Jean Le Comte (died 1654) was the first governor of

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

, holding office from 1649 to 1654. He led systematic efforts to kill the indigenous Caribs or drive them off the island.

Settlement of Grenada

On 17 March 1649 two barks under Governor

Jacques Dyel du Parquet Jacques Dyel du Parquet (1606 – 3 January 1658) was a French soldier who was one of the first governors of Martinique. He was appointed governor of the island for the Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique in 1636, a year after the first French set ...

of Martinique arrived in Saint George's harbour, Grenada. 145 settlers landed and over the next eight days threw up a stockade they named Fort Annunciation on a site that Captain La Rivière had previously explored. Du Parquet left on 6 April 1649 after appointing his cousin Jean Le Compte governor of Grenada. Le Comte was aged 55. The

Island Caribs The Kalinago, also known as the Island Caribs or simply Caribs, are an indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. They may have been related to the Mainland Caribs (Kalina) of South America, but they spoke an unrelated languag ...

led by chief

Chief Kairouane Chief Kairouane (or Kaierouane) was a Kalinago (Carib) leader of Grenada. For years, he led the resistance against European colonists attempting to establish a foothold on the island. In a sudden turn of affairs, however, he led a small band of sur ...

were at first suspicious of the settlers but not hostile. This changed in November 1649 when eleven large canoes arrived from Saint Vincent with several hundred warriors looking for revenge for an insult they had suffered in the

Grenadines The Grenadines is a chain of small islands that lie on a line between the larger islands of Saint Vincent and Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. Nine are inhabited and open to the public (or ten, if the offshore island of Young Island is counted): ...

. The settlers retreated to the fort where they remained for eight days while the Caribs destroyed their property, and then left.

Destruction of the indigenous people

On 26 May 1650 du Parquet brought 300 men from Martinique to join the Grenada settlers in a surprise attack on the Caribs, who had been picking off isolated Frenchmen. A Carib defector led 60 French musketeers up a hill to surround about 80 Caribs who were sleeping beside a cliff. Caught in a crossfire, the Caribs who were not shot jumped from the cliff to their death. The site became known as the Morne des Sauteurs, or "Jumpers' Headland". Du Parquet had a second small fort, Fort Saint Jean, built and manned by 70 troops. He left the island on 7 June 1650. The Caribs of Grenada asked their kin in Dominica and Saint Vincent for help. This was the start of a war throughout the island. Some took refuge in the east coast mountains, but Le Comte raised a force of 150 men to hunt them out, and burned their houses and fields. The French destroyed the Carib

pirogue A pirogue ( or ), also called a piragua or piraga, is any of various small boats, particularly dugouts and native canoes. The word is French and is derived from Spanish , which comes from the Carib '. Description The term 'pirogue' does n ...

s to prevent them reaching other islands where they could take refuge or get help. La Comte himself drowned in a canoe accident. He died in 1654 and was succeeded as governor by Louis Cacqueray de Valminière.

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