Record Atlas
5 eras · 1493–2026 · 11 places

Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique and St Lucia

Pointe-à-Pitre, Basse-Terre, Fort-de-France, Roseau, Castries. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1493–1635 Before registers. no registers survive

Columbus named Guadeloupe in 1493 and landed on Martinique in 1502, but Spain largely ignored the island.
1635–1763 French Guadeloupe and Martinique Archives départementales de la Guadeloupe · Archives départementales de la Martinique · Geneanet · FamilySearch

France began colonising in 1635 and Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc founded the settlement that became Saint-Pierre on Martinique. Britain captured Martinique in 1762 and France recovered it in the Treaty of Paris of 1763. Martinique's parish registers from 1666 and civil registers to 1909 are reported online at the Archives nationales d'outre-mer.
1763–1848 French Antilles — British occupations Archives départementales de la Guadeloupe · Archives départementales de la Martinique · Geneanet · FamilySearch

Britain occupied Martinique in 1794-1802 and 1809-1814, and the 1794 French decree abolishing slavery was never applied there. Slavery was abolished in 1848.
1848–1946 French colonies of Guadeloupe and Martinique Archives départementales de la Guadeloupe · Archives départementales de la Martinique · Geneanet · FamilySearch

The eruption of Mount Pelée in 1902 destroyed Saint-Pierre. Dominica and Saint Lucia lay in British colonies: the Windward Islands colony existed 1833-1960 and Dominica joined it from the Leeward Islands in 1940.
1946–2026 French overseas departments Archives départementales de la Guadeloupe · Archives départementales de la Martinique · Geneanet · FamilySearch

Martinique became an overseas department in 1946 and Guadeloupe followed in the same year.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1493–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

11 places on this ground

121 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 61 more.

All record regions · The map