French, weakened by their respective voyages, came to an agreement to share the little Caribbean island. Colonization In 1626 he returned to France, where he won the support of Cardinal Richelieu to establish French colonies in the region by convincing him of the opportunity for profitable cultivation of tobacco, sugar cane, achiote, and indigo. It would also be an opportunity to extend the influence of France and Christendom. Richelieu became a shareholder in the Compagnie de Saint-Christophe, created to accomplish all this with D'Esnambuc at its head. In 1627, Esnambuc left Havre to set up on Saint Kitts, in which he had already been preceded by the Huguenots under François Levasseur. Since Saint Kitts had been shared with the English under the explorer Thomas Warner, the English occupied the central portion while the French took the two extremities. The conditions were very difficult for the French colonists who were poorly provisioned by the company. They survived through trade with the Dutch. In 1628 a French pirate ship seized two caravels containing 57 Moriscoes and Mulattoes whom they unloaded at Saint Kitts. This is the first known introduction of slavery in a French colony. Trade with foreign slave ships, though illegal, was tolerated by colonial authorities in the face of the rising demand for labor. In the beginning of 1529, the French colony on Saint Kitts was accounted 500 Frenchmen and 52 Blacks (of which 40 were men and 12 were women). In September 1629 the Spanish destroyed the French establishments on Saint Kitts and the colonists fled to surrounding islands. Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique After the failure of the Compagnie de Saint-Christophe, Richelieu granted Belain the Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique, created February 12, 1635. The company tasked Jean du Plessis d'Ossonville and Charles Liénard de L'Olive with the colonization of Guadeloupe. Meanwhile, Esnambuc went ashore in Martinique with 150 French colonists from Saint Kitts, then founded the fort of Saint-Pierre on behalf of the French crown and the Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique. He left Jacques Dupont with command of the fort and regained Saint Kitts. He took possession of Dominica in November 1635 guided by a captain from Dieppe, Pierre Baillardel. Dupont, after having withstood an attack of Caribs, was taken prisoner by the Spanish during a voyage to check on Saint Kitts. Esnambuc subsequently named his nephew, Jacques Dyel du Parquet, as governor of Martinique in