At the same time a
new settlement the French had made at Samana was exterminated.
The new French governor found the affairs of his colony in very bad
condition; but with the assistance of refugees from other islands he
sent an expedition to Jamaica, from where over 3,000 slaves together
with stores of indigo and other property were carried off. In
retaliation the English and Spanish fleets combined and with 4,000 men
aboard set sail from Manzanillo Bay in 1695, and sacked and burned
Cape Francais and Port-de-Paix, the English carrying off all the men
they took prisoners and the Spaniards the women and children.
Hostilities were ended in 1697 by the peace of Ryswick by which Spain
recovered territory conquered from her by the French and ceded the
western part of the island of Santo Domingo to France. The occupation
of the western coast by France, so long resented as an intrusion, was
thus formally recognized.
The French colony immediately entered upon an era of prosperity which
soon made it the richest country of the West Indies. Great plantations
of tobacco, indigo, cacao, coffee and sugar were established.
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