# Du Parquet Confirmed as Proprietor (1651)

URL: https://allhistories.com/saint-lucia/timeline/1651-du-parquet-confirmed-as-proprietor
Location: Paris, France
Themes: main-event

The Company of the American Islands, chartered under Cardinal Richelieu to colonise the Lesser Antilles, was close to collapse by the late 1640s. Rather than run the colonies itself, it sold them to the men who governed them on the spot. A procuration drawn up in Martinique in May 1650 authorised du Parquet's agent to negotiate on his behalf. On 27 September 1650 notaries in Paris recorded the sale of Martinique, Saint Lucia, Grenada and the Grenadines to du Parquet for 41,500 livres, payable in instalments until November 1653. He became their sole proprietor, subject only to the conditions the company had accepted from the crown in 1642, including the duty to uphold the Catholic religion. The purchase received royal ratification in August 1651, and on 22 October 1651 the king appointed du Parquet governor and lieutenant-general of the islands he now owned. Saint Lucia thus entered French law as part of a private proprietary domain centred on Martinique. Its fortunes would be tied to those of its larger northern neighbour for the rest of the French period, and the sale was later cited in French arguments against English claims to the island. At this point in the timeline (22 October 1651), the King of France was Louis XIV (1651 – 1664); the Governor of Saint Lucia (lieutenant governor for du Parquet) was Louis de Kerengoan, sieur de Rousselan (1651 – 1654).

## Why it matters
The purchase made Saint Lucia legally part of a French proprietary colony governed from Martinique.

Ruler at the Time: [Louis XIV](https://allhistories.com/saint-lucia/rulers/louis-xiv-1651)

Governor of Saint Lucia (lieutenant governor for du Parquet): Louis de Kerengoan, sieur de Rousselan

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Company of the American Islands](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_of_the_American_Islands)
- [Wikipedia — Jacques Dyel du Parquet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Dyel_du_Parquet)
- [Wikipedia — List of colonial governors and administrators of Saint Lucia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colonial_governors_and_administrators_of_Saint_Lucia)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Jacques Dyel du Parquet](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Jacques+Dyel+du+Parquet)
- [Wikipedia — French Settlement and The Neutral Island (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_colonization_of_the_Americas)