Did You Know… St. Maarten Was The First Dutch Trading Post in The Caribbean?
A New York – Brazil Halfway Station
With an autonomous country status since 2010 and English having been the island language for centuries, Dutch spoken only by few, St. Maarten can be considered the least “Dutch” island within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Interestingly however, it was on St. Maarten the Dutch made their first foothold in the Caribbean. The desire to build a stronghold in the Northeastern Caribbean arose from the need to reinforce the trade route between New Amsterdam (current New York) and New Holland (Brazil) with a halfway station.
In addition, Amsterdam based ships had discovered vital salt supplies in 1627 that could further add to the trading empire, and the location was a perfect base for attacking the silver galleons of arch enemy Spain making their way from South America. Fort Amsterdam near what is now Philipsburg became an important strategic fortress to secure all three interests.
At this point, 14 French families had already landed in French Quarter in 1629 to set up plantations, laying the base for the binational history of St. Maarten / St. Martin until this day.
Spain Takes Over, Dutch Focus on Curacao
In 1633 however, arch enemy Spain intervened. It would take until 1648 before St. Maarten was regained by the Dutch. By then Curacao, close to the Spanish mainland but distant enough from main routes had taken over in importance from the Northeastern Caribbean. It became the seat of government of the Dutch West Indies – first in colonial times, and as of the 1950s as Netherlands Antilles.
As it grew as an oil refinery and population hub, Curacao remained the main island of the Netherlands Antilles until its dissolution in 2010. The distance in geography, language, culture and economy between the Netherlands Antilles had led to the disbanding of the country in 2010 with both Curacao and St. Maarten becoming autonomous states within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
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