Do you know Sint Maarten? I didn’t until I stumbled across this stamp from this to me hitherto unknown country. And once again it proved that stamp collecting contributes to general education. This stamp was the first time I learned about the peculiarities of our neighbouring country, the Netherlands. Or did you know that Sint Maarten (Dutch for St. Martin of Tours) is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Dutch Caribbean? And what should I understand by that?
The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a state that consists of the Netherlands – as I knew it – and several islands in the Caribbean. It is a political construction by which the Netherlands regulates its relations with the islands in the Caribbean that belong to the Netherlands, thus avoiding negatively loaded terms such as ‘colony’ or ‘overseas territories’.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands is divided into four autonomous countries. Three of the autonomous countries – which are islands – are located in the Caribbean, the other one is the “European” country – as I knew it. Interestingly, there are also three islands in the Caribbean that are part of the “European” Netherlands. Each of the four countries belonging to the Kingdom has its own government. Common tasks of the Kingdom are mainly in foreign and security policy as well as in matters of nationality.
The four countries are:
- The Netherlands with its 12 European provinces and the three Caribbean islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba;
- Aruba, country in the Caribbean;
- Curaçao, country in the Caribbean;
- Sint Maarten, country in the Caribbean.
Sint Maarten has something very special to offer. It is not a whole island, but only the southern part of an island. The northern part is the French overseas territory of Saint-Martin. For us as philatelists, it is interesting that due to its autonomy, Sint Maarten, just like Aruba and Curacao, has its own postal service and therefore issues its own stamps (such as this stamp presented here), which represent a beautiful collection area overall.