[or Diel]. French colonizer and colonial governor, died at St. Pierre, Martinique, on the 3rd of January 1658. The date of his birth is unknown. He was a nephew of Pierre d’Enambuc, the colonizer of St. Christopher and Martinique, who, in December 1638, gave him an appointment as commandant of the latter island, which was quickly confirmed by the French “Company of the American Islands.” He was made lieutenant-general and seneschal, and received a grant of thirty pounds of tobacco for each inhabitant. As governor of Martinique he was beset with many difficulties, but confronted them with wisdom and vigor; introduced the culture of the sugar-cane in 1639, and by 1642 had led his people far in the direction of general prosperity, when the island was devastated by a terrible hurricane. In June 1650, he purchased the island of Grenada from a Carib chief for a few necklaces and casks of brandy, and distributed the lands among his colonists. The vendors, soon repenting of their bargain, made an attack, and were nearly exterminated in the slaughter which ensued. In September of that year he purchased Grenada and its adjacent islets, and also Martinique and St. Lucia from the French government. In 1654, some Hollanders, expelled from Portugal, came from Brazil and desired to join his colony, but by the influence of the Jesuits, who had been there since 1640, were repelled. The same year the Caribs, under the lead of a half-breed, attempted to exterminate the French. Parquet afterward lost St. Lucia, in a sudden attack by the English. Grenada was several times ravaged by the Caribs, and as the French made reprisals, the island became a scene of fire and carnage. In 1656 Parquet found himself surrounded and seriously beset, when a Dutch fleet opportunely arrived and gave him aid, by which he put the savages to flight, with great slaughter. In 1657 the natives sued for peace and submitted to his conditions. By his considerate administration of the government of his colony, Diel du Parquet was the first to show the inhabitants of the New World an example of moderation.
