St Martin and Maarten Culture & Language

The island’s culture is Caribbean first, with French and Dutch administration layered over it and a population drawn from across the region.

The 1648 division

The Treaty of Concordia split the island between France and the Netherlands, and the story everyone tells — that a Frenchman and a Dutchman walked in opposite directions from a fixed point until they met, with the Frenchman covering more ground because he drank wine and the Dutchman gin — is almost certainly a legend. What is true is that the arrangement has held for over three hundred and seventy years with remarkably little conflict, and the border remains completely open.

Food

The island takes eating seriously. Grand Case has a concentration of French-Caribbean restaurants unusual anywhere, and beside them the lolos serve grilled ribs, snapper and johnnycakes on plastic tables for a tenth of the price. Both are the point.

Music and carnival

Calypso, soca, zouk and reggae, with two separate carnivals — the Dutch side’s in April, the French side’s before Lent — each with its own king, queen and jump-ups.

Languages in the street

English is what people actually speak, across both halves, alongside French, Dutch, Spanish, Papiamento and Haitian Creole.

Two carnivals

The island celebrates twice, on different calendars. The French side keeps the Lenten timing, with its parades and the burning of an effigy before Ash Wednesday; the Dutch side holds its carnival in April, over roughly two weeks around the king’s birthday, with calypso competitions, a jouvert morning and a closing jump-up. Nobody has ever seen a reason to combine them, and a visitor in the right month can attend both.

Salt

The Great Salt Pond at Philipsburg was the island’s economy for two centuries before tourism, worked by enslaved and then free labour.

English is the common language of the whole island and is what people actually speak on both sides, in shops, restaurants and daily life — a legacy of Caribbean migration and the long British commercial presence in the region.

French is official on the northern side, used in administration, schools and signage. Dutch is official on the southern side but is much less heard in practice; English is the working language of the Dutch half too.

Also widely spoken: Spanish, from the Dominican and other migrant communities; Haitian Creole; and Papiamento from the Dutch Caribbean.

A visitor needs only English, which is unusual for a French territory and makes this one of the easiest islands in the region to travel in.

A little French is still appreciated on the northern side: bonjour, merci, s’il vous plait.