts will come to the accessible sites such as the road to Didier after the tunnel or the seafront and the stadium of Louis Achille, or even, at the Lamentin, towards the civilian airport. Each year, the "Ronde des Quartiers", animated by hundreds of enthusiasts, travels the city in a friendly way.

Air transport

The international airport "Martinique Aimé Césaire" is located about 6 miles from Fort-de-France. There are about 2,000,000 passengers in 2019. It serves the Caribbean (Guedeloupe, Saint-Martin, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Barbados ...), Europe (France and Belgium), North America (United States and Canada) and South America via Guyana.

Maritime transport

• View of the multimodal train station of Fort-de-France at Pointe-Simon, Vedette Madinina boat for Trois-Ilets.

The port of Fort-de-France is the first French cruise port with approximately 470,000 passengers in the early 2000s.

Public transport

A Mozaïk bus from line 422, in Fort-de-France.

The CACEM's perimeter is also served by public transport and also serves the cities of Fort-de-France, Schoelcher, Le Lamentin and Saint-Joseph.

The urban transportation network is called Mozaïk. There is a public taxi station at Pointe-Simon.

The TCSP with a high-level bus is now functional and available since August 13, 2018. It links the center of Fort-de-France (Pointe Simon) to Lamentin, Place Mahault on the one hand and the exchanger of Carrère on the other hand, serving notably the Aimé Césaire airport.

The name of the town is due to the presence of the fort that France established in the ^seventeenth century. Originally called the cul-de-sac of Fort-Royal (1635-1672), the site became the parish and the town of Fort Royal (1672-1793), Fort-de-la-République or République-Ville (1793-1794), again Fort-Royal (177) 94-1807) and Fort-de-France since 1807.

Urban Morphology

The town of Fort-de-France is composed of 135 districts. Here is the name of the main areas of the city:

Accommodation

The total number of dwellings in the municipality is 46,908 in the 2015 census. Of these, 80.9% are principal residences, 1.6% are secondary residences and 17.5% are vacant dwellings, and 23.0%, or 8,750, are housing units. The average house price for sale is about 2,706 €/m² in May 2010.

Development projects

The City of Fort-de-France has been engaged for many years in a major urban renewal and attraction project that has changed its urban landscape significantly, although many challenges remain.

In the city center, a "Fort-de-France-Coeur Battle" Action Plan for the Heart of the City is under way. A presentation exhibition of the project is accessible to the general public in the courtyard of the Camille Darsières cultural center (ex-Palais de Justice). The project includes:

• Renovation of abandoned buildings for housing and activity, including their renovation
• The rehabilitation of many buildings and sites of heritage interest
• Road layout and pedestrianization of certain streets
• The creation of attractive places for visitors: Tourist furniture, bars and restaurants, third-party locations, co-working spaces and art cinema and essays ...
• Renovation of markets and local shops

The City also undertakes a new urban renewal program with the ANRU, the National Agency for Urban Renovation.

Other areas of Fort-de-France are in fact being renovated, with an active policy of citizen participation and renovation of housing, equipment and services: Sainville Lands, Trenelle, Volga-Beach; Texaco, Dillon or Godissard.

• The modern Pointe Simon complex and the night-time cruise

• A remarkable heritage, like here the Théâtre de la Ville, formerly the Hôtel de Ville, which hosts the Aimé Césaire museum space, to visit.

• The Levassor canal that hosts the Madame River. You can see the wall painted with artistic works on the downtown side. At the back, the Lumina Tower.

• A shopping center that is lively day and Saturday morning

• A crown of popular self-built neighborhoods on the slopes, as here in Trenelle

The history of Fort-Royal, which became Fort-de-France in 1807, was marked from the founding of the colony by its rivalry with Saint-Pierre and by the natural disasters that devastated the city several times. It was the eruption of Mount Pelée in 1902 that, by devastating Saint-Pierre, consecrated Fort-de-France as the capital city of Martinique.

City Foundation

While the Caribbean favored the wind coast (Atlantic coast) and the south of the island for their settlements, French settlers settled in 1635 on the underwind coast (Caribbean coast) on the site of Saint-Pierre, by building a fortin at the mouth of the Roxelane river. Nevertheless, in the context of conflicts with the Caribbean, the Dutch and the English, the settlers quickly became interested in this strategic site located at the entrance to the largest bay on the island. The site is easy to defend and well protected from storms, which is not the case with the harbor of Saint-Pierre.

Despite the unhealthy climate of the surrounding marshes, a first housing center is installed on the site of the present town center by the governor Jacques Dyel du Parquet, nephew of the liberal Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc, who installed his residence there in 1639. He had a first fence fort built there, named Fort-Royal.

However, it was Governor Jean-Charles de Baas who decided to found the city under the name of Fort Royal on October 3, 1669. Work on wetland remediation began and the plan for the alignment of the future city's tracks was approved by Colbert in 1671. The 42-hectare quadrilateral, with a checkered plan, which forms the urban core of today's city is thus born: the lower town.

However, the decision to set up a city in such an inhospitable place is not unanimous. Furnished soil does not favor construction and swamp air causes high mortality from malaria. The development of the city requires many hydraulic facilities that require nearly a century to be fully implemented.

The year 1674 was marked by the famous battle of Fort-Saint-Louis, which saw the defeat of the powerful Dutch squadron of Admiral Ruyter in his attempt to take the city, and the connection of the French Caribbean islands to the Crown of France.

In November 1677, the Count of Blénac landed in Martinique to succeed the governor of Baas who had just died. It was he who completed the construction of the city, its fort (the present Fort Saint-Louis) and which history would remember as the founder of the city. A hard-working man, he obtained that the headquarters of the General Government and the Governor's Palace were transferred from Saint-Pierre to Fort-Royal in 1692, making the new city the administrative capital of Martinique.

Fort-Royal in the ^18th century

Fort-Royal circa 1750.

In 1738, the city was ravaged by an earthquake.

After the failure of the 1759 attack by the sea, the British stormed Fort-Royal by land in 1762 following the landing of their troops at Case Navire. The fort and Martinique fell to the British in February 1762.

Martinique was returned to France a year later by the Treaty of Paris. The city's port facilities are then reduced to their simplest expression. The basin is cluttered by the wrecks of eleven ships sunk by the English. Georges-René Pléville The Pelley is named captain of the port of Fort-Royal and is responsible for its rehabilitation. During this work, it drains the putrid marshes that plague the outskirts of the city and makes the port accessible to the largest commercial buildings. It removes the port access taxes and restores maritime trade. He then devotes himself to the correction of cards from the Caribbean before being repatriated to Marseille for health problems. He is replaced by Robert Tascher of Pagerie, the father of the future Empress Josephine.

Development of the city and rivalry with Saint-Pierre

After the passage under British rule in 1794, the entrance of Captain General Villaret-Joyeuse to Fort-Royal on September 14, 1802 consecrated the return of Martinique to France, in application of the Peace of Amiens signed with England and it was under the Empire, in 1807, that the city became "chief" "settlement" and takes the name of Fort-de-France. This name was not called into question during the new British occupation, from 1809 to 1815. But Fort-de-France, an administrative and military city, still suffers from the competition of Saint-Pierre, more populated, enriched by trade and trade, whose cultural reputation is great throughout the Caribbean arc. The two cities are complementary, however, because if Saint-Pierre serves as a port of anchorage, Fort-de-France serves as a port of shroud. In fact, new port developments were carried out in Fort-de-France during the 1860s and a refit basin was inaugurated in 1868.

The current limitation of the communal territory dates back to 1888.

The arrival of slaves, freelancers and mulaters, and then of free populations from 1848 onwards, devotes the city's rise from about 9,200 inhabitants in the early ^nineteenth century to about 17,000 in 1876. Moreover, the introduction of the steam engine into the sugar production system between 1840 and 1870 led to a major transformation of Martinique's agricultural and rural area. This favors land concentration in large agricultural areas around central sugar factories and rum factories, along with a crumbling of small properties and farms owned by freelancers or their descendants, and a vast movement of rural exodus. At the same time, declining mortality is accelerating population growth. Also, in 1901, the census gave 29,000 inhabitants in Saint-Pierre, compared to about 24,700 in Fort-de-France. But, while the population of the former is mainly urban, concentrated in space, the Fort-de-France population is much more dispersed, with the urban area having only 7,000 inhabitants, and its jobs are still mostly agricultural.

Natural or human disasters repeatedly destroy the city. For example, an earthquake devastated the city on January 11, 1839, and a great fire destroyed three quarters of the colonial city, almost all of the 1,600 wooden houses built to compensate for the consequences of a future earthquake, the market, Saint Louis Cathedral on June 22, 1890, and finally, a cyclone hit the city and killed nearly 400 people on august 18, 1891. Ironically, it is another natural disaster that will definitively dedicate Fort-de-France to its role as the island's first city: the eruption of Mount Pelée which devastated Saint Peter on May 8, 1902.

Fort-de-France in the ^twentieth century

A group of refugees in Fort-de-France, after the eruption of 1902.

After the eruption of Mount Pelee, Saint-Pierre was no longer a commercial town, losing all the inhabitants who had remained there (except two survivors), and its repopulation was slow and very partially. Migrants from the north of the island arrive massively at Fort-de-France, which recovers all the port, industrial and economic and commercial management functions of Martinique. In order to cope with this influx of people, the mayor of the city, Victor Sevère, restarted in 1904 a project mentioned by local leaders at the end of the previous century: the sanitation and the municipalities of the Sainville Lands, a vast swamp located north-west of the colonial low town, then populated by miserable people who had built their huts there.

After a long legal battle to expropriate the inhabitants, the work was carried out in the second half of the 1920s, giving rise to a modern neighborhood, intended for a working-class population, whose orthogonal line of life extends that of the city center, but with smaller meshes. On the other hand, the districts of Sainte-Thérèse, Morne Pichevin and Dillon, as well as other groups of spontaneous individual housing (huts), develop along the roads leading to the surrounding towns, under pressure of natural population growth and rural exodus, and give the image of an anarchic dispersion of urbanization.

In the 1930s, the sewerage system was still imperfect, as evidenced by the state of the Levée canal, a set of ditches separating the Sainville Lands from the center, the Simon Point landfill and the gutters that serve as open-air sewers. Outside the city center, however, well-off colonial-style residences climb the airy heights of the Didier plateau, north-west of the city (Balata) and in Redoubt, on the road to the Morne-Rouge. Fort-de-France thus appears as a city of contrasts, more heterogeneous and less rich than Saint-Pierre was at the time of its splendor.

The economic crisis of the 1930's and the Second World War, by limiting Martinique's sugar markets, were undermining its agricultural system. The closure of large sugar factories in the 1950s and 1960s, the difficulties of small owners or farmers in living on the incomes of their land products, the strong population growth are combined to stoke emigration to the metropolis and the rural exodus to Fort-de-France.

Taking advantage of the 1946 Departmentalization Act and now better connected to the rest of the island thanks to the improvement of the road network, the city offers the hope of finding jobs in services and equipment. As a result, the population grew from 16,000 in 1894 to more than 52,000 in 1936 and 66,000 in 1946. While the reliability of the pre-1954 censuses - which gave 60,600 inhabitants to Fort-de-France, revealing the overestimation of the 1946 figure - is questionable, population growth was undeniable until 1967 (97,000 inhabitants), before stabilizing around 100,000 inhabitants between 1974 and 1990. It is accompanied by the multiplication of slums and other neighborhoods of spontaneous housing that then encircle the hypercenter (Terres-Sainville and colonial center): Texaco, which gave its name to the famous novel by Patrick Chamoiseau, Prix Goncourt in 1992, Canal-Alaric, Volga-Plage, Trenelle, Lemon, Fond-d'Or, Renéville, etc.

By the mid-1970s, it was estimated that 40 per cent of the buildings in Fort-de-France had been built without authorization, and the unsanitary neighborhoods comprised one quarter of the housing units, containing one quarter of the population of the municipality. To meet the needs, Aimé Césaire, Mayor of the city from 1945 to 2001, undertook the construction of large social housing units, such as the cities of Dillon, Floréal, Bon-Air and Calebasses in the 1960s and 1970s or Châteaubeef in the 1980s, or neighborhoods more residential (Cluny, Bellevue, Des Rochers, etc.), and supported the densification of central districts. The "hardening" of the majority of the former slums that have been connected to the networks (water, electricity, etc.), with the legalization of the facilities, also accompanied the policy of the government to reduce the unsanitary habitat.

Since 1990, the population of Fort-de-France has declined in favor of the neighboring municipalities of Schoelcher, Saint-Joseph and Le Lamentin, and even beyond, in favor of the municipalities of southern Martinique, where pavilion developments and group housing units have been established. It fell below the threshold of 90,000 inhabitants (i.e., without double counting) in the 2007 census. Similarly, the new employment zones were installed on these outskirts. This has led the municipality to carry out urban restructuring operations aimed at restoring its attractiveness to the city (business center of Pointe-Simon, shopping center Perrinon, etc.) and improving its living environment.

Blason

Blasting: Silver to an anchor of sand, on which spreads a bunch of lictors, placed in pal on two branches of oak and olive tree, all of gold. Comments: This coat of arms is present on the pediment of the former Town Hall.

Official logo of Fort-de-France.

Logotype

Official logo of Fort-de-France.

Currency

The currency of Fort-de-France is Semper Francia ("Always France" in Latin). This motto is inscribed under the coat of arms of the pediment of the former Town Hall.

Administrative and electoral linkages

The town of Fort-de-France (in pink) in the arrondissement of Fort-de-France (in yellow).

The borough of Fort-de-France consists of four municipalities and consisted of sixteen cantons, ten of which were located on the territory of the municipality, until the establishment of the single territorial authority in Martinique on January 1, 2016.

For the election of members, the municipality belongs to the third electoral district of Martinique. Since June 2007, she has been represented by Serge Letchimy, Mayor of Fort-de-France between 2001 and 2010.

Intercommunality

The city is also the headquarters of the agglomeration community of the Center of Martinique (CACEM), which gathers 157 449 inhabitants on 1 January 2016 (legal populations 2016), with the neighboring communes of Lamentin, Saint-Joseph and Schoelcher.

Administrative and judicial bodies

In Fort-de-France are the Prefecture, the military headquarters in the French West Indies, the Palais de Justice, the Tribunal de grande instance, the Court of Appeal, the Hôtel de la Collectivity Territoriale de la Martinique (merger of the Department and the Region), the Archbishop, the Center Hospitalier Universitaire and the Central Post Office.

• Prefecture Hotel
  (ex-Governor's Hotel).

• The Post Office Hotel in Fort-de-France.

Fort-de-France is also a naval base of the National Marine, located at Fort Saint-Louis. A surveillance frigate, two patrol boats and a light transport vessel are assigned to the patrol frigate under national sovereignty and to combat drug trafficking.

List of mayors

Current City Council

In the municipal elections in March 2014, the list led by Didier Laguerre won the first round. He was elected mayor of Fort-de-France on March 29, 2014.

Political trends and outcomes

The city of Fort-de-France has been the stronghold of the Martinique Progressive Party founded by Aimé Césaire for over 50 years. The political sensitivities of the Foyalists are more to the left.

Twinning

Combined cities with Fort-de-France

City		Country		Period
	Belém		Brazil	since 2011

The city is also part of a network of "Cities-Capitales" of the Overseas with Pointe-à-Pitre and Basse-Terre, Cayenne, Saint-Denis de la Réunion and Mamoudzou.

Environmental Policy

In 2008, the city produced 1,178 kWc of electricity through photovoltaic energy. In addition, several measures have been put in place to promote the sustainable development of the municipality (governance, education, energy, etc.).

In 2004, the CACEM is responsible for the mechanized collection of waste, which is processed at the CVE (Center for Energy Recovery) and CET (Center for Technical Disposal) of the Tromfous on the municipality. Selective sorting centers are available to the general public, confirming the increasing sensitivity of Foyals to the issues of eco-responsibility.

Demographics

Demographic evolution

Several disasters increased mortality in the ^nineteenth century, with the population remaining under 17,000. Population growth lasted a century, from 1891 (after the last disaster on the municipality) to 1990, and especially after 1954, to 100,000 by the early 1990s. The city then regularly loses population (82,502 inhabitants in 2015).

The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known through the population censuses carried out in the municipality since 1853, the first census after the departmentalization of 1946. From 2006, the legal populations of the municipalities are published annually by the Insee. The census is now based on an annual collection of information, covering successively all the communal territories over a five-year period. For municipalities with populations of more than 10,000, the census takes place every year following a sample of addresses representing 8% of their dwellings, unlike other municipalities that have a real census every five years

In 2017, the municipality had 80,041 inhabitants, a decrease of 6.57% compared to 2012 (Martinique: -4,06 %, France excluding Mayotte: +2.36%).

Histogram of demographic change

Pyramid of the ages

The comparison between 2006 and 1990 shows a very young population in 1990, and a gradual aging in 2006, especially among women:

Education

Educational institutions

The municipality has 25 kindergartens, 59 elementary schools, 8 colleges, 4 vocational schools, 3 public general high schools and 7 contracted schools.

Higher education

• Preparatory classes for the Great Schools, Scientists and Literary (Bellevue High School).
• Caribbean Arts Campus (former Regional Institute of Visual Art of Martinique) (Regional Council).
• The European-American Catholic Institute (ICEA) in the city center

Cultural events and festivities

• The Festival culturelle de la ville de Fort-de-France is held every year in June and July.
• Tropics Atrium offers a rich and diverse annual calendar: theater, concerts, cinema, exhibitions ...

Health

The hospitals in Fort-de-France have a total of approximately 1,900 beds.

The CHU in Fort-de-France is composed of four establishments (approximately 1,300 beds) and receives approximately 40,000 patients each year:

• Pierre-Zobda-Quitman Hospital (approximately 700 beds);
• Albert-Clarac Hospital (approximately 50 beds);
• The Mother's and Child's Woman's House (Maternity; around 150 beds);
• The Emma-Ventura center (about 400 beds).

Other amenities include:

• The Saint-Paul clinic (private, 52 beds);
• CHS de Colson (470 beds); (psychiatric hospital)
• The Calmette clinic.

There are also analytical laboratories and specialized doctors in the city.

Sports

Every November the international semi-marathon of the city of Fort-de-France takes place. This is the largest sporting event organized by the city of Fort-de-France.

Numerous stadiums and halls welcome sports and health enthusiasts: The sound

Sports clubs

Fort de France has several sports clubs:

• Football:
  • the Club Colonial de Fort-de-France (With 19 championship titles, it is one of the most titled football clubs in Martinique)
  • the Golden Star of Fort-de-France (16 Martinique champion titles), former club of Frédéric Piquionne, former professional player of the Olympique Lyonnais, the AS Saint-Étienne and French international in 2007.
  • the Good Luck of Fort-de-France (2 championships of Martinique)
  • the Excelsior (3 championships from Martinique)
  • the intrepid (3 Martinique championships)
  • the UJ Redoubt (Redoubt Youth Union)
  • C.O.D.S.T (Dillon Sainte-Thérèse Omnisports Club)
  • C.O. Trenelle (Olympic Club of Trenelle)
• Handball:
  • The Hope of Floreal
  • USC Citron
  • the UJ Redoubt (Redoubt Youth Union)
  • ASC Volga-Range
  • ASC Dillon Doubout
• Basketball:
  • USAC (Friendly and Cultural Sports Union)
  • Intrepid Basket Club
  • Golden Star Basket Ball
  • Baloncesto
• Volleyball:
  • Good-Luck
• Athletics:
  • Sports City
  • Colonial Club
  • ASC Police
• Rugby:
  • Good-Luck
  • Military CS
• Swimming:
  • Swimmers' circle of the Espadon

Stages

There are two major stadiums in Fort-de-France:

• the Pierre-Aliker stadium (18,000 seats) (the largest stadium in Martinique and the French Antilles);
• the Louis-Achille stadium (9,300 seats).

Other stages

• Serge-Rouch Stadium;
• Desclieux Stadium.

Other sports facilities

• Pellière-Donatian Sports Hall;
• Gymnasium at the Louis-Achille stadium;
• Richard-Granvorcka-de-Coridon Municipal Gymnasium;
• Godissard Gymnasium;
• Dillon Boulodrome;
• Sports complex of the Cour Fruit in Pain (Terres-Sainville);
• Swimming pool at the Joseph Gaillard High School (ex-Pointe des Neges);
• Pointe de la Vierge pool (Texaco).

• Louis-Achille.

• View of the Desclieux stadium in Fort-de-France.

Media

• Television: Martinique La Première, ATV, KMT Television, Zouk TV
• Radio: Martinique La Première
• Newspaper written: Martinique France-Antilles
• Web Tv: Lumina Tv

Cults

The Catholic religion (church of the Antilles) is practiced within the archdiocese of Saint-Pierre and Fort-de-France. Since March 7, 2015, ^Bishop David Macaire has been archbishop at the Saint-Louis Cathedral in Fort-de-France.

9 religious buildings are present on the territory of the municipality of Fort-de-France. Below is the list:

• Sacred Heart Basilica
• St. Louis Cathedral
• Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
• Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire Church
• Saint-Antoine-de-Padua Church
• Saint Christopher Church
• Church of St. Teresa of the Child Jesus
• Calvary Chapel
• Chapelle Notre-Dame

Fort-de-France is the seat of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Martinique.

Population income and taxation

In 2008, the median tax income per household was €12,743, placing Fort-de-France at 30,716th among the 31,604 municipalities of more than 50 households in the metropolis.

Employment

The labor force residing in the municipality reached a total of 40,331 individuals in the 2006 census and the number of jobs 45,793. Half of Martinique's employer establishments are located around Fort-de-France and Le Lamentin, i.e. 1,394 public employers' establishments and 3,324 private employers in 2008. The unemployment rate in 2006 was 25.6%.

The town hall of Fort-de-France and the General Council are important employers.

Businesses of the agglomeration

Among the largest employers were EDF (450 employees), France-Télécom (740 sal.), Carrefour (190 sal.) and Hyper U (125 sal.), France-Télécom (220 sal.), Groupama (140 sal.), and de numerous other shops, banks (Crédit Mutuel, 290 employees, BNP, 210 employees, etc.) and insurance, interim agencies, building and service companies (collective catering, guarding, maintenance of green spaces, etc.).

Business Lines

Trade

The Cour Perrinon is a shopping center located in the heart of the city's historic center, opened on 4 December 2008.

• The shopping center is located in the heart of the city center and offers a wide range of shops and services, as well as an underground car park with 600 spaces.

Maritime transport

Welcome sign in French, English, Spanish and Creole from Martinique on the port of Fort-de-France.

The port of Fort-de-France is Martinique's largest trading port. It is spread over several sites (the container terminal of the Pointe des Grives, the docks of the Baie des Tourelles (north and south), the western quay, the radoub basin and the cruise terminal of the Pointe Simon).

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Martinique managed the port of Fort-de-France between 1964 and 2013. However, since 1 January 2013, the public establishment "Grand Port Maritime de la Martinique" has been in charge of the management of the port.

Fort-de-France is the 6th container port of France with 160,000 TEU containers processed each year, and the first employment basin of the French overseas, with about 1,000 direct jobs. Each year, approximately 3 million tons of goods are processed in the port, of which 70% are imports. These imports are mainly crude oil destined for the SARA refinery and various containers for Martinican consumers (household appliances, multimedia, food, etc.). Nearly 80% of Martinique’s imports come from Europe but mainly from metropolitan France. For exports, refined petroleum products remain the main export point, followed by bananas (280,000 tons per year) sent to Europe in refrigerated containers, allowing Martinique to place itself at the 16^th place of the banana importing countries in Europe.

Nearly 96% of goods imported or exported to Martinique pass through the port of Fort-de-France, this clearly illustrates the importance of the port and its maritime routes.

The port of Fort-de-France also plays a key role in passenger transport, both in the cruise and inter-island sectors. With a traffic of 110,023 passengers for the cruise and 127,704 inter-island passengers in 2012, the port is an important link for the island’s tourist economy and for the mobility of people in the Caribbean.

The port also loads and discharges vehicles from and to Europe using ro-ro vessels (RORO).

Tourism and business

A Pointe-Simon business center has been set up on a 15-hectare area, close to the mouth of the Madame River. It shall include:

• a 20-story tower for offices, the "Lumina Tower" (Erick Orville and Frank Brière, architects) that rises up to 105.5 meters high and is the highest of the Lesser Antilles (excluding Trinidad);
• a seven-story building consisting of offices, shops and a business hotel, the Simon (recommended for its terrace bar and table);
• a luxury 8-story condominium-style building for accommodation and services for tourists and business.

The entire surface area is constructed to provide for an urban complex of 24,000 m².

In the second phase, there is also a "Creole village" shopping mall called Fort-de-France antan lontan near the "Malecon" and built on the Alfassa boulevard.

As of April 28, 2012, the façades of the tower and the condominium have been completed and the major work of the third building has been completed (Erick Orville and Frank Brière, architects), it is also the day of dismantling the last crane of the construction site.

In 2019, the services of the Martinique 1st chain were installed on 2 floors at the Lumina Tower.

• the business center and the Lumina tower when it was built.

• The end of the construction, seen from the bus station.

• View of the Business Center, a modern hub in the Creole city

Places and monuments

Religious monuments

• St. Louis Cathedral in Fort-de-France
• Saint Anthony of the Sainville Lands Church
• Redoubt Church
• Sacred Heart Church of Balata
• Chapel of the former military hospital at the Parc Floral (destroyed in 1960)

• View of Fort-de-France, from Calvaire.

• St. Louis Cathedral.

• Saint Anthony Church of the Sainville Lands.

• Balata Church in Fort-de-France: miniature replica of the Sacré-Coeur basilica in Montmartre, Paris.

Historical Monuments (MH) and Buildings Listed as "Heritage of the 20th Century" [2]

• Fort Saint-Louis, building classified MH [3]. It is regularly restored by the Ministries of Culture and Communication and Defense.
• Statue of Empress Josephine on Place de la Savane, registered building MH
• Espace Camille-Darsières, former courthouse, registered building MH
• Monument to the Dead
• Schoelcher Library, MH Classified Building
• Aimé-Césaire Theater, former Town Hall of Fort-de-France, registered building MH
• Maison d'Aimé Césaire, building classified MH
• Schoelcher High School, registered building MH, ^20th century heritage label
• Villa Montplaisir, registered building MH, labeled heritage of the ^twentieth century
• Surena Bakery, registered building MH
• Fire in Fort Saint-Louis Area, MH-rated building
• Gueydon Fountain, MH registered building
• Former military hospital, registered building MH. It is currently under construction.
• Departmental Museum of Martinique, registered building MH
• House ^No 22-24 rue Garnier Pagès, registered building MH
• Pointe des Neges lighthouse, MH building
• Church of St. Teresa, registered building MH, labeled heritage of the ^twentieth century. Currently closed for construction.
• Old mill of Didier, registered building MH
• Villa Louisiana, registered building MH
• Villa Sblin, registered building MH
• Villa Didier, registered building MH, labeled heritage of the ^twentieth century
• Villa Primerose, registered MH
• Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire Church, registered building MH
• House ^No 6 rue du Père Pinchon, building classified MH
• House ^No 8 rue du Père Pinchon, registered building MH
• Villa Saint-Cyr, registered building MH
• Saint-Louis Cathedral, MH-rated building. Currently its western massif and arrow are being restored.
• Prefecture, registered building MH
• Radoub Basin, registered MH
• Saint Christopher Church, labeled heritage of the ^twentieth century and listed MH
• Old building "la Nationale", labeled heritage of the ^20th century
• Sacred Heart Church of Balata inscribed MH

• The "Française" beach between the bay and Fort Saint-Louis, along the "Malécon"

• Fort Saint-Louis. (Naval Base)

• The former courthouse that became the Camille-Darsières cultural center.

• The Schoelcher library.

• The former town hall turned into the Aimé-Césaire theater and museum space of the Mayor-Poet, father of the Negritude movement

• The Gueydon Bridge and Fountain on the Levassor Canal (Madame River, downtown)

Natural heritage

Balata Garden.

• The Savane garden, measuring 5 ha, is located on the edge of Fort Saint-Louis. Reopening to the public takes place in 2011 after 3 to 4 years of work. It includes 3 ha of lawns, 7 botanical "islands", kiosks...
• The garden of Balata, started in 1982 and opened to the public in 1986, is a botanical garden located 6 miles from the town center.
• In 2005, the perimeter of the Martinique Regional Natural Park encompasses the northern part of the municipality. A house in Parc is present in Fort-de-France (Tivoli estate).
• The Aimé-Césaire Cultural Park, which was renamed in 2008, was previously Gallieni Park (known as the barracks) and in 1973 was Parc Floral. Cultural services have been installed there since 1976; today, it is a place of multiple activities.
• The Absalon waterfall.
• The beach of the French and the famous "Malécon", a convivial space of games, meeting and demmambulation popular with the Foyalais.

Cultural heritage

Museums

• Departmental Museum of Pre-Columbian Archeology
• Martinique Regional Museum of History and Ethnography
• Musée de Fr Pinchon (Route de Didier)

Other Locations

• Cinema CMAC Atrium.

• Regional Museum of History and Ethnography.

• CMAC Atrium, 6 rue Jacques-Cazotte, 97200 Fort-de-France.

Fort-de-France and literature

Fort-de-France is the title of a novel by Pierre Benoit published in 1933.

Gastronomy

The cuisine is composed of Creole dishes: black pudding, white pudding made of fish, acras (doughnuts) of cod or shrimps, stuffed crabs, candy, colombo... It relies on local products: seafood, exotic fruits and vegetables...

People from the municipality

Aimé Césaire, writer and mayor of Fort-de-France from 1945 to 2001.

Frantz Fanon, essayist author of Black Skin, white masks and Les Damnés de la Terre.

Patrick Chamoiseau, novelist and Prix Goncourt in 1992 for his novel Texaco and Commander of Arts and Letters in 2010. He is co-founder of the literary movement Creolity.

René Maran, novelist Prix Goncourt in 1921 for his novel Batouala - Real Negro novel.

• Aimé Césaire (1913-2008), professor of letters. He is one of the greatest Caribbean writers and poets and one of the founding fathers of negritude. Politically, he served as Mayor of Fort de France from 1945 to 2001, Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1993 and President of the Regional Council of Martinique from 1983 to 1986. In 1958, he founded the Martinican Progressive Party.
• Pierre Barthélémy Dorez (1724-1757), third child of René Barthélémy Dorez, guard of the king and faience, born in Fort-de-France.
• Nicolas Alexis Dorez (1728-1761), brother of Pierre Barthélémy, born in Fort-de-France, painter in earthenware.
• Alexandre de Beauharnais (1760-1794), general of division of the French Revolution.
• Jean-Henri Robert Tascher of La Pagerie (1785-1816), Brigadier General of the First Empire, first cousin of Empress Joséphine was born there.
• Cyrille Bissette (1795-1858), one of the fathers of the abolition of slavery in France, MP from 1848 to 1851.
• François Marc Godissart (1825-1882), Mayor of Fort-de-France from 1866 to 1867 from 1871 to 1873 from 1875 to 1877 and Member of Parliament from 1874 to 1881.
• Osman Duquesnay (1846-1923), doctor, mayor of Fort-de-France from 1888 to 1896 and mayor of Marin from 1908 to 1923 and Member of Parliament for Martinique from 1898 to 1902 and 106 in 1910 and president of the general council of Martinique from 1890 to 1893.
• Victor Mazuline, first black Martinican Member of Parliament from 1848 to 1849.
• Ernest Deproge (1850-1921), lawyer, Chairman of the General Council in 1881 and Member of Parliament from 1882 to 1898.
• Victor Sévère (1867-1957), lawyer, several times mayor of Fort-de-France between 1900 and 1945 and MP from 1906 to 1914 and from 1924 to 1928 and from 1936 to 194 0.
• Antoine Siger (1848-1908), former mayor of Fort-de-France assassinated.
• Henri Audemar, former mayor of Fort-de-France from 1896 to 1900.
• Fernand Clerc, Riche industrial béké born in Fort de France, Member of Parliament from 1919 to 1924 and Mayor of La Trinité from 1894 to 1912 and from 1929 to 1939 and Mayor of Lorrain from 1926 to 1929 and President of the General Council from 1908 to 1910.
• Robert Rumilly (1897-1981), historian, politician and writer born in Fort-de-France, who was distinguished in Quebec in the conservative and anti-communist milieu.
• Émile Lodéon (1899-1958), lawyer, Senator of Martinique from 1948 to 1958.
• Pierre Aliker (1907-2013), doctor, first assistant mayor of Fort-de-France from 1957 to 2001. In 1958, he was co-founder with Aimé Césaire of the Martinique Progressive Party. In homage, the city's largest soccer stadium was named Stade Pierre Aliker.
• Jules Monnerot (1874-1942), lawyer, professor of philosophy and journalist. Founder of the communist movement in Martinique and the newspaper Justice.
• Léopold Bissol (1889-1982), former municipal councilor of Fort de France and general councilor and member of parliament for Martinique from 1945 to 1958. In 1957, he was also one of the founding members of the Martinican Communist Party.
• Émile Maurice (1910-1993), teacher, mayor of Saint-Joseph from 1959 to 1993 and general advisor from 1958 to 1993 and President of the General Council of Martinique from 1970 to 1992.
• Victor Sablé (1911-1997), lawyer, senator from 1946 to 1948, Member of Parliament for Martinique from 1958 to 1986 and Member of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1984.
• Camille Darsières (1932-2006), lawyer, Member of Parliament from 1993 to 2002 and President of the Regional Council of Martinique from 1986 to 1992. He served as general secretary from 1970 to 1999 of the Martinican Progressive Party, a party founded by Aimé Césaire.
• Serge Letchimy (1953-), urban planner, born in Gros-Morne, mayor of Fort-de-France from 2001 to 2010 and general advisor from 1992 to 2004, member of parliament for Martinique since 2007 and president of the regional council of Martinique from 201101 0 to 2015. Since 2005, he has also been president of the Martinican Progressive Party, a party founded by Aimé Césaire.
• Claude Lise (1941-), doctor, president of the Assembly of Martinique since 2015, member of parliament from 1988 to 1993 and senator from 1993 to 2011 and president of the general council of Martinique from 1992 to 2011. In 2006, he founded the Martinican Democratic Rally.
• Henry Jean-Baptiste (1933-), former MP for Mayotte.
• Jacques Adelaide-Merlande (1933-), historian and president of the University of the West Indies and Guyana from 1972 to 1977.
• René Maran (1887-1960), writer, Prix Goncourt in 1921.
• Patrick Chamoiseau (1953-), writer, Prix Goncourt in 1992 with "Texaco".
• Frantz Fanon (1925-1961), doctor and writer, author of Black Skin, white masks and The Damned of the Earth.
• Roland Brival (1950-): writer and musician, winner of the RFO Book Award in 2000 and Knight of Arts and Letters in 2013.
• Suzanne Dracius (1951-), writer and academic. In 2010, she won the Prix de la Société des poètes français for her entire work.
• Clément Richer (1914-1971), Novelist born in Fort de France, who wrote "Ti Coyo and his shark" and "The Man of the Caravelle". In 1941 and 1948, he was awarded the Paul Flat Prize of the French Academy for his novels "The Last Trip of Pembroke" and "The Cruise of Priscilla" and the Marianne Prize in 1939. His novel "Ti Coyo and his shark" has been translated into English, Spanish and Dutch.
• Raphaël Tardon (1911-1967), writer born in Fort de France. In 1967, he was awarded the Caribbean Literary Prize for all his work posthumously.
• Vincent Placoly (1946-1992), writer - Frantz Fanon Award in 1991.
• Tony Delsham (1946-), writer.
• Georges Mauvois (1922-2018), writer, playwright. He won the Casa de las Americas prize in 2004.
• André Lucrèce (1946), sociologist and writer.
• Daniel Boukman (1936), writer, poet, playwright - Carbet Prize in 1992.
• Gaël Octavia, (1977-) writer, playwright.
• René Louise (1949-), painter.
• Hector Charpentier (1950-), painter and artist.
• Philippe Lavil (1947-), singer.
• Christiane Eda-Pierre (1932-2020), a lyrical artist and singer.
• Jenny Alpha (1910-2010), singer and actress.
• Ralph Thamar (1952-), singer of Malavoi band.
• Jocelyne Béroard (1954-), singer of the band Kassav. Officer of the Legion of Honor in 2014, she was the first singer of the French Antilles gold record in 1986.
• Edith Lefel (1963-2003), born in Cayenne but lived in Fort de France, singer of Zouk
• Perle Lama (1984), singer of Zouk
• Princess Lover (1978), singer of Zouk
• Kali (1959-), author, composer and singer. He represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1992.
• Edmond Mondesire (1948-), Professor of Philosophy and Author, Composer and Singer.
• Henri Guédon (1944-2006), musician and painter.
• Mario Canonge (1960-), pianist born in Fort-de-France.
• Tony Chasseur (1962-), singer of Zouk and Biguine Jazz
• Eric Virgal (1953-), Zouk's author, composer and performer
• Lucien Jean-Baptiste (1964-), actor, director and screenwriter, born in Fort-de-France.
• Audrey Pulvar (1972-), journalist, novelist and television presenter, born in Fort-de-France.
• Alicia Aylies (1998-), a French figure elected Miss Guyana 2016 and Miss France 2017, born in Fort-de-France.
• Max Morinière (1964), Athlete, former world record holder of 4 × 100 m in 1990 in 37 second 79.
• Georges Vestris (1959-), French Basketball International, 157 selections from 1979 to 1991;
• Fabrice Jeannet (1980-), French international writer.
• Kayra Sayit (1988-), Franco-Turkish judokate, born in Fort-de-France.
• Ronny Turiaf (1983), former professional basketball player at the Los Angeles Lakers
• Patrick Burner (1996), professional footballer of OGC Nice and Nîmes Olympique
• Daniel Charles-Alfred (1934-), former professional footballer of Nimes Olympique and former French football international.
• Camille Ninel (1928-), emblematic football player of the Olympique Lyonnais in the 1950s.
• Franck Tanasi, (1959), former professional footballer of Paris Saint-Germain from 1977 to 1991.
• Tita Mandeleau, (1937), Senegalese writer born in Fort-de-France.

References

Bibliography

• Solange Contour, Fort de France at the beginning of the century, Paris, L'Harmattan, February 1994, 224 p. (ISBN 2-7384-1684-5, read online)
• Micheline Marlin-Godier, Fort-de-France: 1884-1914, Petit-Bourg, Ibis Rouge, October 2000, 267 p. (ISBN 2-84450-082-X )
• Denis Martouzet, Fort-de-France: fragile city?, Paris, Economica, October 2001, 264 p. (ISBN 2-7178-4287-X )
• Fort-de-France, the experience of communist management: 1945-1956

•   Portal of Martinique
•   Portal of the communes of France
•   Caribbean portal
•   French Overseas Portal