Dutch St Maarten and French St Martin are both, of course, the legacy of a single piece of much-blessed land.The island was inhabited, before the eyes of Europe fell upon it, by a succession of Indians from South America. First came the peaceful Arawaks, who called their new home “Soualiga” (Land of Salt, referring to a natural aspect of the island visitors still see today). Then came the cruel and cannibalistic Caribs; few Arawaks still survived when Christopher Columbus sighted St Maarten on Nov. 11, 1493. According to the island’s unusual mix of history, legend and lore, Columbus spotted its green wonderment on Nov. 11, 1493 - the feast day of Spain’s beloved St Martin of Tours. The island then was named St Martin (or perhaps San Martino, in the mother tongue of the Genovese admiral).

In the years since the 1648 Dutch-French accord that halved the island, it has been the pleasure of succeeding waves of visitors and exploiters to revel in St Maarten’s beauty. In recent years, the reveling has steadily grown, with the Dutch side to the South growing first, followed by the French to the North. Add to this growth the fact that St Maarten is also the busy air and sea hub for a host of nearby islands - French St. Barth’s, Dutch Saba and St. Eustatius, British Anguilla and St. Kitts/Nevis.For travelers today, the end result is an exciting, varied and rich experience of St Maarten past, present and future. Its beaches, led off by glorious Mullet Bay, Cupecoy and Dawn Beach, remain uncrowded nearly any month of the year. That’s the advantage of having so many exquisite stretches of sand.