With a population of 31,477 as of January 2021[4] on an area of 53.2 square kilometres (20.5 sq mi),[3] it encompasses the northern 60% of thedivided island of Saint Martin, and some neighbouringislets, the largest of which isÎle Tintamarre. The southern 40% of the island of Saint Martin constitutesSint Maarten, which has been aconstituent country of theKingdom of the Netherlands[6] since 2010 following the dissolution ofNetherlands Antilles. This marks the only place in the world where Franceborders the Netherlands.
Before 2007, the French part of Saint Martin was acommune belonging to theFrench overseas department and region ofGuadeloupe. Despite seceding from Guadeloupe in 2007 and gaining more autonomy as an overseas collectivity of France, Saint Martin has remained anoutermost region of theEuropean Union and is part of theeurozone. For statistical purposes, it is still included in theNUTS 2 (FRY1) and NUTS 3 (FRY10) of Guadeloupe byEurostat.
Due to confusion on early maps, the island accidentally got the name intended forNevis byChristopher Columbus in honour ofSt Martin of Tours because he first sighted it on the saint's feast day on 11 November 1493.
Archaeological evidence indicates thatSaint Martin was inhabited byAmerindian peoples as early as 2000 BC.[8] The earliest known settlers wereArchaic Age hunter-gatherers, followed by theSaladoid culture, who arrived around 550 BC from theOrinoco River basin, introducing agriculture and pottery.[9] These communities established villages, such as the one at Hope Estate, which remained occupied until approximately 650 AD.[8][10] Around 1300–1400 AD, the island saw the arrival of theKalinago (Carib) people, who began to displace the earlierArawak inhabitants.[8][9]
The 1633 Spanish capture of Saint Martin, as painted by Juan de la Corte
It is commonly believed thatChristopher Columbus named the island in honor ofSaint Martin of Tours when he encountered it on his second voyage of discovery. However, he actually applied the name to the island now calledNevis when he anchored offshore on 11 November 1493, the feast day of Saint Martin.[11] The confusion of numerous poorly charted small islands in theLeeward Islands meant that this name was accidentally transferred to the island now known asSaint-Martin.[12][13]
Nominally a Spanish territory, the island became the focus of the competing interest of the European powers, notablyFrance and theUnited Provinces. Meanwhile, the Amerindian population began to decline precipitously, dying from diseases brought by the Europeans.
In 1631, the Dutch builtFort Amsterdam on Saint Martin and theDutch West India Company began miningsalt there. Tensions between the Netherlands and Spain were already high due to the ongoingEighty Years' War, and in 1633 the Spanishcaptured St Martin and drove off the Dutch colonists. The Dutch, underPeter Stuyvesant, attempted toregain control in 1644 but were unsuccessful.[14] However, in 1648 the Eighty Years' War ended and the island lost its strategic and economic value to Spain. The Spanish abandoned it and the Dutch returned.[8] The French also began settling, and rather than fight for control of the entire island the two powers agreed to divide it in two with theTreaty of Concordia.[15][16] The first governor of French Saint Martin wasRobert de Longvilliers. Various adjustments to the precise alignment of the border occurred, with the boundary settling at its current position by 1817.
During the 18th century, the French and Dutch developed cotton, tobacco, and sugar plantations on the island, leading to the importation of a significant number of African slaves, who eventually outnumbered the European settlers.[8] The French abolished slavery on 28 May 1848, following a decree by the provisional government.[17] This led to immediate repercussions on the Dutch side; for instance, the entire enslaved population of the Diamond Estate Plantation fled to the French side, where they were recognized as free individuals.[18][19][20] The Dutch abolished slavery later, on 1 July 1863.[8][21] Meanwhile, In 1763, Saint Martin was administratively merged into France's Guadeloupe colony.[8][9]
By the first decades of the 20th century Saint Martin's economy was in a poor state, prompting many to emigrate.[8] Things improved during theSecond World War as the Americans built an airstrip on the Dutch side of the island.[8]
In 1946 Saint Martin (along withSaint Barthélemy) was formally subsumed as anarrondissement into the Guadeloupedépartement.[8] Tourism started expanding from the 1960s–70s onward, eventually becoming the dominant sector of Saint Martin's economy.[8]
Hurricane Luis hit the island in 1995, causing immense destruction and resulting in 12 deaths.[8]
In 2007 Saint Martin was detached from Guadeloupe and became a territorial collectivity with its own Prefect and Territorial Council.[6]
In 2017, Saint Martin was again devastated by a hurricane,Irma, causing widespread destruction across the entire island.[22]
The Collectivity of Saint Martin occupies the northern half of the island ofSaint Martin in theLeeward Islands; the southern half forms the Dutch territory ofSint Maarten. To the north across theAnguilla Channel lies the British Overseas Territory ofAnguilla, to the south-east of the island lies the French island ofSaint Barthélemy and further south are the Dutch islands ofSaba andSint Eustatius.
Saint Martin's land area is 53.2 km2 (20.5 sq mi)[3] The terrain is generally hilly, with the highest peak beingPic Paradis at 424 m (1,391 ft), which is also the highest peak on the island as a whole.[6] The Terres Basses region lying west of the capital Marigot, which contains the French half of theSimpson Bay Lagoon, is flatter. There are a few small lakes on Saint Martin, such as Chevrise Pond, Great Pond and Red Pond. The land is part of the Leeward Islands xeric scrub ecoregion.[23]
Numerous small islands lie off the coast, including Rock of the Cove Marcel,Creole Rock, Little Key, Pinel Island, Green Cay Grand Islet (within the Simpson Bay Lagoon) and the largestTintamarre Island.
Hurricane Irma hit Saint Martin on 6 September 2017; 95% of the structures on the French side were damaged or destroyed.[22][24] Looting or "pillaging" was a problem initially; France subsequently sent 240 gendarmes to help control the situation.[25][26][27]
On 11 September PresidentEmmanuel Macron visited St Martin to view the damage and to assure residents of support for relief efforts.[28] At that time, only tourists and visitors from France (mainlanders) had been evacuated from St. Martin, leading to complaints by black and mixed-race residents that whites were being given priority.[29] Macron pledged 50 million euros of aid for the French islands and said the rebuilding will be done quickly but very well.[30] By March 2018 much of the territory's infrastructure was back up and running.[31]
Saint Martin was for many years a Frenchcommune, forming part ofGuadeloupe, which is anoverseas région and département of France. In 2003 the population of the French part of the islandvoted in favour ofsecession from Guadeloupe in order to form a separateoverseas collectivity (COM) of France.[6][32] On 9 February 2007, theFrench Parliament passed a bill granting COM status to both the French part of Saint Martin and (separately) the neighbouringSaint Barthélemy.[33] The new status took effect on 15 July 2007, once the local assemblies were elected,[34] with the second round of the vote ultimately occurring on 15 July 2007.[35] Saint Martin remains part of theEuropean Union.[36]
The new governance structure befitting an overseas collectivity took effect on 15 July 2007 with the first session of the Territorial Council (French:Conseil territorial). This is aunicameral body of 23 members, with elections held every five years.[7][6] The first President of the Territorial Council wasLouis-Constant Fleming, however on 25 July 2008 Fleming resigned after being sanctioned by theConseil d'État for one year over problems with his 2007 election campaign.[37] On 7 August,Frantz Gumbs was elected as President of the Territorial Council.[38] However, his election was declared invalid on 10 April 2009 andDaniel Gibbs appointed as Acting President of the Territorial Council on 14 April 2009.[39] Gumbs was re-elected on 5 May 2009.[40]
Before 2007, Saint Martin was coded as GP (Guadeloupe) inISO 3166-1. In October 2007, it received the ISO 3166-1 code MF (alpha-2 code), MAF (alpha-3 code), and 663 (numeric code).[42]
Saint Martin had a population of 31,477 according to the January 2021 census,[4] which means apopulation density of 592 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,530/sq mi). At the 2017 French census the population was 35,334[45] (up from only 8,072 inhabitants at the 1982 census). The population decrease between 2017 and 2021 is largely due to the impact ofHurricane Irma which hit the island in early September 2017 and destroyed most of its infrastructure.
Most residents live on the coastal region in the towns ofMarigot (the capital),Grand-Case andQuartier-d'Orleans.[6] Most residents are of black or mixed Creole ancestry, with smaller numbers of Europeans and Indians.[6]
French is the official language of the territory.[6] Other languages spoken includeEnglish,Dutch,Papiamento andSpanish. The Saint Martin dialect ofVirgin Islands Creole (based on English) is spoken in informal situations on both the French and Dutch sides of the island.[46] The sizable Haitian community (7,000 in 2000) also usesHaitian Creole.[47]
The majority of the inhabitants of the island of St. Martin professChristianity,[51] and in the French part theCatholic Church is the faith of the majority.[51] There are also other Christian groups and religions represented on the island.[quantify]
Mary Star of the Sea, a Catholic church inGrand-Case
The French territory of St. Martin is part of theDiocese of Basse-Terre and Pointe-à-Pitre (inLatin,Dioecesis Imae Telluris and inFrench,Diocèse de Basse-Terre et Pointe-à-Pitre), attached to the organization of the Catholic Church inFrance. The diocese includes the territories ofGuadeloupe,St. Barthélemy and St. Martin. This diocese is part of the ecclesiastical province of Fort-de-France, in the ecclesiastical region of theAntilles, and has as neighbors to the northwest, the diocese of Saint John-Basseterre and to the southeast, theDiocese of Roseau.
About sixty priests are active in the diocese[51] and serve several churches, among them the Church of Saint Martin de Tours (Saint-Martin-de-Tours)[52] in Marigot, the Church of Mary Star of the Sea (Église de Marie Etoile de la Mer)[53] in Grand Case and the Church of Saint Martin in Quartier d'Orléans (Église de Saint-Martin).[54]
Marigot in 2017 after Hurricane Irma, which severely impacted the tourism-dependent economy
As a part of France, the official currency of Saint Martin is theeuro,[6] though theUS dollar is also widely accepted. Tourism is the main economic activity – with over one million visitors annually some 85% of the population is employed in this sector.[6] The other major sector is the financial services industry.[6] Though limited, agriculture and fishing are also practiced, though these sectors are very small and most food is imported.[6]
INSEE estimated that thenominal GDP of Saint Martin amounted to 581.8 million euros in 2014 (US$771.9 million at 2014 exchanges rates; US$660.3 million at Feb. 2022 exchange rates).[5] In that same year thenominal GDP per capita of Saint Martin was 16,572 euros (US$21,987 at 2014 exchanges rates; US$18,806 at Feb. 2022 exchange rates),[5] which was only half the GDP per capita ofmetropolitan France in 2014, and 79% of Guadeloupe's GDP per capita.[56] In comparison, the nominal GDP per capita on the Dutch side of the island, Sint Maarten, was US$33,536 in 2014.[57]
^abDutch officials: Irma damaged or destroyed 70 percent of St. Maarten homes, leaving island vulnerable to Jose's approach.The Washington Post 9 September 2017.[1] Accessed 9 September 2017
^"French Caribbean voters reject change". Caribbean Net News. 9 December 2003. Archived fromthe original on 18 March 2009. Retrieved9 February 2007.However voters on the two tiny French dependencies of Saint-Barthelemy and Saint-Martin, which have been administratively attached to Guadeloupe, approved the referendum and are set to acquire the new status of "overseas collectivity".
^"Frantz Gumbs elected new president of Collectivité".The Daily Herald. 8 August 2008. Archived fromthe original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved17 August 2008.Frantz Gumbs, formerly president of Union Pour le Progrès (UPP) party, swept into power as new president of the Collectivité at an extraordinary meeting of the Territorial Council on Thursday after winning the 23-councillor vote with a clear majority over Marthe Ogoundélé-Tessi.
^Klomp, Ank. "Saint Martin: Communal Identities on a Divided Caribbean Island." In: Niedermüller, Peter and Bjarne Stoklund (editors).Journal of European Ethnology Volume 30:2, 2000:Borders and Borderlands: An Anthropological Perspective.Museum Tusculanum Press, 2000.ISBN8772896779, 9788772896779. Start: p.73. CITED: p.80.
_at_L%2527Esp%25C3%25A9rance_Airport.jpg)
.svg)
