APR 426: International Public Relations

In 1493, the island now known as Saint Martin was sighted by Christopher Columbus, who named the island after St. Martin of Tours. Before Columbus, the island was believed to have been inhabited by the Kalinago people and the Taino people at various times. Although claiming it for Spain, Columbus never landed on Saint Martin, and thus the Spanish neglected the island for over a century.

The Dutch noted the strategic position of the island in relation to its American colonies and built Fort Amsterdam in 1631 to defend its new settlement and salt mining operations. The Spanish attempted to expel the Dutch and regain their foothold on the island, but with the French also vying for control, the Spanish abandoned the island in 1648. With the signing of the Treaty of Concordia, Saint Martin was partitioned between a northern French side and a southern Dutch side. Under the terms of the treaty, inhabitants of Saint Martin were allowed freedom of movement and were expected to cohabitate peacefully, a status which continues today.

Both the Dutch and French engaged in the slave trade, which involved the kidnapping of enslaved African peoples to work the sugar plantations on the island. Slavery was not abolished in Saint Martin until 1848, when the Second French Republic decreed the end of slavery in all of its colonies; the Dutch followed suit in 1863. The legacy of slavery on Saint Martin continues to be discussed today, with the government of the Netherlands formally apologizing for its role in the slave trade as recently as December 2022. 

The databases tab on the right contains a select set of library resources to explore this history in more depth.

Ever since the United States built a World War II-era landing strip on the island (eventually developing into Princess Juliana International Airport), Saint Martin has slowly built a tourism industry that is now a dominant part of the economy. Around 84% of workers are part of the tourism industry in some capacity.

The reliance on tourism has made Saint Martin very susceptible to the whims of Mother Nature. In 2017, Hurricane Irma devastated the island, destroying a majority of the restaurants, hotels, and resorts that are the backbone of the economy. As the island made strides in rebuilding in the ensuing years, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented tourists from visiting Saint Martin.

Attempting to recover from these catastrophes, this is the position that Visit St. Maarten/St. Martin finds itself in: how to rebound and attract a new generation of tourists to visit the island?

The databases tab on the right contains a select set of library resources to research the tourism industry and its economic impacts.