Jump to content

Collectivity of Saint Martin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 76.111.67.200 (talk) at 20:25, 8 March 2009. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Collectivity of Saint Martin
Collectivité de Saint-Martin
Anthem: La Marseillaise
Location of Saint Martin (France)
Capital
and largest city
Marigot
Official languagesFrench
Ethnic groups
Mulatto, West African, Mestizo (French-East Asia), European, East Indian[1]
Government
Nicolas Sarkozy
• Prefect
Dominique Lacroix
Frantz Gumbs
Overseas Collectivity 
of France
• Island divided between France and the Netherlands
23 March 1648
• as separate Overseas Collectivity
22 February 2007
Area
• Total
53.2 km2 (20.5 sq mi) (not ranked)
• Water (%)
negligible
Population
• Jan. 1, 2006 census
35,263[2]
• Density
663/km2 (1,717.2/sq mi) (not ranked)
HDI (2003)n/a
Error: Invalid HDI value (n/a)
CurrencyEuro (€) (EUR)
Time zoneUTC-4
• Summer (DST)
UTC-3
ISO 3166 codeSX
Internet TLD.mf assigned but not in use, .fr and .gp in use
"Saint-Martin" redirects here. For the island of Saint Martin on the whole, see Saint Martin.
For other uses, see Saint Martin (disambiguation).

Saint Martin (Template:Lang-fr), officially the Collectivity of Saint Martin (French: Collectivité de Saint-Martin), is an overseas collectivity of France located in the Caribbean. It came into being on 22 February 2007, encompassing the northern parts of the island of Saint Martin and neighbouring islets, the largest of which is Île Tintamarre. The southern part of the island, Sint Maarten, is part of the Netherlands Antilles.

Politics and government

Saint Martin was for many years a French commune forming part of Guadeloupe, which is an overseas région and overseas département of France and is therefore in the European Union. In 2003 the population of the French part of the island voted in favour of secession from Guadeloupe in order to form a separate overseas collectivity (COM) of France.[3] On February 9, 2007, the French Parliament passed a bill granting COM status to both the French part of Saint Martin and neighbouring Saint Barthélemy.[4] The new status took effect when the law was published in the Official Journal on February 22, 2007.[5] Saint Martin remains part of the European Union[citation needed]. The Treaty of Lisbon, which is not yet legally binding, states that Saint-Martin is a part of the EU.[6] Saint Martin is the most westerly point of the EU.

The new governance structure befitting an overseas collectivity took effect on July 15, 2007 with the first session of the Territorial Council (Template:Lang-fr) and the election of Louis-Constant Fleming as president of the Territorial Council. On July 25, 2008 Fleming resigned after being sanctioned by the Conseil d'État for one year over problems with his 2007 election campaign[7]. On August 7, Frantz Gumbs was elected as President of the Territorial Council[8].

Before 2007, Saint Martin was coded as GP (Guadeloupe) in ISO 3166-1. In October 2007, it received the ISO 3166-1 code MF (alpha-2 code), MAF (alpha-3 code), and 663 (numeric code).[9] Template:Saint Martin Territorial Council election, 2007

Demographics

The French part of the island has a land area of 53.20 km² (20.5 sq mi). At the January 2006 French census, the population in the French part of the island was 35,263 (up from only 8,072 inhabitants at the 1982 census), which means a population density of 663 inhabitants per km² in 2006.

Historical population
1885 1961 1967 1974 1982 1990 1999 2006
3,400 4,502 5,061 6,191 8,072 28,518 29,078 35,263
Official figures from French censuses.

Economy

Flags flying in Marigot harbour, Saint-Martin.

The official currency of Saint Martin is the euro, though the US dollar is also widely accepted. Tourism is the main economic activity.

INSEE estimated that the total GDP of Saint Martin amounted to 421 million euros in 1999 (US$449 million at 1999 exchanges rates; US$599 million at Oct. 2007 exchange rates).[10] In that same year the GDP per capita of Saint Martin was 14,500 euros (US$15,500 at 1999 exchanges rates; US$20,600 at Oct. 2007 exchange rates), which was 39% lower than the average GDP per capita of metropolitan France in 1999.[10] In comparison, the GDP per capita on the Dutch side of the island, Sint Maarten, was 14,430 euros in 2004.[11]

Maps

Map showing the former constituent parts of the Guadeloupe region/department among the Leeward Islands, including Saint-Martin, before February 2007.
File:Saint-Martin map detailed-en.svg
Detailed map showing French Saint-Martin (north), including its territorial waters.
Map showing French Saint-Martin (north) and Dutch Sint Maarten (south).

See also

Main article: List of Saint Martin (France)-related topics

References

  1. ^ World factbook Saint Martin
  2. ^ INSEE, Government of France. "Populations légales 2006 de collectivités d'outre-mer". Retrieved 2009-01-13. {{cite web}}: Check |first= value (help) Template:Fr icon
  3. ^ Staff reporter (2003-12-09). "French Caribbean voters reject change" (HTML). Caribbean Net News. Retrieved 2007-02-09. However voters on the two tiny French dependencies of Saint-Barthelemy and Saint-Martin, which have been administratively attached to Guadeloupe, approved the referendum and are set to acquire the new status of "overseas collectivity". {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ Staff reporter (2007-02-09). "Saint-Barth To Become An Overseas Collectivity" (PDF). St. Barth Weekly. p. 2. Retrieved 2007-02-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ Les élections du futur conseil territorial font débat - Politique - Nouvelles sur Newmedia.fr - New Media : Infos Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, Saint-Martin, Saint-Barthelémy, Caraïbes - Infos Newmedia.fr
  6. ^ "Treaty of Lisbon, Article 2, points 287 and 293". Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  7. ^ Staff reporter (2008-07-28). "Louis-Constant Fleming démissionné par le conseil d'Etat" (in French). fxgpariscaraibe. Retrieved 2008-08-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  8. ^ Staff reporter (2008-08-08). "Frantz Gumbs elected new president of Collectivité". The Daily Herald. Retrieved 2008-08-17. Frantz Gumbs, formerly president of Union Pour le Progrès (UPP) party, swept into power as new president of the Collectivité at an extraordinary meeting of the Territorial Council on Thursday after winning the 23-councillor vote with a clear majority over Marthe Ogoundélé-Tessi. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  9. ^ ISO 3166-1 Newsletter. Assignment of code elements for Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin and update of France and other French Territories
  10. ^ a b Template:Fr icon INSEE, CEROM. "Estimation du PIB de Saint-Barthélemy et de Saint-Martin" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-11-13.
  11. ^ Total 2004 GDP of Sint Maarten ([1]) divided by the number of inhabitants in 2004 ([2]), then converted from Netherlands Antillean gulden to euro by using the 2004 exchange rate.

Template:West Indies

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Collectivity_of_Saint_Martin&oldid=275877711"