Page "History of Martinique" Paragraph 24

Britain captured the island during the Seven Years ' War, holding it from 1762 to 1763.

Following Britain's victory in the war there was a strong possibility the island would be annexed by them.

However, the sugar trade made the island so valuable to the royal French government that at the Treaty of Paris ( 1763 ), which ended the Seven Years ' War, they gave up all of Canada in order to regain Martinique as well as the neighboring island of Guadeloupe.

During the British occupation, Marie Josèph Rose Tascher de la Pagerie, the future Empress Joséphine was born to a noble family living on Les Trois-Îlets across the bay from Fort Royal.

Also, 1762 saw a yellow fever epidemic and in 1763 the French established separate governments for Martinique and Guadeloupe.