In what country is St. Maarten?

In what country is St. Maarten?

Summary: The whole island is called Saint Martin and is divided by two parts, the French side Saint-Martin and the Dutch side Saint Maarten, a part of The Netherlands Antilles and an autonomous part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The names Saint Martin, Saint Maarten, and Saint Martin are quite confusing to most people, since the differences are obvious only when the words are spelt. St. Maarten is the Dutch part of the island called Saint Martin. The other half, Saint-Martin is the French part. In the nutshell, the whole island is called Saint Martin and is divided by two parts, the French side Saint-Martin and the Dutch side Saint Maarten. This makes the island of Saint Martin the smallest land mass divided between two nations.

The island part of St. Maarten is listed among The Netherlands Antilles, also known as the Netherlands West Indies or Dutch Antilles or West Indies, so that would make St. Maarten an autonomous part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands but not of the European Union. Other island of The Netherlands Antilles includes four other islands of Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, and St. Eustatius.

St. Maarten (or the island of Saint Martin) is a tropical island sitting approximately 240 kilometers or 150 miles from the shores of Puerto Rico and is on the Northeast side of the Caribbean. These two territories are jointly known as St. Martins, St. -Martins/St. Maarten, or SXM; SXM being the IATA identifier for the Princess Juliana International Airport that sits in the St. Maarten territory.

St. Maarten or Sint Maarten, measures 34 km² or 13.1 mi2. The Netherlands Antilles census of 2001 had shown that St. Maarten was populated with 30,594 inhabitants, having the population density of 900 inhabitants per km². The next census taken was on 2004 and it was estimated that 33,119 inhabitants are present on St. Maarten.

St. Maarten is known worldwide for its enduring nightlife, tropical beaches usual of the Caribbean and widespread casinos. Due to the fact that St. Maarten did dabble in tourism much earlier than Saint-Martin and has fewer restrictions besides in terms of residency application, numerous first class properties have appeared on its shores as well as several high class hotels and villas and even timeshare properties.
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