Sint Maarten

Sint Maarten is on an island in the warm Caribbean Sea.

The island has two parts. Sint Maarten is the southern part.

Sint Maarten is the southern part of the island of Saint Martin, near the northern end of a chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles. The whole island is only about 19 kilometers from north to south. Its northern two-thirds is Saint-Martin, part of France, and its southern third is Sint Maarten.

Sint Maarten is a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It runs its own everyday affairs, while the Netherlands handles defense and relations with other countries. Its official languages are Dutch and English.

Britannica places the island of Saint Martin at the northern end of the Leeward group of the Lesser Antilles, about 19 km from north to south and about as wide, with an area of 88 km². The southern third is tied historically and administratively to the Netherlands, the northern two-thirds to France.

Since 10 October 2010, Sint Maarten has been a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Dutch monarch is represented by a governor; a prime minister presides over the Council of Ministers, and a unicameral Parliament of 15 members is elected by proportional representation for four years. Sint Maarten is independent in internal affairs, while the Netherlands is responsible for defense and foreign relations. Dutch and English are both official languages.

The capital is Philipsburg. It sits by a sandy bay.

Palm trees grow along the beach.

Philipsburg is the capital and the main town. The photo shows Great Bay Beach in Philipsburg: palm trees, white sand, small boats on clear green water and a steep green hill behind the town.

Just north of the town lies the Great Salt Pond, a salt lake. Near Philipsburg stands Fort Amsterdam, a Dutch fort from the 1600s. Princess Juliana International Airport, west of Philipsburg, serves both parts of the island.

Philipsburg is the capital and main settlement (Britannica). The Great Salt Pond, a salt lake, lies just north of the town, and Fort Amsterdam, a 17th-century Dutch fort, stands nearby (Wikidata). Salt mattered here: Britannica notes that the island was valued for its natural lakes of salt, a scarce commodity in Europe, and changed between Dutch and Spanish hands several times.

Princess Juliana International Airport, west of Philipsburg in the Dutch part, serves both the Dutch and the French parts of the island; the French side also has an airport at Grand Case, near Marigot. The photo of Great Bay Beach shows palms along the sand, moored boats and green hills rising behind the town.

Sint Maarten has green hills and salty ponds.

Under the sea there are coral reefs full of fish.

Sint Maarten's middle is mostly hilly. The hills slope down to lagoons, salt pans and long strips of sand. The highest point is Sentry Hill, at 340 meters. The weather is warm and sunny all year, with rain spread fairly evenly through the year.

In 2010 Sint Maarten created the Man of War Shoal Marine Park, south of Philipsburg. It covers 31 square kilometers of sea with coral reefs, seagrass meadows, shipwrecks, sea turtles, dolphins and sharks. Fishing is not allowed anywhere in the park.

Britannica describes a mostly hilly interior sloping to coastal lagoons, salt pans and sand spits, with a warm, sunny climate and moderate rainfall spread fairly evenly; the island as a whole receives about 1,140 mm a year. Sentry Hill, at 340 m, is Sint Maarten's highest point (Wikidata); the island's summit, Paradis Peak (424 m), is in the French part (Wikidata: Pic Paradis).

The Man of War Shoal Marine Park, established on 31 December 2010, was Sint Maarten's first legally protected area. It covers 31 km² south of Philipsburg, with stony and fan corals, seagrass, sand and rocky bottoms, nine official dive sites and wrecks including the Proselyte, a warship that sank in 1801. All fishing is banned inside the park. The Nature Foundation, which manages it, reports Caribbean reef, tiger and nurse sharks there. On land, the government announced plans in October 2026 to make about 17 hectares of returned hillside land Sint Maarten's first land park; no timeline or legal designation had been set.

Sea turtles crawl onto the beaches at night.

They dig holes in the sand and lay their eggs.

From about May to December, three kinds of sea turtle come ashore to nest: green, hawksbill and leatherback turtles. A female crawls up the beach at night or early in the morning, digs a hole with her flippers and can lay more than 100 eggs. The babies hatch on their own about 40 to 80 days later. People help by keeping beaches dark and giving turtles space. The leatherback in the photo was photographed on a beach whose place is not recorded.

The hills are home to the bearded anole, a lizard the Nature Foundation says is found nowhere else in the world.

The Nature Foundation reports that green, hawksbill and leatherback turtles nest from roughly May to December, with Simpson Bay, Dawn Beach and Gibbs Bay among the busiest sites. Females come ashore at night or in the early morning, dig a nest with their flippers, can lay upwards of 100 eggs, and leave them to hatch in about 40 to 80 days. Sea turtles are protected under the Nature Ordinance; bright white light and beach furniture can disturb or block them. The leatherback pictured has no recorded location.

The Man of War Shoal Marine Park shelters Caribbean reef, tiger and nurse sharks, dolphins, spiny lobsters, seahorses and conch. On land, the hillsides hold the bearded anole, which the Nature Foundation describes as found nowhere else in the world. In 2026 the Nature Foundation and the managers of the French side's nature reserve completed the first island-wide survey of the Pope's head cactus, assessing nearly 4,000 plants on both sides of the island.

People here speak English and Dutch.

Many visitors come to enjoy the beaches.

Sint Maarten's Department of Statistics estimated 42,449 people on 1 January 2025, a little more than a year earlier. About half of the growth came from more babies being born than people dying, and about half from more people moving in than moving out.

Britannica notes that most of the island's people descend from Africans who were enslaved and forced to work on sugarcane plantations. It describes an economy based more and more on tourism, built on the island's clean beaches and pleasant climate. Since March 2025 Sint Maarten has shared a new currency, the Caribbean guilder, with Curaçao.

The Department of Statistics (STAT) estimated 42,449 residents on 1 January 2025, about 0.4% more than a year earlier; roughly 52% of the growth came from natural increase and 48% from net migration. Its series is benchmarked to the 2022 Population and Housing Census count of 41,902, and the 2025 figure may be revised as late registrations arrive.

Britannica writes that most of the island's inhabitants descend from enslaved Africans who worked the sugarcane plantations, which declined in the 19th century. It describes an economy based increasingly on tourism, as the government promotes the island's beaches and climate, and the Nature Foundation says the marine park draws thousands of visitors. In March 2025 the Caribbean guilder, a new currency shared with Curaçao, went into circulation, replacing the Netherlands Antillean guilder; the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten led the change (IMF).