Sint Maarten]) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It encompasses
the southern third of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, while the northern two-thirds
of the island constitutes the French overseas collectivity of Saint-Martin. Its capital
is Philipsburg. Its population is 37,000 on 34km2.
Before 10 October 2010, Sint Maarten was known as the Island Territory of Sint Maarten, and
was one of five island territories that constituted the Netherlands Antilles.
History
In 1493, during Christopher Columbus' second voyage to the West Indies, upon first sighting
the island he named it Isla de San Martín after Saint Martin of Tours because it was
11 November, St. Martin's Day. However, though he claimed it as a Spanish territory, Columbus
never landed there, and Spain made the settlement of the island a low priority.
The French and Dutch, on the other hand, both coveted the island. While the French wanted
to colonize the islands between Trinidad and Bermuda, the Dutch found San Martín a convenient
halfway point between their colonies in New Amsterdam and Brazil. With few people inhabiting
the island, the Dutch easily founded a settlement there in 1631, erecting Fort Amsterdam as
protection from invaders. Jan Claeszen Van Campen became its first governor, and soon
thereafter the Dutch East India Company began their salt mining operations. French and British
settlements sprang up on the island as well. Taking note of these successful colonies and
wanting to maintain their control of the salt trade, the Spanish now found St. Martin much
more appealing. The Eighty Years' War which had been raging between Spain and the Netherlands
provided further incentive to attack. Spanish forces captured Saint Martin from
the Dutch in 1633, seizing control and driving most or all of the colonists off the island.
At Point Blanche, they built what is now Old Spanish Fort to secure the territory. Although
the Dutch retaliated in several attempts to win back St. Martin, they failed. Fifteen
years after the Spanish conquered the island, the Eighty Years' War ended. Since they no
longer needed a base in the Caribbean and St. Martin barely turned a profit, the Spanish
lost their inclination to continue defending it. In 1648, they deserted the island.
With St. Martin free again, both the Dutch and the French jumped at the chance to re-establish
their settlements. Dutch colonists came from St. Eustatius, while the French came from
St. Kitts. After some initial conflict, both sides realized that neither would yield easily.
Preferring to avoid an all-out war, they signed the Treaty of Concordia in 1648, which divided
the island in two. During the treaty's negotiation, the French had a fleet of naval ships off
shore, which they used as a threat to bargain more land for themselves. In spite of the
treaty, relations between the two sides were not always cordial. Between 1648 and 1816,
conflicts changed the border sixteen times. In the end, the French came out ahead with
21 square miles to the 16 square miles of the Dutch side.
With the new cultivation of cotton, tobacco, and sugar, the French and the Dutch imported
a massive number of slaves to work on the plantations. The slave population quickly
grew larger than that of the land owners. Subjected to cruel treatment, slaves staged
rebellions, and their overwhelming numbers made them impossible to ignore. On 12 July
1848, the French abolished slavery on their side of St. Martin. The Dutch followed suit
fifteen years later. 20th century
After abolition of slavery, plantation culture declined and the island's economy suffered.
In 1939, St. Martin received a major boost when it was declared a duty-free port. The
Dutch side began focusing on tourism in the 1950s, with the French side following suit
two decades later. Because of being split up into a Dutch and a French part, the tourist
boom was heavier on Sint Maarten than on the surrounding islands. Its Princess Juliana
International Airport became one of the busiest in the Eastern Caribbean. For much of this
period, Sint Maarten was governed by business tycoon Claude Wathey of the Democratic Party.
The island's demographics changed dramatically during this period as well. The island's population
increased from a mere 5,000 people to around 60,000 people in the mid-1990s. Immigration
from the neighbouring Lesser Antilles, Curaçao, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the United
States, Europe, and Asia turned the native population into a minority.
Sint Maarten became an "island territory" of the Netherlands Antilles in 1983. Before
that date, Sint Maarten was part of the island territory of the Windward Islands, together
with Saba and Sint Eustatius. The status of an island territory entails considerable autonomy
summed up in the Island Regulation of the Netherlands Antilles. The island territory
of Sint Maarten was ruled by an island council, an executive council, and an administrator
appointed by the Dutch Crown. On 5 September 1995, Hurricane Luis hammered
the islands causing extensive damage 35 years to the day after Hurricane Donna.
21st century In 1994, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and
France signed the Franco-Dutch treaty on Saint Martin border controls, which allows for joint
Franco-Dutch border controls on so-called "risk flights". After some delay, the treaty
was ratified in November 2006 in the Netherlands, and subsequently entered into force on 1 August
2007. Though the treaty is now in force, its provisions are not yet implemented as the
working group specified in the treaty is not yet installed.
On 10 October 2010, Sint Maarten became a constituent country within the Kingdom of
the Netherlands, making it a constitutional equal partner with Aruba, Curaçao, and the
Netherlands proper. Sint Maarten has been assigned the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes
of SXM and SX, and the .sx Internet ccTLD became available to register on the 15th of
November 2012. The combined population of the two territories
has continued to grow, albeit at a slower rate, and is now around 75,000.
Government and politics
The Constitution of Sint Maarten was unanimously adopted by the island council of Sint Maarten
on 21 July 2010. Elections for a new island council were held on 17 September 2010, since
the number of seats was increased from 11 to 15. The newly elected island council became
the Estates of Sint Maarten on 10 October. Eugene Holiday was appointed as the first
Governor of Sint Maarten by the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
in September 2010. He also assumed office on 10 October 2010.
Current composition of the Estates of Sint Maarten
Corruption In 1978, the government of the Netherlands
Antilles installed a Research Committee on the Windward Islands to investigate claims
of corruption in the island government. Even though the report issued by this commission
was damaging for the island's government, measures were not put into place to curb corruption,
arguably because the government of the Netherlands Antilles depended on the support of Wathey's
Democratic Party in the Estates of the Netherlands Antilles. In August 1990, the public prosecutor
of the Netherlands Antilles started an investigation into the alleged ties between the island government
of Sint Maarten and the Sicilian Mafia, and in 1991 the Court of Audit of the Netherlands
Antilles issued a report which concluded that the island government of Sint Maarten was
ailing. In the government and parliament of the Netherlands,
the call for measures became louder and louder. With Dutch pressure, the government of the
Netherlands Antilles installed the Pourier Commission tasked with investigating the state
of affairs of the island government of Sint Maarten in December 1991. Its report concluded
that the island was in a severe financial crisis, that rules of democratic decision-making
were continuously broken, and that the island government constituted an oligarchy. In short,
the island government failed completely according to the report. After long negotiations, the
Kingdom government enacted an Order-in-Council for the Kingdom in early 1993, placing Sint
Maarten under direct supervision of the Kingdom. Although originally meant for one year, the
Order-in-Council for the Kingdom was eventually extended until 1 March 1996.
Though much has changed since, allegations of criminal activities continue to plague
Sint Maarten. In 2004, the Minister of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles asked the Scientific
Research and Documentation Centre) of the Dutch Ministry of Justice to conduct research
into organized crime in Sint Maarten. The report concluded that money laundering and
cocaine trade are widespread on Sint Maarten. It also alleged that money from the island
was used to finance Hamas, its associate Holy Land Foundation, and the Taliban.
In April 2009, former Commissioner Louie Laveist was convicted, and sentenced to an 18-month
prison sentence, by the Sint Maarten Court-of-First-Instance, on account of forgery, fraud, and bribery.
He was later acquitted of forgery and of fraud by the Common Court of Justice of the Netherlands
Antilles and Aruba, but not of bribery. Demographics
In the 2001 Netherlands Antilles census, the population of the island territory was 30,594.
The official estimate of the population as of 1 January 2010 was 37,429 for a population
density of 1,100 inhabitants per km². Settlements
Philipsburg. Lower Prince's Quarter.
Cul de Sac. Cole Bay.
Upper Prince's Quarter. Little Bay.
Simpson Bay. Lowlands.
Culture
The official languages are Dutch and English. A local English-based creole dialect is also
spoken. An annual regatta is also held over 3 days culminating in the first weekend in
March. Among the leading cultural artists of the island are Isidore "Mighty Dow" York,
kaisonian, panman; Roland Richardson, Impressionist painter; Nicole de Weever, dancer, broadway
star; Susha Hien, choreographer; Lasana M. Sekou, poet, author, independence advocate;
Clara Reyes, choreographer; Tanny and The Boys, string band music group.
Popular Culture The island is famous for its runway at Princess
Juliana International Airport, in which landing aircraft pass within at least 20 feet of Maho
Beach below, due to the close proximity of the runway to the ocean. The planes appear
to land dangerously close to beach goers. Therefore this beach and airport has become
a popular place for people to view airplane landings.
Education The American University of the Caribbean School
of Medicine, founded in 1978, was previously located on Montserrat. Because of the eruption
of the Soufrière Hills volcano in 1995, AUC moved its campus to St. Maarten later that
year. A permanent campus was completed in 1998 in Cupecoy.
The University of St. Martin is located in Philipsburg.
The University of Sint Eustatius School of Medicine, founded in 1999, was previously
located on Sint Eustatius. In September 2013, the University of Sint Eustatius moved its
campus to Cole Bay, St. Maarten. Transportation and Economy
Air transportation to Sint Maarten and the whole island is served by Princess Juliana
International Airport, which is well-known for its very low final approach landings close
to a popular beach at the end of the runway. Winair has its headquarters on the grounds
of the airport. There are no railroads on the island.
St. Maarten's economy is mostly based on tourism, either from tourists staying on the island
or day tourists from the many cruise lines that dock in the Philipsburg Harbour.
See also
List of divided islands
Notes
References Gert Oostindie paradijs overzee: de 'Nederlandse'
Caraïben en Nederland. Amsterdam: Bert Bakker. Gert Oostindie and Inge Klinkers Knellende
koninkrijksbanden: het Nederlandse dekolonisatiebeleid in de Caraïben, 1940–2000. Amsterdam: Amsterdam
University Press. External links
Government Official website of the Sint Maarten government
Organizations Philipsburg Jubilee Public Library
St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce and Industry. St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association.
Universities American University of the Caribbean School
of Medicine University of St. Maarten
Secondary education Caribbean International Academy
Learning Unlimited Preparatory School St. Dominic High School
St. Maarten Academy Tourism
Sint Maarten travel guide from Wikivoyage Sint Maarten entry at The World Factbook
St. Maarten Tourist Bureau. St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association
St. Maarten Tourism Map Princess Juliana International Airport.
News and opinion The Today Newspaper, local daily newspaper.
St. Maarten Daily Herald, local newspaper. St. Maarten Island Times
St. Martin News Network