Saint Martin, Caribbean island in Lesser Antilles
Saint Martin is an island in the Caribbean Sea and belongs to the arc of the Lesser Antilles between Puerto Rico and the Leeward Islands. The coastline runs unevenly with bays and beaches, while the inland shows gentle elevations and dry vegetation.
France and the Netherlands divided the territory in 1648 through a treaty that split the island peacefully, without major conflicts in the following centuries. The region lived long from sugarcane plantations and salt extraction, until tourism changed the economy from the 1950s onwards.
The territory sits under both French and Dutch governance, with open borders and different holidays on each side. A visitor usually notices the shift only through language signage or changing currency, while residents move daily between both territories.
Travel usually happens through the international airport in the Dutch part, while small boats shuttle between neighboring islands. Road traffic is easy to manage, with rental cars and public buses connecting both sides regularly.
The airport sits directly next to the beach, so planes fly just a few meters above the heads of beachgoers, attracting photographers from around the world. A large pond in the interior of the island has a higher salt content than the ocean and occasionally dries out in summer.
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