Saint Martin (France) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Saint Martin
Saint-Martin
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Collectivity of Saint Martin Collectivité de Saint-Martin |
|||
|
|||
| Anthem: "La Marseillaise" | |||
| Territorial song: "O Sweet Saint Martin's Land" | |||
Location of Saint Martin in the Leeward Islands
|
|||
 |
|||
| Sovereign state | France | ||
| Partition of island | 23 March 1648 | ||
| Separated from Guadeloupe | 15 July 2007 | ||
| Capital and largest city
|
Marigot | ||
| Official languages | French | ||
| Demonym(s) | Saint-Martinois | ||
| Government | Devolved parliamentary dependency | ||
| Emmanuel Macron | |||
|
• Prefect
|
Anne Laubies | ||
|
• President of the
Territorial Council |
Daniel Gibbs | ||
| Area | |||
|
• Total
|
53.2 km2 (20.5 sq mi) | ||
|
• Water (%)
|
negligible | ||
| Population | |||
|
• 2014 census
|
35,107 | ||
|
• Density
|
682/km2 (1,766.4/sq mi) | ||
| Currency |
|
||
| Time zone | UTC-4:00 (AST) | ||
| Driving side | right | ||
| Calling code | +590 | ||
| ISO 3166 code |
|
||
| Internet TLD | |||
The Collectivity of Saint Martin is a special part of France. It is located in the Caribbean Sea, which is part of the West Indies. This area is known for its beautiful islands.
Saint Martin is on the northern part of an island called Saint Martin. It covers about 60% of the island. The southern part of the island is called Sint Maarten. Sint Maarten belongs to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This makes the island of Saint Martin the only place in the world where France and the Netherlands share a border!
Saint Martin also includes some smaller islands nearby. The biggest of these is Île Tintamarre. The capital city of Saint Martin is Marigot. Before 2007, Saint Martin was part of Guadeloupe, another French area. Saint Martin is separated from the island of Anguilla by a channel of water.
People and Population
The French part of Saint Martin has a land area of about 53.2 square kilometers (20.5 square miles). In 2004, about 33,102 people lived there. This means there were about 622 people living in each square kilometer. The population has grown a lot over the years. For example, in 1982, only 8,072 people lived on the French side of the island.
| 1885 | 1961 | 1967 | 1974 | 1982 | 1990 | 1999 | 2004 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3,400 | 4,502 | 5,061 | 6,191 | 8,072 | 28,518 | 29,078 | 33,102 |
| These numbers come from official French population counts. | |||||||
How Saint Martin is Governed
For many years, Saint Martin was like a town (called a commune) within Guadeloupe. Guadeloupe is a larger French region. This meant Saint Martin was part of the European Union.
In 2003, the people living in the French part of Saint Martin voted. They wanted to separate from Guadeloupe. They wished to become a special kind of French area called an overseas collectivity (COM).
On February 9, 2007, the French government agreed. They passed a law to make Saint Martin and nearby Saint-Barthélemy into their own overseas collectivities. This new status officially started when the law was published.
Even with this change, Saint Martin is still part of the European Union.
For a while, Saint Martin was governed in the same way it was when it was part of Guadeloupe. It had a mayor and a local council. Only citizens from European Union countries could vote in these local elections. People from other countries, even if they lived in Saint Martin, could not vote. A new way of governing, made for an overseas collectivity, began later in 2007.
Images for kids
-
A painting by Juan de la Corte showing the Spanish taking over Saint Martin in 1633.
-
Marigot in 2017 after Hurricane Irma. This storm greatly affected the island's tourism.
-
Passengers getting off a plane at Grand Case-Espérance Airport.
_at_L%27Esp%C3%A9rance_Airport.jpg)
See also
In Spanish: San Martín (Francia) para niños
