Pierre Bélain, sieur d’Esnambuc

Pierre Bélain, sieur d’Esnambuc (born 1585, Alouville, France—died 1637) was a French trader who expanded French colonization into the Caribbean and in 1635 established the first colony for the Compagnie des Îles d’Amérique on the island of Martinique, the first permanent French colony in the West Indies.

Born in Normandy, Bélain formally established the first French colony in the West Indies in 1627 on St. Kitts, which was also occupied by and ultimately ceded fully to the British. He landed on the site of Saint-Pierre, Martinique, on September 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 Bélain’s death, his nephew Jacques-Dyel du Parquet became captain general of Martinique.