Martinique is an island country in the West Indies, north of St Lucia and south of Dominica. It is an overseas territory of France. Its capital is Fort-de-France. As it is part of France, it is also part of the European Union and its currency is the euro. The official language is French, but almost the whole population also speak Antillean Creole which is the language (dialect) spoken in the Lesser Antilles.

The French Ceres design stamps were used in Martinique from 1851 – 1859. Thereafter French created stamps specially for post offices in its colonies. For a period, Martinique issued its own stamps. In 1947 Martinique issued its last postage stamps. This was because France changed the status of Martinique from a colony to an overseas department. Since this change Martinique again used French stamps.