NIE ACTIVITY

GEOGRAPHY
CONNECTIONS
This year-long series is presented in collaboration
with the Connecticut Geographic Alliance.

St. Martin Take

LOCATION: St. Martin is
CITY/COUNTRY VIEW located in the Leeward Islands

5
(northern) group of the Caribbean.
Logan Smith, New London, CT It is located at latitude 18 05 North
and longitude 63 57 West.
St. Martin is a small island in the
Caribbean, and is actually split into two
PLACE: St. Martin is located in
Central America and the Caribbean, and is
separate sections. The northern part of surrounded by many islands including Saba, St.
the island is predominantly French and is Barths and Anguilla.
known as St. Martin. The southern section HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION:
of the island is mainly Dutch and is known Even though the country is an island, the economy
as St. Maarten. St. Maarten was first is not dependent on agriculture or the fishing trade.
discovered by Christopher Columbus in About 1% of the economy is made up of agriculture.
1493. The island’s colonies were then MOVEMENT: With more than 1 million tourists
constantly in conflict with Netherlands, visiting yearly, St. Martin is an extremely diverse
France, Spain, and Britain. Finally, in 1648 country with over 70 different cultures and six
France and Netherlands agreed to divide different official languages.
the island into two sections ruled by each REGION: St. Martin is a beautiful island that is
country. The island had been under these usually about 80F, and low humidity. However, there
two kingdoms rule, but St. Maarten gained its independence in 2010. St. Maarten Is part of is hurricane season that occurs from July until
the Dutch Kingdom, but they are technically a free country. The island is extremely diverse November.
with more than 70 different cultures inhabiting St. Martin. St. Martin is a beautiful island that
has perfect island weather year round; The average temperature is 80F! With this wonderful
weather there’s no surprise that tourism is a major part of the St. Martin economy. The tourism
MAPPING ACTIVITY
industry makes up about 85% of the country’s economy. More than 1 million tourists come to St. Martin is the smallest island divided by two
St. Martin a year, and all travel through the famous Princess Juliana International Airport. An countries, but it is not the only island divided. Can you
interesting fact, and main tourist attraction, about the airport is that it has a short runway that find on the map the other countries also ruled by more
is located between a beach and a large hill. The large airplanes fly right over the Maho Beach than one country?
shore! This leads to amazing pictures of these planes flying directly over beachgoers.
New Guinea Usedom
Boreno Kataja
Ireland Passport Island
Hispaniola Märket
Timor Koiluoto
Cyprus Musura Island
Dall Island Rotten Sea Island
Sebatik Island Tieera del Fuego

Community Connections/ Using the News DID Did you know that even
though St. Martin is split

St. Martin Day is a holiday celebrated in St. Martin on November 11, and it celebrates the YOU into two different European
countries, and the official

KNOW?
islands discovery. This holiday is celebrated by a large festival, and country wide festivities language is French, the
that celebrates unity amongst both sections of the island. It is also a religious holiday main language spoken on
celebrated worldwide to honor St. Martin of Tours. This holiday is celebrated in the U.S. both sides is English?
by Germans who look to honor their culture and heritage. They celebrate this by caroling,
The island’s name comes from Saint Martin
holding events with traditional German foods, and a parade followed by a bonfire.
Tours. Christopher Columbus discovered the
island on November 11, 1493, which is the day
St. Martin is celebrated.
St. Martin is so small, that it is only 1/3 the size
of Washington, DC!
St. Martin is the smallest island in the world that
is ruled by two different countries.
Even though it is considered one of the most
dangerous airports in the world, tourist line
up to catch a picture of the airplanes flying
overhead at Manho Beach.

Online Resources: Common Core

http://www.travelingwiththejones.com/2016/01/08/10-fun-facts-about-saint-martin/ Curricular
http://www.princessheights.com/st-maarten/st-maarten-st-martin-facts-figures Connections
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rn.html CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.7
For students who are blind, learning
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_divided_islands CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.7 disabled or print challenged,
visit CRIS Radio at
http://www.eye4weather.info/what-is-st-maartenst-martin-day/ CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.8 http://www.chrisradio.org and click
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Martin%27s_Day Kids On-Demand for a free audio
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.8 version of Geography Connections.