Saint Martin

Saint Martin is the northern, French part of a Caribbean island whose southern half is Dutch, and a French overseas collectivity governed by an elected territorial council. Its hills climb to Pic Paradis, the island’s high point. On the windward shore Orient Bay faces a reef and the islets of Pinel and Tintamarre, within a marine reserve, while on the sheltered west the harbour town of Marigot lies below Fort Louis. Grand Case strings its houses along a single beach road.

The Kalinago knew the island as Soualiga, usually translated ‘land of salt’. After the Spanish garrison left, French and Dutch colonists split it in 1648, and the French side was governed from Guadeloupe for centuries; British forces held it more than once around 1800. Planters grew sugar, cotton and tobacco with enslaved labour until France abolished slavery in 1848. Detached from Guadeloupe in 2007, the territory was battered by Hurricane Irma in September 2017, which tore roofs from homes and yachts from their moorings.

Life on the French side keeps a French rhythm: bakeries open early, a waterfront market sells spices, fish and madras cloth, and Carnival before Lent dances to soca and zouk. Grand Case lines its street with restaurants and lolos, open-air grills selling ribs, lobster and johnnycakes. Every November both halves celebrate Saint Martin’s Day together. Villas, yachts at Anse Marcel and cruise visitors from the Dutch side carry the economy, with French public salaries filling much of the gap.