Collectivity of Saint Martin

The Collectivity of Saint Martin (Collectivité de Saint-Martin), commonly known as simply Saint Martin (Saint-Martin, sɛ̃ maʁtɛ̃), is an overseas collectivity of France in the West Indies in the Caribbean, on the northern half of the island of Saint Martin, as well as some smaller adjacent islands. Saint Martin is separated from the island of Anguilla by the Anguilla Channel. Its capital is Marigot. With a population of 32,489 as of January 2019 on an area of , it encompasses the northern 60% of the divided island of Saint Martin, and some neighbouring islets, the largest of which is Île Tintamarre. The southern 40% of the island of Saint Martin constitutes Sint Maarten, which has been a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands since 2010 following the dissolution of Netherlands Antilles. This marks the only place in the world where France borders the Netherlands. Before 2007, the French part of Saint Martin was a commune belonging to the French overseas department and region of Guadeloupe. Despite seceding from Guadeloupe in 2007 and gaining more autonomy as an overseas collectivity of France, Saint Martin has remained an outermost region of the European Union and is part of the eurozone. For statistical purposes, it is still included in the NUTS 2 (FRY1) and NUTS 3 (FRY10) of Guadeloupe by Eurostat. The island was named by Christopher Columbus in honour of St Martin of Tours because he first sighted it on the saint's feast day on 11 November 1493. History of Saint Martin and French West Indies Saint Martin was inhabited by Amerindian peoples for many centuries, with archaeological evidence pointing to a human presence on the island as early as 2000 BC. These people most likely migrated from South America. The earliest known people were the Arawak who settled there between 800 and 300 BC. Circa 1300-1400 AD, they began to be displaced by hostile groups of Carib people. It is commonly believed that Christopher Columbus named the island in honor of Saint Martin of Tours when he encountered it on his second voyage of discovery.