3182 FRANCE (Saint Barthélemy) - Colombier Beach

Located in the northwestern part of the island, Colombier Beach is a secluded beach - an entire bay area only accessible by boat or foot. It is a lovely white sand beach lined with vegetation, and the only building which can be seen from there is the home of billionaire David Rockefeller, origin of the development of a high-end tourism in Saint-Bartholomew. L'Anse de Colombier is now part of the natural marine reserve of Saint Barthemlemy.

2425, 2738, 3158 NETHERLANDS (Sint Maarten) - Maho Beach

2425 Sint Maarten - An Air France Airbus over Maho Beach

Posted on 01.04.2016, 05.08.2016, 07.10.2017
The island of Saint Martin is served by many major airlines that daily bring in large jet aircraft, including Boeing 747s and Airbus A340s carrying tourists from across the world. The short main runway at Princess Juliana International Airport, and its position between a large hill and a beach, causes some spectacular approaches. Aviation photographers flock to the airport to capture pictures of large jets just a few metres above sunbathers on Maho Beach.

2738 Sint Maarten - Aircraft over Maho Beach

Located in Sint Maarten, the Dutch side of the island, the Princess Juliana International Airport is the major gateway for the smaller Leeward Islands, including Anguilla, Saba, St. Barthélemy and St. Eustatius. It is named after Juliana of the Netherlands, who as crown princess landed here in 1944, the year after the airport opened. Started as a military airstrip in 1942, it was converted to a civilian airport in 1943. Despite the reputed difficulties in approach, there have been no records of major incidents at the airport.

3158 Sint Maarten - Aircraft over Maho Beach (3D lenticular postcard)

1935-1939, 2670, 3115 SAINT MARTIN - The map of the island and the flags of Saint Martin (France) and of Sint Maartin (Netherlands)

1935 The map of Saint Martin Island (1)

Posted on 04.10.2015, 30.07.2016, 29.07.2017
Located in the northeast Caribbean, between Anguilla and Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin is the smallest inhabited sea island divided between two nations, respectively between France (60%) and the Kingdom of the Netherlands (40%). The southern Dutch part comprises Sint Maarten and is one of four constituent countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the northern French part comprises the Collectivité de Saint-Martin and is an overseas collectivity of France.

1936 The map of Saint Martin Island (2)

The main cities are Philipsburg (Dutch side) and Marigot (French side). The Dutch side is more heavily populated, and the largest settlement on the entire island is Lower Prince's Quarter. The highest hilltop is the Pic Paradis (424m) in the center of a hill chain on the French side, but both sides are hilly with large mountain peaks. This forms a valley where many houses are located. There are no rivers on the island, but many dry guts. It has a tropical monsoon climate with a dry season from January to April and a rainy season from August to December.

1937 The map of Saint Martin Island (3)

Ancient relics date the island's first settlers, probably Ciboney Indians (a subgroup of Arawaks), back to 3,500 years ago. Their lives were turned upside-down with the descent of the Carib Indians, a warrior nation which killed the Arawak men and enslaved the women. In 1493 Christopher Columbus glimpsed the island and named it Isla de San Martín after Saint Martin of Tours because it was November 11, St. Martin Day, but Spain made the settlement of the island a low priority.

2670 The map of Saint Martin Island (4)

Instead, the French and Dutch coveted the island. While the French wanted to colonize the islands between Trinidad and Bermuda, the Dutch found San Martín a convenient halfway point between their colonies in New Amsterdam (present day New York) and Brazil. The Dutch, French and British founded settlements on the island. In 1633 Spanish forces captured Saint Martin from the Dutch, but in 1648 they deserted the island. Preferring to avoid an war, the French and Dutch signed in the same year the Treaty of Concordia, which divided the island in two, as it is now.

3115 The map of Saint Martin Island (5)

With the cultivation of cotton, tobacco, and sugar, mass numbers of slaves were imported to work on the plantations, until the slave population became larger than that of the land owners. After abolition of slavery in the first half of the 19th century, plantation culture declined and the island's economy suffered. In 1939, Saint Martin received a major boost when it was declared a duty-free port. The Dutch began focusing on tourism in the 1950s. The French needed another twenty years to start developing their tourism industry.

1938 Saint Martin - The border monument which celebrates
the peaceful coexistence of the French and Dutch on St. Martin (1)

Currently, tourism provides the backbone of the economy for both sides of the island. St. Martin's Dutch side is known for its festive nightlife, beaches, jewellery, drinks made with native rum-based guavaberry liquors, and casinos. The island's French side is known for its nude beaches, clothes, shopping (including outdoor markets), and French and Indian Caribbean cuisine. Because the island is located along the intertropical convergence zone, it is occasionally threatened by tropical storm activity in the late summer and early fall.

1938 Saint Martin - The border monument which celebrates
the peaceful coexistence of the French and Dutch on St. Martin (2)

The culture of Saint Martin is a blend of its African, French, British, and Dutch heritage. Although each side's culture is influenced by their respective administering countries, they share enough similar heritage and traditions that it can be difficult to tell where Saint-Martin ends and Sint Maarten begins. Nowadays, the number of Creoles has been surpassed by the number of immigrants, and the island's population is truly a melting pot of people from 70 or more different countries.

3019 NETHERLANDS (Aruba) - Carnival in Aruba

3019 Carnival in Aruba

As it is in many Caribbean and Latin American countries, the holiday of Carnival is an important one in Aruba, and goes on for weeks. Its celebration in Aruba started, around the 1950s, influenced by the inhabitants from Venezuela and the nearby islands who came to work for the Oil refinery. Now, the Carnival Celebration starts from the beginning of January till the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday with a large parade on the last Sunday of the festivities (Sunday before Ash Wednesday).

3016 NETHERLANDS (Aruba) - An Aruban girl

3016 An Aruban girl

The culture of Aruba is an amalgamate of the various cultures that have occupied and lived on the island, including indigenous peoples of South America, descendants of African slaves, and Spanish and Dutch colonialists. Even if the island has been under Dutch administration since 1636, and since 1986 is one of the four countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Spanish influence is very present in the traditions of the islanders.

3008 NETHERLANDS (Aruba) - Green iguana

3008 Green Iguana (Iguana iguana)

The green iguana (Iguana iguana) is a large, arboreal, mostly herbivorous species of lizard of the genus Iguana, which ranges over a large geographic area, from southern Brazil and Paraguay as far north as Mexico and the Caribbean Islands. They have been introduced from South America to Puerto Rico and are very common throughout the island, where they are considered an invasive species. It grows to 1.5 meters in length from head to tail, although a few specimens have grown more than 2 metres with bodyweights upward of 9 kg.

2999, 3005 NETHERLANDS (Aruba) - Trams in Oranjestad

2999 Oranjestad - The green single-decker trolley 1265 (1)

Posted on 25.03.2017, 31.03.2017
The Oranjestad Streetcar is a single-track tram line in Oranjestad, the capital city of Aruba, owned and operated by Arubus, the national public transportation company. It was built as a key component of a larger project to upgrade the main retail areas of the town, other aspects of which included pedestrianization of streets, planting of trees, installation of ornamental street lighting and resurfacing of streets and sidewalks. It is the first and so far the only passenger rail service on the island and the rest of the Dutch Caribbean, and the second of any kind, after an industrial branch that was closed in 1960.

2999 Oranjestad - The green single-decker trolley 1265 (2)

The line was inspired by the popular battery-powered streetcar operation at The Grove in Los Angeles. In 2010 Aruba's Minister of Infrastructure visited the California factory of TIG/m, the company that had designed the Los Angeles car, and before long TIG/m was constructing two streetcars, a single- and a double-decker, for Aruba. In 2012 Aruba's Prime Minister signed an agreement with Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin enterprises, to make Aruba the world's first 100% green economy by 2020.  

2989 NETHERLANDS (Aruba) - Charlie's Bar in San Nicolaas

2989 Charlie's Bar in San Nicolaas

Located at 19km southeast of Oranjestad and known as the island's Sunrise Side, San Nicolaas is Aruba's second largest city, with a population of 18,126. It was named after Nicolas van der Biest (1808-1873), who owned a big piece of the land there. Landowners were then addressed by their subordinates by their first names preceded by 'Shon' meaning 'master'. So he was called 'Shon Nicolas', as was the area. It is thought that the change from Shon Nicolas to San Nicolaas was due to the influence of Spanish.

2527 NETHERLANDS (Aruba) - Best of both worlds

 

The population of Aruba is estimated to be 75% mixed European/Amerindian, 15% Black and 10% other ethnicities. The Arawak heritage is stronger on Aruba than on most Caribbean islands. Although no full-blooded Aboriginals remain, the features of the islanders clearly indicate their genetic Arawak heritage. Most of the population is descended from Caquetio Indians and Dutch and to a lesser extent of Africans, Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, and Sephardic Jewish ancestors. Recently, there has been substantial immigration to the island from neighboring American and Caribbean nations.

1558, 2484 NETHERLANDS (Aruba) - Cunucu traditional houses

1558 A Cunuc traditional house in Aruba (1)

In Papiamento (the language derived from African and Portuguese languages, with some other influences, which is the most widely spoken language on ABC islands), Cunucu means "countryside" or "small plantation". In earlier days, the walls of the houses in Aruba were built from stone, without the use of mortar, the coral rocks being placed to a perfect fit. Often was used caliche, a crusty calcium substance found in the southeast hills of the island.

2484 A Cunuc traditional house in Aruba (2)

Slanting roofs allowed the heat to rise, while windows were kept small to keep in the cool. Although in nowadays concrete have replaced the older materials, the design has retained many basic elements found in the traditional houses, while adding other features such as windows which became longer though still narrow and comprised wooden louvers, introduction of patios and brightly tiled roofs as well as elaborate ornamentation for roofs , balconies and entrances.

2414 NETHERLANDS (Sint Maarten) - The Cupecoy Beach

Located at the Southwest corner of St Maarten, Cupecoy Beach is a small, clothing optional beach lined with beautiful rock formations and caves, and with usually calm waters as it is not exposed to the open Atlantic. It had some "stormy" times in the past decade. Not only development projects, but also Hurricanes and the drifts take their toll changing the face of the beach (and the amount of sand) constantly. Thus it has to get filled up with sand once in a while.

2329 NETHERLANDS (Sint Maarten) - The Westin Dawn Beach Resort & Spa

Westin Hotels & Resorts is an upscale hotel chain owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, which in 2013 operated over 192 hotels. Among them is the one situated on Dawn Beach, along St. Maarten's eastern coast. Located just south of the Dutch/French border, Dawn Beach is famous for two things: the amazing sunrises that earned the shoreline its name, and the clear water that's perfect for snorkeling.

2238 NETHERLANDS (Aruba) - Aruba Beach Club

2238 Aruba Beach Club

The Aruba Beach Club Resort is located directly on Punta Brabo Beach, also know as Manchebo Beach, one of the finest beaches in Aruba, located on the most western point of the island. The beach offers a combination of exciting waves, due to converging currents, and calm waters. Because the sand here stretches 110m from the shore to the hotels, congestion is never a problem. The white-powder sand is spectacular, but the surf is steady and brisk.

2119, 2120 SAINT MARTIN - Young women on the beach

The influence of the French to the north (Saint Martin) and Dutch in the south (Sint Maarten) gives this island a more European feel. As in other Carribean islands, the traditional dress of women in Saint Martin is Madras, which takes its name from the Madras cloth, a lightweight cotton fabric with typically patterned texture and plaid design.

In nowadays, women wear Madras only during cultural dances etc (especially in the French side), because they have shifted to wearing modern dresses. However, Madras cloth remained fairly commonly, as also the head scarf, which can be tied in a ceremonial fashion or can be worn to show the availability of the woman in courtship. Increasingly more is preferred the wide brimmed hat, because it shades also the face.