France–Netherlands border

Split on Concordia Hill

Spain sent a fleet in 1638 to drive the Dutch colonists off the island and left a garrison, but abandoned it about ten years later. French and Dutch settlers then asked their governments to take it over.^[3] On 23 March 1648 the two nations signed a treaty on Concordia Hill that split the island between them and let people and goods move freely across it.^[3]

A local legend says the line was placed where two runners, one French and one Dutch, met after setting off from opposite ends of the island, and that the French side is bigger because its runner was faster. The island’s own tourist office calls it a legend.^[3]

A line that moved, then settled

Between 1648 and 1816 the colonial powers shifted the border more than a dozen times. The line that settled gives French Saint-Martin the northern 62% of the island and Dutch Sint Maarten the southern 38%.^[1] An obelisk put up in 1948 marks 300 years of peaceful coexistence; otherwise the crossing is shown only by flags and welcome signs, with no identity checks.^[3]

The two halves are governed very differently. Saint-Martin is an outermost region of the European Union, while Sint Maarten, a self-governing country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is not part of the EU.^[1][4] Each side has its own customs, immigration and tax systems.^[2]

Finally written down

The 1648 treaty said which parts of the island belonged to whom but never fixed an exact line with modern surveys or coordinates.^[4] The hardest part was Oyster Pond, an inlet at the eastern end, where the two countries disagreed over whether all of it or only part was Dutch.^[2] Efforts to settle the border picked up after Hurricane Irma in 2017, which destroyed more than 95% of the buildings on the island.^[2]

The agreement was signed on 26 May 2023 at Belle Plaine/Belvédère by Sint Maarten’s prime minister, Silveria Jacobs, and France’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin.^[4] It splits Oyster Pond by equidistance, with Captain Oliver’s Marina going to the French side, and gives the Dutch side 7,109 m² of land at various points.^[2] It also sets more than 400 turning points, the first detailed definition of the line.^[1]

France’s National Assembly approved the treaty on 16 July 2026, completing France’s side. It enters into force only once the Dutch parliament passes the Kingdom Act that approves it, which it had not yet done at the time.^[4][2]