The cradle of American coffee in Martinique

The cradle of American coffee

Martinique is a small island and the birthplace of coffee in Central America, but it produces very little coffee today. The first coffee tree in the Western Hemisphere was brought from France by Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu in the early 1820s. In his early years, Dirkley was a naval officer in Martinique. He brought back a coffee tree and planted it in Prechear. The first harvest was in 1726. Coffee was then introduced from Martinique to Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Guadeloupe. According to records, there were 18791680 coffee trees in Martinique in 1777.

The coffee trees on Martinique have witnessed the growth and destruction of an industry. Today, the island mainly exports bananas, sugar cane and pineapples.