Compare Saint Martin (2008) - Arctic Ocean (2007)

Compare Saint Martin (2008) z Arctic Ocean (2007)

	Saint Martin (2008)	Arctic Ocean (2007)

Airports	1	-
Airports - with paved runways	total: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 1	-
Area	total: 54.4 sq km land: 54.4 sq km water: NEGL	total: 14.056 million sq km note: includes Baffin Bay, Barents Sea, Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, East Siberian Sea, Greenland Sea, Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, Northwest Passage, and other tributary water bodies
Area - comparative	more than one-third the size of Washington, DC	slightly less than 1.5 times the size of the US
Background	Although sighted by Christopher COLUMBUS in 1493 and claimed for Spain, it was the Dutch who occupied the island in 1631 and set about exploiting its salt deposits. The Spanish retook the island in 1633, but continued to be harassed by the Dutch. The Spanish finally relinquished St. Martin to the French and Dutch, who divided it amongst themselves in 1648. The cultivation of sugar cane introduced slavery to the island in the late 18th century; the practice was not abolished until 1848. The island became a free port in 1939; the tourism industry was dramatically expanded during the 1970s and 1980s. In 2003, the populace of St. Martin voted to secede from Guadeloupe and in 2007, the northern portion of the island became a French overseas collectivity.	The Arctic Ocean is the smallest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and the recently delimited Southern Ocean). The Northwest Passage (US and Canada) and Northern Sea Route (Norway and Russia) are two important seasonal waterways. A sparse network of air, ocean, river, and land routes circumscribes the Arctic Ocean.
Capital	name: Marigot geographical coordinates: 18 04 N, 63 05 W time difference: UTC-4 (1 hour behind Washington, DC, during Standard Time) daylight savings: +1 hour	-
Climate	temperature averages 80-85 degrees all year long; low humidity, gentle trade winds, brief, intense rain showers; July-Novemeber is the hurricane season	polar climate characterized by persistent cold and relatively narrow annual temperature ranges; winters characterized by continuous darkness, cold and stable weather conditions, and clear skies; summers characterized by continuous daylight, damp and foggy weather, and weak cyclones with rain or snow
Coastline	58.9 km (for entire island)	45,389 km
Constitution	4 October 1958 (French Constitution)	-
Country name	conventional long form: Overseas Collectivity of Saint Martin conventional short form: Saint Martin local long form: Collectivity d'outre mer de Saint-Martin local short form: Saint-Martin	-
Dependency status	overseas collectivity of France	-
Diplomatic representation from the US	none (overseas collectivity of France)	-
Diplomatic representation in the US	none (overseas collectivity of France)	-
Disputes - international	-	some maritime disputes (see littoral states)
Economy - overview	The economy of Saint Martin centers around tourism with 85% of the labor force engaged in this sector. Over one million visitors come to the island each year with most arriving through the Princess Juliana International Airport in Sint Maarten. No significant agriculture and limited local fishing means that almost all food must be imported. Energy resources and manufactured goods are also imported, primarily from Mexico and the United States. Saint Martin is reported to have the highest per capita income in the Caribbean.	Economic activity is limited to the exploitation of natural resources, including petroleum, natural gas, fish, and seals.
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Caribbean Ocean 0 m highest point: Pic du Paradis 424 m	lowest point: Fram Basin -4,665 m highest point: sea level 0 m
Environment - current issues	fresh water supply is dependent on desalinization of sea water	endangered marine species include walruses and whales; fragile ecosystem slow to change and slow to recover from disruptions or damage; thinning polar icepack
Ethnic groups	creole (mulatto), black, Guadeloupe Mestizo (French-East Asia), white, East Indian	-
Exchange rates	euros per US dollar - 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004), 0.886 (2003)	-
Executive branch	chief of state: President Nicolas SARKOZY (since 16 May 2007), represented by Prefect Dominique LACROIX (since 21 March 2007) head of government: President of the Territorial Council Louis-Constant FLEMING (since 16 July 2007) cabinet: Executive Council; note - there is also an advisory economic, social, and cultural council election: French president elected by popular vote to a five-year term; prefect appointed by the French president on the advice of the French Ministry of Interior; president of the Territorial Council is elected by the members of the Council for a five-year term election results: Louis-Constant FLEMING unanimously elected president by the Territorial Council on 16 July 2007	-
Flag description	the flag of France is used	-
GDP - composition by sector	agriculture: 1% industry: 15% services: 84% (2000)	-
Geographic coordinates	18 05 N, 63 57 W	90 00 N, 0 00 E
Geography - note	the island of Saint Martin is the smallest landmass in the World shared by two independent states, the French territory of Saint Martin and the Dutch territory of Sint Maarten	major chokepoint is the southern Chukchi Sea (northern access to the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait); strategic location between North America and Russia; shortest marine link between the extremes of eastern and western Russia; floating research stations operated by the US and Russia; maximum snow cover in March or April about 20 to 50 centimeters over the frozen ocean; snow cover lasts about 10 months
Imports - commodities	crude petroleum, food, manufactured items	-
Imports - partners	US, Mexico (2006)	-
Independence	none (overseas collectivity of France)	-
Industries	tourism, light industry and manufacturing, heavy industry	-
International organization participation	UPU	-
Labor force - by occupation	85% directly or indirectly employed in tourist industry	-
Land boundaries	total: 15 km border countries: Netherlands Antilles (Sint Maarten) 15 km	-
Languages	French (official language), English, Dutch, French Patois, Spanish, Papiamento (dialect of Netherlands Antilles)	-
Legal system	the laws of France, where applicable, apply	-
Legislative branch	unicameral Territorial Council (23 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) elections: last held 1 and 8 July 2007 (next to be held July 2012) election results: percent of seats by party - UPP 49%, RRR 42.2%, Reussir Saint-Martin 8.9%; seats by party - UPP 16, RRR 6, Reussir Saint-Martin 1	-
Location	island 300 km southeast of Puerto Rico	body of water between Europe, Asia, and North America, mostly north of the Arctic Circle
Map references	Central America and the Caribbean	Arctic Region
Military - note	defense is the responsibility of France	-
National holiday	Bastille Day, 14 July (1789); note - local holiday is Schoalcher Day (Slavery Abolition Day) 12 July (1848)	-
Natural hazards	-	ice islands occasionally break away from northern Ellesmere Island; icebergs calved from glaciers in western Greenland and extreme northeastern Canada; permafrost in islands; virtually ice locked from October to June; ships subject to superstructure icing from October to May
Natural resources	salt	sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules, oil and gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals and whales)
Political parties and leaders	Union Pour le Progres or UPP [Louis Constant FLEMING]; Rassemblement Responsabilite Reussite or RRR [Alain RICHARDSON]; Reussir Saint-Martin [Jean-Luc HAMLET]	-
Population	33,102 (October 2004 census)	-
Radio broadcast stations	FM 3 (2007)	-
Religions	Roman Catholic, Jehovah's Witness, Protestant, Hindu	-
Suffrage	18 years of age, universal	-
Telephone system	general assessment: fully integrated access domestic: direct dial capability with both fixed and wireless systems international: country code - 590; undersea fiber-optic cable provides voice and data connectivity to Puerto Rico and Gudaloupe	-
Terrain	-	central surface covered by a perennial drifting polar icepack that, on average, is about 3 meters thick, although pressure ridges may be three times that thickness; clockwise drift pattern in the Beaufort Gyral Stream, but nearly straight-line movement from the New Siberian Islands (Russia) to Denmark Strait (between Greenland and Iceland); the icepack is surrounded by open seas during the summer, but more than doubles in size during the winter and extends to the encircling landmasses; the ocean floor is about 50% continental shelf (highest percentage of any ocean) with the remainder a central basin interrupted by three submarine ridges (Alpha Cordillera, Nansen Cordillera, and Lomonosov Ridge)
Transportation - note	nearest airport for international flights is Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM) located in Sint Maarten	sparse network of air, ocean, river, and land routes; the Northwest Passage (North America) and Northern Sea Route (Eurasia) are important seasonal waterways

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