first to occupy Tortola, but they were not colonists,
and were succeeded by some English Quakers who
held peaceful possession, but were ruined by emancipating
their slaves. St. Martin in 1638 was a
headquarters for French rovers, or corsairs, but the
Dutch smugglers divided its possession with them,
and in 1648 an amicable division of the island between
the French and Dutch was effected. T h e
same year French colonists settled in St. Bartholomew.
A ll this northern part of the Lesser A n tilles
was sparsely peopled and feebly held by the
aborigines, and after one or two spasmodic efforts
Spain gave up all attempt to exclude other nations
from them.
T he Bahamas in the meantime continued to be
practically deserted. English writers are wont to
say that a settlement was made at New Providence
in 1629, and it is a matter of record that in 1630
there was formed “ T he Governor and Company of
Adventurers for the Plantation of the Island of
Providence, Henrietta, and Adjacent Islands,” but
there is no evidence of actual “ planting.” It has
also been said that in 1641 the settlements were
broken up by jealous Spaniards from Cuba, and that
they were re-established in 1666, to be again dispersed
in 1703 by Spanish violence, after which the
islands were left a prey to the elements and the
buccaneers for three quarters of a century. T h e fact
seems to be that the so-called settlements were, for
the most part, nests of pirates and wreckers who
lay in wait for Spanish trading vessels, which, to
avoid the perils of the Caribbean waters, had begun
to take the Bahama channels on their way from
Mexico and Cuba. New Providence had, indeed,
been granted to Lord Albemarle and others in 1680
as a colony, the “ lords proprietors” having the
right to appoint a governor and manage all the
affairs of the island. Some settlers were brought
over and attempts were made to develop the lonely
colony before the Spanish and French attack of
1703, which resulted in the demolition of the puny
defences of Nassau and the transportation of the
governor and most of his subjects to Havana. The
pirates and wreckers then had the Bahamas pretty
much to themselves until our revolutionary war.
T h e greatest resistance to colonising efforts came
from the native population in the lower Caribbees.
Two French adventurers, by the name of L ’Olive
and Duplessis, landed upon Guadeloupe in 1635
with a force of labourers, but they were unable to
hold possession. Four chartered companies were
ruined in the effort to colonise the island, and finally
the surviving Caribs were removed to Dominica and
St. Vincent. T he English had attempted to take
possession of Dominica as far back as 1627, but had
been driven off, and the natives were left practically
undisturbed for a century or more.
T h e Caribs had showed themselves so formidable
that no attempt was made to occupy Martinique
until 1665, although Esnambuc had taken possession
in the name of France thirty years before. The
formal adoption of the colony occurred in 1675, but
before much progress could be made the natives had
to be transported. K illing them proved to be too