Saint Martin — books & literature

The story of Saint Martin

Saint Martin's earliest known inhabitants arrived from South America's Orinoco basin around 800 CE, Arawakan-speaking people who called the island Soualiga, 'Land of Salt', for its rich salt pans. Christopher Columbus sighted the island on his second voyage in 1493 and named it for Saint Martin of Tours, though the name was later misapplied here from a neighbouring island. Spain briefly seized control in 1633, expelling Dutch settlers, before France and the Dutch Republic split the island under the Treaty of Concordia, signed atop Mount Concordia on 23 March 1648 , one of the oldest border treaties still in force anywhere in the world. Salt production, sugar plantations, and slavery shaped the colonial economy on both sides for two centuries; slavery was abolished on the French side in 1848. The French portion remained a commune of Guadeloupe until residents voted for separation in 2003, and on 15 July 2007 it became its own overseas collectivity of France. Tourism now anchors the economy, though Hurricane Irma's catastrophic 2017 landfall tested the island's resilience and reshaped its rebuilding.

Timeline — key moments

1. circa 800

   Arawakan-speaking settlers from South America name the island Soualiga, 'Land of Salt'.

2. 1493

   Christopher Columbus sights the island on his second voyage (11 November), giving it the Saint Martin name.

3. 1633

   Spain seizes the island, driving off Dutch colonists to secure regional maritime routes.

4. 1648

   Treaty of Concordia divides the island between France and the Dutch Republic (23 March).

5. 1848

   Slavery is abolished on the French side of the island.

6. 2003

   Residents of French Saint Martin vote in favour of separation from Guadeloupe.

7. 2007

   French Parliament grants collectivity status; it takes effect 15 July, with Louis-Constant Fleming as first president.

8. 2010

   The Dutch southern half becomes Sint Maarten, a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

9. 2017

   Category 5 Hurricane Irma devastates the island on 6 September, damaging most buildings.

Top 10 things to know about Saint Martin

1. Saint Martin is one of the world's smallest landmasses divided between two nations, shared with Dutch Sint Maarten.
2. The 1648 Treaty of Concordia border has held, with only minor adjustments, for over 375 years.
3. The capital, Marigot, sits on the French side; the Dutch side is governed from Philipsburg.
4. French is the official language, but English is the everyday language across most of the island.
5. A local English-based Creole, sometimes called Saint Maa'tin English, is spoken informally on both sides.
6. The currency on the French side is the euro; the Dutch side uses its own guilder-linked currency, and both accept US dollars.
7. As a French overseas collectivity, residents of Saint Martin are French and EU citizens.
8. Hurricane Irma in 2017 was one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record to make landfall on the island.
9. The island was long a centre of salt production, which gave it its original native name.
10. Saint Martin has no permanent rivers; fresh water historically depended on rain catchment and, today, desalination.

Famous people from Saint Martin

Say it in Saint Martin's language

Did you know?

• ★Despite being French territory, the everyday language most residents actually speak is English, not French.
• ★The land border with Dutch Sint Maarten has almost no checkpoints , you can walk or drive across without ever showing a passport.
• ★Saint Martin's Princess Juliana International Airport, on the Dutch side, is famous worldwide for planes flying low over Maho Beach on final approach.

Saint Martin culture

• The island blends French, Dutch, African, and Caribbean influences into a single shared culture despite the political border.
• Local cuisine mixes French technique with Caribbean ingredients , think fresh seafood, callaloo, and johnnycakes alongside French pastries.
• Carnival season, with parades, calypso, and steel-pan music, is one of the island's biggest annual celebrations.
• Salt pans and colonial-era plantation ruins around the island are quiet reminders of its earlier economy.

Why read Saint Martin's books

Saint Martin's story is told mostly through oral history, travel writing, and post-colonial and post-Irma reflection rather than a large home-grown literary canon , its books shelf reflects a small island's big, shared, and still-unfolding history.