History Timeline Sint Maarten / St. Martin
The timeline shows Sint Maarten / St.Martin history from 550 BC to these days, displaying a list of main events in chronological order:
History Timeline Sint Maarten / St. Martin
- The Indians home sweet home
- 550 BC. The Island was home of the Arawak Indians a peaceful tribe that lived from agriculture and pottery.
- Spain and their land ambition
- 1493 The island was listed by Spain in their list of territories and named after the saint's feast day-Saint Martin of Tours.
- The Dutch power shows up
- 1631 The Dutch set up camps to have the island under their control; the first one was Fort Amsterdam.
- The Caribbean in arms
- 1638 Spain attacked the Dutch settlements for a ten year battle. A fix for good.
- 1648 Spain left and the Dutch gain control. Treaty of Concordia was signed and the island was separated into two distinct countries. One side Sint Martin by the French and the other side St Maarten by the Dutch.
- The instability of boundaries
- 1815 Borders between Dutch and French territories changed more than sixteen times, until a final arrangement was achieved.
- Land cultivation and slavery
- 1848 The cultivation of sugar cane, tobacco, coffee and cotton came along with slavery. Everything changed in 1848 when French abolished slavery, and the Dutch followed 15 years later.
- War builds a prosper future
- 1939 During World War II the US Army built the international airport that further on became available for commercial airplanes.
- Friendly Island of the Caribbean
- 1950's Dutch develop tourism industry followed by the French in 1970's and the Friendly Island welcomes tourist from all over the world.
