Saint-Pierre was the former primary city of France's Caribbean département d'outre-mer of Martinique, founded in 1635 . It was never the capital except in an economic sense. Perhaps the visit by the then governor of Martinique to St. Pierre to assess the situation and his subsequent death in the pyroclastic blast that destroyed the city have led some to assume that the city was the capital. Though rebuilt after the eruption, the city never regained its earlier prominence or population.

It was destroyed on May 8, 1902 when the volcano Mount Pelée erupted, killing over 30,000 people, which was the entire population of the town, as well as people from neighboring villages who had taken refuge in the supposedly safe city, save (according to incorrect publicity) one man - a prisoner by the name of Louis-Auguste Sylbaris - who survived and later toured the world with the Barnum and Bailey Circus.