BELAIN, PIERRE, SIEUR D'ESNAMBUC

born 1585, Alouville, France died 1637 French trader who in 1635 established the first colony for the Compagnie des les d'Amrique on the Caribbean island of Martinique, the first permanent French colony in the West Indies. Born in Normandy, Blain founded (1625 or 1627) a short-lived French colony on St. Kitts, which was then occupied by the British. He landed on the site of Saint-Pierre, Martinique, on Sept. 1, 1635, and on September 17 he formally took possession of Martinique for King Louis XIII and the Compagnie (the island of Guadeloupe was seized by other French trader-explorers the same year). In the year of Blain's death his nephew Dizel du Parquet became captain general of Martinique.