Saint Barth\u00e9lemy was for many years a French commune forming part of Guadeloupe<\/a>, which is an overseas region and department of France. In 2003 the island voted in favor of secession from Guadeloupe in order to form a separate overseas collectivity (collectivit\u00e9 d’outre-mer, abbreviated to COM) of France. The collectivity is one of four territories among the Leeward Islands<\/a> in the northeastern Caribbean that comprise the French West Indies<\/a>, along with Saint Martin<\/a>, Guadeloupe (200 kilometres (120 mi) southeast), and Martinique<\/a>.<\/p>\n Saint Barth\u00e9lemy, a volcanic island fully encircled by shallow reefs, has an area of 25 square kilometers (9.7 sq mi) and a population of about 10,000. Its capital is Gustavia<\/a>, which also contains the main harbor. It is the only Caribbean island that was a Swedish colony<\/a> for any significant length of time; before the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Guadeloupe came under Swedish rule for nearly a century. Symbolism from the Swedish national arms<\/a>, the Three Crowns, still appears in the island’s coat of arms. The language, cuisine, and culture, however, are distinctly French. The island is a popular tourist destination during the winter holiday season, geared towards the high-end, luxury tourist market.<\/p>\n Before European contact the island was possibly frequented by Eastern Caribbean Ta\u00edno<\/a> and Arawak<\/a> people, who called the island ‘Ouanalao’, though it is believed that the island was not inhabited permanently due to its poor water sources and soil. Christopher Columbus<\/a> was the first European to encounter the island in 1493. Sporadic visits continued for the next hundred years until formal colonization began taking shape.<\/p>\n By 1648 the island was settled by the French, encouraged by Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy<\/a>, the lieutenant-governor of the French West India Company, and initially comprised about 50 to 60 settlers, later augmented by smaller numbers coming from St Kitts<\/a>. Led by Jacques Gentes, the new arrivals began cultivating cacao<\/a>, however the settlement was attacked by Caribs in 1656 and briefly abandoned.<\/p>\n De Poincy was the dominant administrator in this period and a member of the Order of Saint John<\/a>. He facilitated the transfer of ownership from the Compagnie des \u00celes de l’Am\u00e9rique<\/a> to the Order. He continued to rule the island until his death in 1660. Five years later, it was bought by the French West India Company<\/a> along with the Order’s other possessions in the Caribbean. By 1674, the company was dissolved and the islands became part of the French Kingdom and added to the colony of Guadeloupe.<\/p>\n The island proved economically unsuccessful, and was subject to the activities of pirates (most notably Daniel Montbars<\/a> aka ‘Montbars the Exterminator’), as well as the depredations of the British, who attacked it in 1744.<\/p>\n Thus deeming it to be of little worth, King Louis XVI traded the island to Sweden in 1784 in return for trading privileges in Gothenburg<\/a>. This change of control saw progress and prosperity as the Swedes declared Gustavia (named after the Swedish king) a free port, convenient for trading by the Europeans for goods, including contraband material.<\/p>\n Slavery was practiced in St. Barth\u00e9lemy under the Ordinance concerning the Police of Slaves and free Coloured People of 1787. The last legally owned slaves in the Swedish colony of St. Barth\u00e9lemy were granted their freedom by the state on 9 October 1847. Since the island was not a plantation area, the freed slaves suffered economic hardships due to lack of opportunities for employment.<\/p>\n In 1852, a devastating hurricane hit the island and this was followed by a fire. The economy suffered, and thus Sweden sought to relieve themselves of the island. Following a referendum in 1877<\/a>, Sweden gave the island back to France in 1878, after which it was administered as part of Guadeloupe.<\/p>\n On 19 March 1946, the people of the island became French citizens with full rights. With few economic prospects on the islands many men from St. Barth\u00e9lemy took jobs on Saint Thomas<\/a> to support their families. Organised tourism and hotels began in earnest the 1960s and developed in the 1970s onwards, particularly after the building of the island’s landing strip that can accommodate mid-sized aircraft. The island soon became renowned as a high-class luxury destination, being frequented by numerous celebrities such as Greta Garbo<\/a>, Howard Hughes<\/a>, Benjamin de Rothschild<\/a>, David Rockefeller<\/a>, Lorne Michaels<\/a>, Chevy Chase<\/a>, Steve Martin<\/a>, Jimmy Buffett<\/a> and Johnny Hallyday<\/a>. The boost in tourist numbers has led to a rise in living standards and rapid modernization.<\/p>\n Saint Barth\u00e9lemy was for many years a French commune forming part of Guadeloupe, which is an overseas region and department of France. Through a referendum in 2003<\/a>, island residents sought separation from the administrative jurisdiction of Guadeloupe, and it was finally accomplished in 2007. The island of Saint Barth\u00e9lemy became an Overseas Collectivity (COM). A governing territorial council was elected<\/a> for its administration, which has provided the island with a certain degree of autonomy. A senator represents the island in Paris. St. Barth\u00e9lemy has retained its free port status. Saint Barth\u00e9lemy ceased being an outermost region and left the EU<\/a>, to become an OCT, (Overseas Country or Territory) on 1 January 2012.<\/p>\n The island sustained damage from Hurricane Irma<\/a> in September 2017 but recovered quickly, and by early 2018 transport and electricity were largely operational.<\/p>\n Located approximately 250 kilometres (160 mi) east of Puerto Rico<\/a> and the nearer Virgin Islands,<\/a> St. Barth\u00e9lemy lies immediately southeast of the islands of Saint Martin and Anguilla<\/a>. St. Barth\u00e9lemy is separated from Saint Martin by the Saint-Barth\u00e9lemy Channel<\/a>. It lies northeast of Saba and St Eustatius, and north of St Kitts.<\/p>\n Several smaller uninhabited islands lie offshore, the largest of which are \u00cele Fourchue<\/a>, \u00cele Coco, \u00cele Chevreau<\/a> (\u00cele Bonhomme), \u00cele Fr\u00e9gate<\/a>, \u00cele Toc Vers<\/a>, \u00cele Tortue<\/a>, Roche Plate (Table \u00e0 Diable) and Mancel ou la Poule et les Poussins.<\/p>\n There are numerous smaller islets, such as La Petite Islette, L’\u00celet au Vent, \u00cele Pel\u00e9, \u00cele le Boulanger, Roche le B\u0153uf, \u00cele Petit Jean, L’\u00c2ne Rouge, Les Gros Islets, La Baleine des Gros Islets, Pain de Sucre, Les Baleines du Pain de Sucre, Fourmis, Les Petit Saints, Roches Roubes, Les Baleines de Grand Fond and Les Grenadins.<\/p>\n The economy of the island is based on tourism and duty-free retail. The official currency of St. Barth\u00e9lemy is the euro.<\/p>\n International investment and the wealth generated by tourists explain the high standard of living on the island. Most of the food is imported from the US or France. Tourism attracts about 200,000 visitors every year. As a result, there is a boom in house building activity catering to the tourists and also to the permanent residents of the island.<\/p>\n St. Barth\u00e9lemy has about 25 hotels, most with 15 rooms or fewer; the largest has 58 rooms. Hotels are classified in the traditional French manner; 3 Star, 4 Star and 4 Star Luxe. Of particular note are Eden Rock<\/a> and Cheval Blanc<\/a>. Hotel Le Toiny<\/a>, the most expensive hotel on the island, has 12 rooms.<\/p>\n Most places of accommodation are in the form of private villas, of which there are some 400 available to rent on the island. The island’s tourism industry, though expensive, attracts 70,000 visitors every year to its hotels and villas; another 130,000 people arrive by boat. It also attracts a labour force from Brazil and Portugal. The height of tourism is New Year’s Eve, with celebrities and the wealthy converging on the island in yachts up to 550 feet (170 metres) in length for the occasion.<\/p>\n Agricultural production on the island is difficult given the dry and rocky terrain, but the early settlers managed to produce vegetables, cotton, pineapples, salt, bananas and also fishing. Sweet potato is also grown in patches.<\/p>\n Corossol<\/a> is noted for its handicrafts; weaving hats and bags from palm fronds is a low income economic activity of the indigenous people.<\/p>\n St. Barth\u00e9lemy has a small airport known as Gustaf III Airport<\/a> on the north coast of the island that is served by small regional commercial aircraft and charters.<\/p>\n The nearest airport with a runway length sufficient to land a typical commercial jet airliner is on the neighboring island of Sint Maarten: Princess Juliana International Airport<\/a>, which acts as a hub, providing connecting flights with regional carriers to St. Barth\u00e9lemy. Several international airlines and domestic Caribbean airlines operate in this sector.<\/p>\n Many inter-island ferry services operate regularly between St. Martin and St. Barts.<\/p>\n The narrow and congested roads, and difficulty in parking, have been an impetus for driving smart cars<\/a>.<\/p>\n The flag of Saint Barth\u00e9lemy is the French tricolor. This is because Saint Barth\u00e9lemy is a self-governing overseas collectivity of France.<\/p>\n An unofficial flag of Saint Barth\u00e9lemy consisting of the island’s coat of arms centered on a white field is also used on the island.<\/p>\n The coat of arms of Saint-Barth\u00e9lemy is a shield divided into three horizontal stripes (parted per fess), three gold fleurs-de-lis<\/a> on blue, above a white Maltese cross<\/a> on red, over three gold crowns<\/a> on blue, and “Ouanalao” is what the indigenous people called the island. On top of the shield is a mural crown<\/a>.<\/p>\n The fleurs-de-lis, Maltese Cross, and gold crowns are heraldic<\/a> reminders of the island’s history as a colony ruled by first the Kingdom of France<\/a>, then the Knights Hospitaller<\/a> and in turn the Kingdom of Sweden.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The flag of Saint Barth\u00e9lemy is the French tricolor. This is because Saint Barth\u00e9lemy is a self-governing overseas collectivity of France. An unofficial flag of Saint Barth\u00e9lemy consisting of the island’s coat of arms centered on a white field is also used on the island.<\/p>\n The coat of arms of Saint-Barth\u00e9lemy is a shield divided into three horizontal stripes (parted per fess), three gold fleurs-de-lis on blue, above a white Maltese cross on red, over three gold crowns on blue, and “Ouanalao” is what the indigenous people called the island. On top of the shield is a mural crown.<\/p>\n The fleurs-de-lis, Maltese Cross, and gold crowns are heraldic reminders of the island’s history as a colony ruled by first the Kingdom of France, then the Knights Hospitaller and in turn the Kingdom of Sweden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32,59,5,11,6,7,29,41,60],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5362"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/Saint-Barth\u00e9lemy-on-the-Globe-300x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>History:<\/h2>\n
Early Period:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/06\/Columbus.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>17th Century:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/cacao-200x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>18th Century:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/Daniel-Montbars-300x167.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>19th Century:<\/h3>\n
20th Century:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/Greta-Garbo-225x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>21st Century:<\/h3>\n
Geography:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/St.-Barth\u00e9l\u00e9my-in-Relation-to-Near-Neighbors.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/St.-Barth\u00e9l\u00e9my-Detail.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Economy:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/Le-Toiny-Hotel-300x164.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Transportation:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/Gustav-III-Airport-300x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/SmartCar-300x158.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Flag of Saint Barth\u00e9lemy:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/03\/Flag-of-France-300x200.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/07\/Unofficial-Flag-of-St-Barthelemy-300x200.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>