Philipsburg pier, circa 1960
While a booze-soaked story that takes place in the golden age of Caribbean piracy isn’t too hard to believe, in truth, the French had a large fleet of ships sitting off the coast of the island during treaty negotiations. As a result of this blatant flexing of military might, the French were able to bargain for a bit more land. But that was hardly the end of it – the original border between French and Dutch St. Maarten changed more than a dozen times over the next century as each side tried to outmaneuver the other and take over a larger and larger slice of the island. That, however, was then. Other than those few clashes centuries ago, the Dutch and French sides of the island have coexisted peacefully for more than 350 years, a fact that both sides point to with pride. Indeed, no formal border has ever been agreed upon, and travelers don’t need a passport to travel from one side of the island to the other, allowing visitors to experience French and Dutch cuisines and cultures, all in a lush, tropical setting, and all with the greatest of ease. Visitors like the idea of saying they’ve been in two countries that are so close yet so decidedly different, right down to the spelling of Sint Maarten (the French spell it Saint Martin). By the early 1800s, the border between French and Dutch St. Maarten looked like it does today. St. Maarten was then a part of the Netherlands Antilles, which became largely autonomous, though still part of 16 RESORT PELICANLIFE RESORT NEWS
the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in 1948. Of the six islands that made up the Netherlands Antilles (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, St. Eustatius, Saba and St. Maarten), Aruba left the group first, separating from the Netherlands Antilles and becoming an independent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1986. It took another quarter century until Curaçao and St. Maarten would do the same, but on Oct. 10, 2010, St. Maarten became a self-governing country for the first time in its long history. The events of 10-10-10, the much anticipated autonomous date much ballyhooed in the local press, mean that rather than being a part of the Netherlands Antilles, which is in turn a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, St. Maarten is now its own country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, on an equal footing with Holland, Aruba and Curaçao. Because it’s such a new development, it’s impossible to say what the long-term results of autonomy will be on St. Maarten, but like those screaming jets touching down at Princess Juliana International Airport, St. Maarten’s future will be an exciting thing to see. Welcome: You’re fortunate to have come to the island during a most historic time.
Welcome: You’re fortunate to have come to the island during a most historic time.