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Special Note - While we maintain two seperate travel guides for St. Martin
and St. Maarten, you will find many references including the entire island.
 General
With an area of only 37 square miles, the island of St. Maarten/St. Martin is the smallest land mass in the world
to be divided between two governments. Its dual owners are the Dutch and the French, who have shared the tiny and
paradisical island more or less peacefully for almost 350 years. This understated absence of conflict testifies
to one of the island's most precious and attractive characteristics--its unusual serenity.
St. Maarten is known throughout the Caribbean
for its eclectic nightlife. The evening ritually
begins at sunset, when  cafes
and night clubs open their doors and the music
of steel drum bands floats along the beaches.
The island's festive spirit peaks during carnival,
a vibrant, two-week festival of feasting, street
dancing, parties, and parades.
The island's sugary-white beaches are spiritually restive and abundant, and walkers who encounter them are often
struck by their splendid seclusion. Off-shore, St. Maarten's life-rich waters provide superb boating and fishing,
as well as excellent diving areas. The inland region, with its gentle valleys and hills, is ideal for biking, horseback
riding, and exploration. All these offerings have made St. Maarten a famous tropical destination, and the island
is dotted with world-class resorts. Private guest houses are also an increasingly popular form of lodging, catering
to visitors seeking traditional Caribbean hospitality.
History
Close to 500 years ago, an Italian sea captain financed by Spanish royalty went looking for new lands to conquer,
if not to conquer, at least to claim. He found a vast amount of unexpected real estate, as history has so often
recited, and it was he who named this island St.Martin. Whether Christopher Columbus landed here, anchored here
of merely sailed past, he literally put this 37 square miles of mountain top on the map.
Sint Maarten (Dutch spelling) or Saint Martin (French, Spanish, Italian, English spelling) was named for St.Martin
of Tours on whose feast day, November 11, 1493, Columbus first saw these white sand shores. The island name is
generally pronounced in the English manner, simply St.Martin.
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