The small and beautiful island of Saint Martin, located in the Caribbean, has the peculiarity of being split almost in half between two European countries: France and the Netherlands. The northern side is occupied by the French Collectivity of Saint Martin, while the Dutch side to the south is known as Sint Maarten. The French side is larger, with an area of 53 km2, while the Dutch side is only 34 km2. However, the Dutch side is more populated, with around 43,000 people, while the French side has around 32,000 inhabitants. Despite the division, there is freedom of movement and no border checks between the two sides. Also, this is the only land border the two countries share.
History
To understand the origins of this division, let’s take a look at the history of the island. Saint Martin was originally inhabited by indigenous peoples, first the Arawaks and then the Caribs. The Europeans arrived here in 1493, when Christopher Columbus sighted the island during his second voyage to the Americas. Originally the nearby island now called Nevis was given the name Saint Martin, as Columbus anchored near this island on November 11, Saint Martin day. However, the many small islands in the area were poorly charted by European cartographers at the time, so the name was erroneously transferred to the island now known as Saint Martin.
Though nominally claimed by Spain, Saint Martin was not truly occupied by the Spanish, and other European powers looked to settle on the island, while the local population declined due to the diseases brought by the Europeans. The Dutch were the first to build a fort on the island, called Fort Amsterdam, in 1631. This angered the Spanish, who were already fighting the Dutch in the Eighty Years’ War, and in 1633 Spain attacked and occupied Saint Martin. The Dutch failed to retake the island in 1644, but the Spanish eventually left anyway in 1648, as they didn’t value Saint Martin as strategically or economically important. Dutch and French colonists soon arrived on the island, settling on the southern and northern side respectively. To avoid a war, the two countries agreed to divide the island and signed the Treaty of Concordia on March 23, 1648.
There are many legends surrounding the how this division was made. According to a popular story, a Frenchman and a Dutchman were selected to walk along the coast of the island starting at the eastern edge, and wherever they met on the western side, that would be where the boundary would be set. The Frenchman supposedly cheated by running or cutting corners, and that’s how the French supposedly ended up with a larger portion of the island. Actually, the French obtained a larger territory because they had a fleet of naval ships nearby, which they used to threaten the Dutch. Even though the relations between the two sides were usually friendly, there were also some moments of tension, and the border was changed various times.
Map of the island of Saint Martin, with the French Collectivity of Saint Martin on the northern side, and the Dutch Sint Maarten on the southern side (Hogweard, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0).
In 1651 the French sold their portion of the island to the Knights Hospitaller of Malta, who at the time were trying to establish colonies in the Caribbean, but France bought it back in 1665. Between 1795 and 1815 the island was entirely under French control, as the Netherlands were occupied by France during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Over the course of the 17th and 18th century, cotton, tobacco, and sugar plantations were established on the island, and many African slaves were brought here. The slaves eventually outnumbered the colonists, and slavery was abolished, first on the French side in 1848, and then on the Dutch side in 1863.
Saint Martin remained poor and underdeveloped until the second half of the 20th century, when it was turned into a tourist destination, and the population of the island jumped from 5,000 to 60,000 in a few decades. Despite being severely damaged by strong hurricanes in 1995 and 2017, Saint Martin is now a popular destination for tourists.
Since the Treaty of Concordia allows for freedom of movement and there is effectively no border, a common identity has developed throughout the island, and the unification of the two sides has been proposed, but not much progress has been made to achieve it.
Geography and tourism
Saint Martin is located in the Leeward Islands, just south of the island of Anguilla, a British overseas territory, while the French island of Saint Barthélemy lies to the southeast. Further south are two more Dutch territories, the islands of Saba and Sint Eustatius, near the country of Saint Kitts and Nevis. The island enjoys a warm weather all year round, with temperatures mostly oscillating between 25 °C and 30 °C. However, the island is sometimes threatened by hurricanes between late summer and early fall.
The largest settlement on the island is Lower Prince’s Quarter, on the Dutch side, located just north of Philipsburg, the port and capital of Sint Maarten. Meanwhile, the capital and largest town of the French side is Marigot, on the western coast. The area governed by the French Collectivity of Saint Martin includes the small Île Tintamarre, located off the northeastern coast of the main island. The Simpson Bay Lagoon on the west part of the island is divided between the two sides, with Marigot to the north, on the French side, and the Princess Juliana International Airport to the south, on the Dutch side.
The Princess Juliana International Airport is the main airport of Saint Martin, and one of the busiest in the Caribbean, often used as a gateway to other nearby islands. The airport is also famous because at the end of its runway there is a small beach, Maho Beach, where planes can be seen approaching land from an extremely close distance. This is a popular activity for tourists, but it can be really dangerous, and there have been various injuries and a few deaths. The island is also served by another airport, the Grand Case-Espérance Airport on the French side, which is mainly used for smaller and private aircrafts arriving from nearby islands. Saint Martin can also be reached by ferry or boat from other Caribbean islands, and cruise ships often stop in Phillipsburg.
Airplane landing at the Princess Juliana International Airport above Maho Beach (Aldo Bidini, Wikimedia Commons, GFDL 1.2).
As neither side is part of the Schengen Area, there are border controls when traveling to and from the island, both by plane and by ferry or boat. However, as pointed out earlier, there are no border controls between the two sides. Despite this, there are still some differences between the French and Dutch side. For example, making a call between the two sides requires special dialling instructions. Also, the euro is the official currency of the French side, while the Dutch side uses the Netherlands Antillean guilder, but the euro and the US dollar are usually accepted everywhere on the island. While French and Dutch are the official languages of their respective sides, English and Spanish are also widely spoken.
The main attraction on both sides are the many beaches along the coast, which can be visited all year round thanks to the warm weather of the island. The Dutch side is also known for hosting various casinos. The island is considered one of the best places in the Caribbean for shopping, thanks to the many quality items offered, and its status as a duty-free port.