In 1994, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and France signed the Franco-Dutch treaty on Saint Martin bo

Saint Martin (French: Saint-Martin; Dutch: Sint Maarten) is an island in the northeast magical mystery tour photos Caribbean, approximately 300 km (190 mi) east of Puerto Rico. The 87 square kilometres (34 sq mi) island is divided roughly 60/40 between France (53 square kilometres (20 sq mi)) and the Kingdom of the
Saint Martin has a land area of 87 km2, 53 km2 of which is under the sovereignty of France, and 34 km² under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This is the only land border shared by these two countries anywhere on Earth.
The main cities are Philipsburg (Dutch side) and Marigot (French side). The Dutch side is more heavily populated. The largest settlement on the entire island is Lower Prince s Quarter, on the Dutch side.
The highest hilltop is the Pic Paradis (424 metres (1,391 ft)) on center of a hill chain (French side). But both sides are hilly with large mountain peaks. This forms a valley where many houses are located. There are no rivers on the island, but many dry guts. Hiking trails give access to the dry forest covering tops and slopes.
magical mystery tour photos The island is located south of Anguilla, separated from the British territory by the Anguilla Channel. Saint Martin is northwest of Saint Barthélemy, separated from the French territory by the Saint-Barthélemy Channel.
Under the Köppen climate magical mystery tour photos classification, the island has a tropical monsoon climate with a dry season from January to April and a rainy season from August to December. The precipitation magical mystery tour photos patterns are due to the movement of the Azores high during the year. With the wind direction predominantly from the east or the northeast, temperatures remain stable throughout the year and temperatures rarely exceed 34 °C (93 °F) or fall below 20 °C (68 °F).[5] magical mystery tour photos Temperatures remain steady throughout the year with an average mean temperature of 27.2 °C (81.0 °F). The average sea temperature is 27.2 °C (81.0 °F) ranging from a low of 25.9 °C (78.6 °F) in February to a high of 28.4 °C (83.1 °F) in October.
• March 23, 1648 — Preferring to avoid an all-out war, they signed the Treaty of Concordia, which divided the island in two zones. French magical mystery tour photos (north) and Dutch (south) zones (Dutch zone subordinate to Sint Eustatius magical mystery tour photos until 1672.
In 1493, Christopher Columbus embarked on his second voyage to the New World. According to legend, Columbus sighted and perhaps anchored at the island of Saint Martin on November magical mystery tour photos 11, 1493, the feast day of Saint Martin of Tours. In his honor, Columbus named the island San Martin. This name was translated to Sint Maarten (Dutch), Saint-Martin (French) and Saint Martin in English.
At Columbus s time, St. Martin was populated, if populated magical mystery tour photos at all, by Carib amerindians. The former Arawaks had been chased by the Caribs coming from the North coast of South America a short time before the arrival of the Spaniards who followed in Columbus wake. The Arawaks were agricultural people who fashioned pottery and whose social organization was headed by hereditary chieftains who derived their power from personal deities called zemis.
The Caribs territory was not completely conquered until the mid-17th century when most of them perished in the struggle between the French, English, Dutch, Danes and Spanish for control of the West Indies. The Dutch first began to ply the island s ponds for salt in the 1620s. Despite the Dutch presence on the island, the Spaniards recaptured St. Martin in 1633 and, one year later, built a fort (now Ft. Amsterdam) and another artillery battery at Pointe Blanche to assert their claim and control access to Great bay salt pond. The Spaniards introduced the first African slavesto the area in the 16th century but the main influx of African magical mystery tour photos slaves took place in the 18th century with the development of Sugarcane magical mystery tour photos plantations by the French Protestants and Dutch. Slavery was abolished in the first half of the 19th century, whereupon on some of their territories the British imported Chinese and East Indians to take the place of slaves. Thus, St. Martin and the other islands are populated by a mixture of Amerindian, European, African, Indians magical mystery tour photos and Asian peoples. West Indian cultures such as in St. Martin are, consequently, exceedingly rich and varied.
Folklore surrounds the history of the once ever-changing border division between St. Martin and Sint Maarten, and a popular story among locals narrates that to divide the island into two sections, [in 1648] the inhabitants magical mystery tour photos were told to choose two walkers, one chosen by the French-dominated community and the other one by the Dutch-dominated community, who were put back to back in one extreme of the island, making them walk in opposite directions while stuck to the littoral line, and not allowing them to run.
The point where they eventually met was set as the other extreme of the island, and the subsequently created line was chosen as the frontier, dividing Saint-Martin from Sint Maarten. Seemingly, the French walker magical mystery tour photos had walked more than his Dutch counterpart (each one earned his land, respectively, 54 km² and 32 km²). As the first man chose wine as his stimulant prior to the race, while the latter chose Jenever (Dutch Gin), the difference between such beverages lightness was said to be the cause of the territorial differences by French locals, while Dutch locals tended to blame the French walker for running.
In 1994, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and France signed the Franco-Dutch treaty on Saint Martin border controls, which allows magical mystery tour photos for joint Franco-Dutch border controls on so-called risk flights . After some delay, magical mystery tour photos the treaty was ratified in November 2006 in the Netherlands, and subsequently entered into force on 1 August 2007. Though the treaty is now in force, its provisions are not yet implemented as the working group specified in the treaty is not yet installed.
St. Martin received the ISO 3166-1 code MF in October 2007. The status of the Dutch side was due to change to a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in December 2008, but this was postponed to (and took place on) 10 October 2010. The Dutch part now has ISO 3166-1 code SX.
On January 1, 2009 the population of the entire island of Saint Martin was 77,741 inhabitants, 40,917 of whom lived on the Dutch side of the island, and 36,824 on the French side of the island. A local dialect is spoken informally on both sides of the island.
The island magical mystery tour photos s French side is known for its nude beaches, clothes, shopping (including outdoor magical mystery tour photos markets), and French and Indian Caribbean cuisine. English is the most commonly spoken magical mystery tour photos language along with a local dialect. The official languages are French for Saint-Martin, and both Dutch and English for Sint Maarten. Other common languages include magical mystery tour photos various French-based creoles (spoken by immigrants from other French Caribbean islands), Spanish (spoken by immigrants magical mystery tour photos from the Dominican Republic and various South American countries), and Papiamento (spoken by immigrants from Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao).
Rental cars are the primary mode of transportation for visitors staying on island. Traffic on the island has become a major problem. Long traffic jams between Marigot, Philipsburg and the airport are common.
Neighbouring islands magical mystery tour photos include Saint Barthélemy (French), Anguilla magical mystery tour photos (British), Saba (Dutch), Sint Eustatius magical mystery tour photos Statia (Dutch), Saint Kitts and Nevis (independent, magical mystery tour photos formerly magical mystery tour photos British). With the exception magical mystery tour photos of Nevis, all of these islands are easily visible on a clear day from St. Martin.
It therefore goes that this is where you find the biggest concentration of naturists. Nudity used to be allowed at many other spots on the beach, but this has recently changed, so it’s best to keep nudity to the Club Orient section, to the small, designated nude area at Coco s and to the more deserted northern part of the beach between Coco s and Palm Beach. It is also acceptable to walk the whole length of the beach in your birthday suit in the early mornings (before 8am).
Nudity is tolerated (although officially discouraged) magical mystery tour photos on many of the other beaches magical mystery tour photos on the French side. However as the other beaches are not true nudist beaches the rule is to be aware of other people, families with children and people’s homes. So don’t just walk around or sit naked wherever you please, but choose quiet areas, where you’re not in anyone’s way. If people show any sign of annoyance, move to a more secluded area of the beach, there’s always a quiet spot. There’s talk that gendarmes (the French side police) have been turning up on some beaches recently asking naked people to put their clothes back on, so, unless you are at Club Orient it is best to get dressed if some official-looking people arrive… and if you don’t see them coming, don’t panic, just respond politely and cover yourself if they ask you to.
On the French side, there are many empty beaches and visitors can dress or undress as they please again, nobody magical mystery tour photos really cares no matter what official publications state. Safe nude spots besides Orient Beach are Baie Rouge and Happy Bay next to Friars Bay.
Shopping on St Maarten and Saint Martin offers duty-free goods in numerous boutiques. Popular goods include magical mystery tour photos local crafts arts, exotic foods, jewelry, liquor, tobacco, leather goods, as well as most designer goods.
Saint Martin uses the euro as its currency, while Sint Maarten uses the Netherlands Antillean guilder, magical mystery tour photos pegged at 1.79 per United magical mystery tour photos States dollar. As a consequence of the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, the Netherlands Antillean guilder will cease to be legal tender and be replaced by the Caribbean guilder in the coming years. Almost every store on the island also accepts the United States dollar, although sometimes a more expensive exchange rate is used (even 1 to 1 is no exception).
Neither side of the island is part of the Schengen Area; full border checks magical mystery tour photos are performed when traveling between the island and Europe. Passport controls are also exercised when taking the ferry from Marigot to Anguilla.
There are rarely checks at the border between the two sides of the island. The Franco-Dutch treat