SAINT MARTIN

Dutch Sint Maarten, French Saint-martin island at the northern end of the Windward group of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. The island is hilly and receives about 45 inches (1,140 mm) of rain annually. The southern third is controlled by the Dutch, the northern two-thirds by the French. The island was named by Christopher Columbus in honour of the saint on whose feast day the island was discovered. Valued for its natural lakes of salt, a scarce commodity in Europe, it changed between Dutch and Spanish hands several times. In 1648 the Dutch returned to the island to find it occupied by the French, with whom they signed a partition treaty. Sugarcane plantations, worked by black slaves (ancestors of most of the present inhabitants), were important for a time but declined in the 19th century. The Dutch (southern) part of the island, Sint Maarten, covers 13 square miles (34 square km) and has coastal lagoons, salt pans, and sandspits. It became a part of the Dutch West Indies in 1828, and in 1845 it became one of the original six (now five) islands of the Netherlands Antilles. The capital is Philipsburg. The economy draws increasingly on tourism as the government encourages exploitation of the island's most valuable natural resources, the clean beaches and pleasant climate. The French (northern) part of the island, with an area of 20 square miles (52 square km), has beaches and forest-covered hills. It is one of seven islands forming the French overseas dpartement of Guadeloupe. Fishing is the main occupation on Saint Martin, but tourism is developing rapidly. Trade flourishes in Marigot, the capital. Most of the people are English-speaking blacks. Pop. (1994 est.) Dutch Sint Maarten, 35,839; (1990) French Saint-Martin, 28,518.