ABOUT ST. MARTIN
For over 300 years, France and the Netherlands have shared this tiny Caribbean island. In fact, St. Martin/St. Maarten is the smallest island in the world to be divided between two sovereign powers. The delightful mix of French, Dutch and Caribbean culture make St. Martin/St. Maarten unique and unlike any other place on earth. A "Melting Pot" in the true sense of the term, more than 100 different nationalities reside on these 37 square miles and over a dozen languages are spoken including French, Dutch, English, German, Papiamento, Creole, Italian, Hindi, Chinese and Afrikaans.

History
Columbus never actually set foot on the island, but rather claimed it for Spain as he was passing by. He sighted the island on November 11, 1493, the feast of St.Martin, thus giving the island its name. Aside from asserting title to the place, the Spanish never took much interest in St.Martin, so the Dutch, seeking an outpost halfway between their colonies in Brazil and Nieue Amsterdam (now New York), occupied the island in 1631. The Dutch West India Company installed Jan Claeszen van Campen as governor, erected their first fort on the site of Fort Amsterdam, and began to mine salt. Before long, however, the Spanish, who wished to maintain their state monopoly in this essential preservative, became aware of the incursion and in 1633 they recaptured the island, expelling all of the Dutch, who then moved on to occupy Curaçao.

Over the next fifteen years, a number of abortive attempts were made by the Dutch to reclaim their lost possession, notably an assault led by Peter Stuyvesant in 1644 in which the future governor of Nieue Amsterdam lost his leg. The Spanish Commander, who was regularly besieged during this period, asked permission after his last victory to abandon the island, and in 1647 this right was finally conceded to him by the King of Spain. Laborers were brought in from Puerto Rico to dismantle the fortress, and the Spanish set sail, leaving behind, according to legend, a small contingent of French and Dutch who hid on the island and then sent out to neighboring colonies for reinforcements.

How the Dutch and French finally partitioned the island makes for a great story. Supposedly, the two groups held a contest. Starting at Oysterpond on the east coast, they would walk westwards -- the French along the northern edge, the Dutch along the southern -- and where they met they would draw a dividing line across the island. The French set off, having fortified themselves with wine, the Dutch with gin. The ill effects of the gin, however, caused the Dutchmen to stop along the way to sleep off their drunk; consequently, the French were able to cover a much greater distance. In truth, though, the French had a large navy just off shore at the time the treaty was being negotiated, and they were able to win concessions by threat of force. The treaty was signed on top of Mount Concordia in 1648, but despite the reputation for peaceful cohabitation, the border was to change another 16 times until 1815 when the Treaty of Paris fixed the boundaries for good.

What to Expect Today

St. Martin/St. Maarten is a beautiful 37 square mile island located in the Windward islands of the Caribbean. It is unique because it is the smallest territory in the world shared by two sovereign states. The northern portion is a part of France. The French consider their islands in the Caribbean the same way the United States considers Hawaii. The same laws, social services and rights are available to the people on the French side as would be in Paris. It's equal to every other part of France. It just happens to be an island thousands of miles from the mainland. St. Martin is much closer to Paris than Hawaii is to Washington.

The southern part of the island is a little different. None of the Dutch islands in the Caribbean are actually considered part of Holland. With the exception of Aruba, all the other Dutch territories have joined in a semiautonomous entity known as the Netherlands Antilles. The Netherlands Antilles has its own Prime Minister and functions with its own government under Dutch law and guidance. Aruba has the same status on its own.