NASA NLT Landsat 7 (visible color) satellite image of Saint Martin.

Map of Saint Martin.

Panorama of Orient Beach in St. Martin

Collectively, the two territories are known as "St-Martin/St. Maarten". Sometimes SXM, the IATA identifier for Princess Juliana International Airport (the island's main airport), is used to refer to the island.

Geography

The main towns are Philipsburg (Dutch side) and Marigot (French side). The island has approximately a total resident population of 85,000. The official population on the Dutch side is 50,000 while on the French side this is 35,000. Human density is 3 times that of the Netherlands. In addition there is an average of 1,000,000 tourist visitors per year.

The highest hilltop is the Pic Paradis (424 m) on center of a hill chain. There is no river on the island, but many dry guts. Hiking trails give access to the dry forest covering tops and slopes.

The average yearly air temperature is 27 °C (min 17 °C, max 35 °C) and sea surface temperature 26.4 °C. The total average yearly rainfall is 995 mm, with 22 days of thunder.

Neither of the two halves of St. Martin had separate FIPS PUB 10-4 territory codes or ISO 3166-1 codes prior to 2007; they were coded as GP (Guadeloupe) and NA/AN (Netherlands Antilles). The status of the French side changed to an overseas collectivity in February 2007, and it received the ISO 3166-1 code MF in October 2007.^[1] The status of the Dutch side is due to change to a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in December 2008, and it is expected that Dutch part will also get an ISO 3166-1 code of its own shortly thereafter.

Common history

Short review

• circa 800AD Settled by Arawak Indians who arrived from South America, given the name Soualiga, or Land of Salt.
• 11 Nov 1493 Claimed for Spain by Columbus, named Isla de San Martin, upon his arrival.
• 1624 Some French cultivate tobacco on French Quarter.
• 1631 Dutch small colony on Groot baai to collect salt.
• 1633 - 1647 Spanish army from Puerto Rico builds the first military fort, but after a few years destroy it and abandon the island forever.
• 23 Mar 1648 Divided into French (north) and Dutch (south) zones
  (Dutch zone subordinate to Sint Eustatius until 1672).
• 1679 - 1689 French occupy entire island.
• 1689 - 1792 Dutch zone under Dutch West India Company administration.
• 1690 - 1699 English occupy entire island.
• 1699 - 1702 French occupy entire island.
• 1703 - 1717 Dutch occupy entire island
• 24 Feb 1779 - 3 Feb 1781 French occupy entire island.
• 3 Feb 1781 - 26 Nov 1781 British occupy entire island.
• 18 May 1793 - 5 Apr 1794 Dutch administer entire island
• 29 Apr 1795 - 24 Mar 1801 French occupy entire island.
• 24 Mar 1801 - 1 Dec 1802 British occupy entire island.
• 9 Jul 1810 Annexed along with Holland by France (not effected).
• 1810 - 1816 British occupy entire island.
• 1816 French and Dutch zones resumed.
• 1919 - 1 Apr 1983 Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten united as Netherlands Windward Islands.
• 1936 Dutch side officially adopted the Dutch spelling Sint Maarten.
• 23 Jun 2000 Referendum supports a "status aparte" as a separate entity within The Netherlands by 68.9%.
• 2003 The population of the French part of the island votes in favour of secession from Guadeloupe in order to form a separate overseas collectivity (COM) of France
• 2 Nov 2006 Sint Maarten and Curaçao sign agreement with The Netherlands on "status aparte"
• 22 Feb 2007 French side becomes a separate an overseas collectivity (COM)
• 15 Dec 2008 Date set for dissolution of Netherlands Antilles. This date has been postponed, although it is still planned^[2]

Details

In 1493, Christopher Columbus embarked on his second voyage to the New World. According to legend, Columbus sighted and perhaps anchored at the island of Saint Martin on November 11, 1493, the feast day of Saint Martin of Tours. In his honor, Columbus named the island San Martin. This name was translated to Sint Maarten (Dutch), Saint Martin (French and English).

Flags flying in Marigot harbor, Saint-Martin.

The Caribs' territory was not completely conquered until the mid-17th century when most of them perished in the struggle between the French, English, Dutch, Danes and Spanish for control of the West Indies. The Dutch first began to ply the island's ponds for salt in the 1620s. Despite the Dutch presence on the island, the Spaniards recaptured St. Martin in 1633 and, one year later, built a fort (now Ft. Amsterdam) and another artillery battery at Pointe Blanche to assert their claim and control access to Great bay salt pond. The Spaniards introduced the first African slaves to the area in the 16th century but the main influx of African slaves took place in the 18th century with the development of Sugarcane plantations by the French protestants and some Dutch jews. Slavery was abolished in the first half of the 19th century, whereupon on some of their territories the British imported Chinese and East Indians to take the place of slaves. Thus, St. Martin and the other islands are populated by a mixture of Amerindian, European, African, Indians and Asian peoples. West Indian cultures such as in St. Martin are, consequently, exceedingly rich and varied.

Border division

Border crossing between St Martin and Sint Maarten

• On March 23 1648, France and the Dutch Republic agreed to divide the island between their two nations, so they signed the Treaty of Concordia.
• Since 1975, several versions of a legend about the division have become popular, especially in tourism publications. An often repeated story is that the island was divided into two sections through a race; the French-dominated community chose one person for the race and the Dutch-dominated community chose another, a man named Menno Versteeg. The two representatives were put back to back in one extreme of the island, and made to walk along the coast in opposite directions. They were not allowed to run. At the point where they eventually met, a line was drawn across the island, connecting their starting point with their meeting point. This became the frontier which divides Saint-Martin from Sint Maarten, according to the legend. The reason for the difference in size between the two sides was said to be that the French representative moved faster than the Dutch.
  In one version, the explanation for the French walker's quicker pace is that he drank wine beforehand, while the Dutch walker drank beer. This is used to support the claim that wine has restorative effects and that it was the French drink of choice that enabled the French walker to move faster.

Culture and tourism

Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten

Rental cars are the primary mode of transportation for visitors staying on island. The island is served by several well-known agencies. If any driving is expected off the major roads (such as to some of the more secluded beaches), a 4-wheel drive is recommended. Traffic on the island, however, has become a major problem; long traffic jams between Marigot, Philipsburg and the airport are common.

Because the island is located along the intertropical convergence zone, it is occasionally menaced by tropical storm activity in the late summer and early fall. It is important to monitor local weather information during this time.

The island is widely known for its hundreds of gourmet (and more moderately priced) restaurants on both sides of the island.

Neighbouring islands include Saint-Barthélemy (French), Anguilla (British), Saba (Dutch), Sint Eustatius "Statia" (Dutch), Saint Kitts and Nevis (Independent, formerly British). With the exception of Nevis, all of these islands are easily visible on a clear day from St. Maarten.

Shopping

Shopping on St Maarten and Saint Martin offers high quality duty-free goods in numerous boutiques. The island has a well-earned reputation as a "shopper's paradise". Popular goods include local crafts & arts, exotic foods, jewelry, liquor, tobacco, leather goods, as well as most designer goods. Because of Duty free Tax free abound the island has become more of a shopping and relaxing destination. Most often the designer goods are offered at significant discounts, often up to 40% lower than US retail prices.

Saint Martin uses the euro as its currency, while Sint Maarten is currently outside the Eurozone and uses the Netherlands Antillean guilder, pegged at 1.79 per United States dollar. It is unknown if Sint Maarten will shift to the euro some time after the Netherlands Antilles dissolves.

Transport

Airports

Video of airplane landing at Juliana International Airport, from here

See also

• Saint Martin
• Sint Maarten
• History of St. Martin
• List of Sint Maarten governors
• Culture of St. Martin
• O sweet Saint-Martin's Land (bi-national song/anthem of Saint-Martin/Sint-Maarten)
• Région Guadeloupe et Saint Martin (Scouting)
• Princess Juliana International Airport

References

External links

Travel and tourism

• Dutch St. Maarten — St. Maarten Tourist Bureau
• French Saint Martin — Saint Martin Tourist Office
• Princess Juliana International Airport, St. Maarten — Official site

Organizations

• Birds of St. Martin - by Eric Dubois-Millot, Action Nature.

News and media

• The Daily Herald (St. Maarten)|''The Daily Herald''— Daily newspaper from St. Maarten
• ''LE FAXinfo'' — Other daily newspaper from Saint Martin
• ''SXMpages''http://www.sxmpages.com/ — St. Maarten's Online Portal

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