Sint Maarten

Sint Maarten Salt Stamp
October 6, 2011
Salt Pickers' Monument, Philipsburg

Sint Maarten was known to indigenous Arawak people as Soualiga or the land of salt. In 1624 Dutch sailors who moored off the island to repair their ships discovered the Great Salt Pond and soon the salt became and important trading good. For six or seven months of the year more than 500 people would be engaged in harvesting the salt from the evaporation ponds. Production ceased on the Dutch side of the island in 1949 and on the French side in 1967. The graphic on this site is part of the Salt Pickers' Monument in Philipsburg.

Sources

Haviser, Dr. Jay. "The Great Salt Pond: A History of Salt on St. Martin." YouTube. 27 Oct. 2015. Web. 16 Feb. 2023.
     youtu.be/c-kJuhrFXtc.

"Saint Martins Salt Industry".We Love St. Martin. 5 Aug. 2016. Web. 16 Feb. 2023.
     www.welove-saintmartin.com/st-martins-salt-industry/.


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© Derrick Grose, 2023