The Habitation Fonds Saint-Jacques, a few miles north of Sainte-Marie on the Atlantic coast, is an important heritage and historical site of Martinique. This three and a half century old estate is one of the oldest on the island ; it was renovated in 2008 and 2009 under the control of the architects of the buildings of France. The Dominican monks settled there in 1658 when the Carib Indians were chased from their land by the settlers. They built there a convent, a church and a sugar factory administered by Father Jean-Baptiste Labat (1663-1738)- one of the most outstanding figures of the end of the 17th century in the West Indies - between 1696 and 1704. He modernized the local installations to improve the quality of the sugar production and perfected the rum distillation methods by developing a new model of still. The activity of the estate reached its peak around 1762 with 500 slaves before declining from the 19th century. The Habitation Fonds Saint-Jacques is now a cultural centre.