Forgotten World (110): St Martin
Saint Martin is a small tropical island in the north-east Caribbean, approximately 300 km south-east of Puerto Rico. The 87 square km island is divided roughly in half between France and the Netherlands and it is the smallest inhabited sea island divided between two nations.
The northern French half is a overseas collectivity of France.The southern Dutch half is part of the Netherlands Antilles. The population on the French side is 35,000 and on the Dutch side is 50,000, but there is an average of 1,000,000 tourist visitors a year.
According to legend, Columbus sighted and perhaps anchored at the island of Saint Martin on 11 November 1493, the feast day of Saint Martin of Tours. In his honour, Columbus named the island San Martin. In 1648, the French and the Dutch agreed to divide the island between them – and so it remains today.