Sint Maarten: Flag and Facts
Sint Maarten's flag has a red band over a blue band and a white triangle at the left holding a coat of arms with a courthouse, a pelican, and a rising sun.
- Capital
- Philipsburg
- Region
- Caribbean
- Population
- 46,738 (2025)
- Languages
- English, French, Dutch
- Currency
- Netherlands Antillean guilder
- Area
- 34 km² (13 sq mi)
- People
- St. Maartener
- Calling code
- +1721
- Highest point
- 250 m SW of Mount Flagstaff summit, 383 m
- Independence
- none (part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
- National symbols
- brown pelican, yellow sage (flower)
- Borders
- Saint Martin
- Status
- Territory (not a sovereign country)
About Sint Maarten
Look closer at the shield. Bordered in orange, it shows the white courthouse in Philipsburg, yellow sage (the national flower) in one corner, and the silhouette of a monument to Dutch-French friendship in the other. Above it fly a brown pelican and a yellow sun, and a scroll below reads SEMPER PROGREDIENS, or Always Progressing.
Columbus claimed the island for Spain in 1493, but the Dutch moved in during 1631 to mine its salt. Spain grabbed it back two years later, then finally gave it up, and in 1648 the French and Dutch divided it between them. The line shifted for some 200 years, leaving the Dutch with the smaller share, about 39%. Slavery in the Dutch half lasted until 1863. The island became a free port in 1939, and tourism boomed from the 1950s. A 2000 referendum made it a country with its own government inside the Kingdom of the Netherlands, starting in 2010.
Did you know?
- Sint Maarten gets about 150 cm of rain a year, and hurricane season runs from July to November.
- Sint Maarten tops out at 383 meters, on a spot just southwest of the Mount Flagstaff summit.
- Five Sint Maartens would fit inside Washington, D.C.
Want to test yourself? The random flag generator has a quiz mode, and the full flags of the world page shows every flag at once.
Questions about Sint Maarten
What currency does Sint Maarten use?
The Netherlands Antillean guilder.
What languages are spoken in Sint Maarten?
English, Dutch, and French.
Sources
- CIA World Factbook, checked October 8, 2026
- REST Countries data (mledoze/countries), checked October 8, 2026
- Flag artwork: flag-icons (MIT), checked October 8, 2026
Facts are compiled from these open sources and rewritten in our own words. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.