Martinique was first settled by Jews from Amsterdam who had arrived in that country as settlers fleeing the Inquisition of Spain and Portugal. Most of these settlers who arrived in Martinique were merchants and traders, working for and protecting the interests of the Dutch. Most of the early Jews lived in the larger cities, the business centres and became very prosperous and successful.

St. Pierre was the centre of Jewish life from 1645 – when Jews from Brazil first arrived here, bringing valuable knowledge for producing sugar cane. The pioneer of chocolate growing and processing in Brazil was Benjamin d’Acosta de Andrade. Born as a Converso in Portugal, he returned to Judaism in Brazil. He established the first cocoa plant in French territory, modernized the process and began making chocolate. By 1684, more processing plants, mostly owned by Jews, opened in Martinique. As the chocolate industry grew over the years, many Jews were leaders in the field.

In 1635, Martinique was conquered by France. Jews were tolerated and protected by the French governors, who needed their commercial and financial acumen and whose services they used. For many years the Jews continued to prosper and the community grew. In 1667 the first synagogue was founded in Martinique. In 1676 the community acquired a Torah from the Portuguese Jewish community of Amsterdam.

Over time, the French merchants and the Jesuits in Martinique began to resent the success of the Jews on the island. In 1685 Colbert established the Black Code and ordered the expulsion of the Jews from all the French islands. The Jews of Martinique leave for the Dutch island of Curaçao. A number of the Jews in Martinique ignored the law and stayed. This group of Jews continued to flourish and the community actually grew. The laws against the Jews were finally withdrawn after the French Revolution.

After World War II, some Jews arrived and in 1962, these were joined by uprooted people of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. In the 1960s and 1970s, Jews from North Africa and France settled in Fort de France. The chief rabbi of France, and the secular leader of France’s Jewish community, inaugurated Kenaf Aretz Synagogue in Fort- de-France, Martinique’s capital, the first Jewish temple on the island in 350 years.  Nothing remains of a synagogue that was built in Martinique in 1653 for a small number of Jews who once lived there.

Today, the majority of the Jewish population in Martinique resides in the community of Schoelcher, where they have built a synagogue and community centre.  There is also a smaller group of Jews located in Fort-de-France comprised mostly of the Jews who arrived from France and North Africa in the latter part of the 1900’s.