Saint Martin is one island with two governments, and it has the flags to match. The French Collectivity of Saint-Martin holds the north, the Dutch country of Sint Maarten the south, and each flies something different.
One island, two administrations since 1648
The Treaty of Concordia, signed in 1648, divided the island between France and the Netherlands. The line has held ever since, along with the separate administrations and symbols on either side of it.
The French side flies the national flag of France, adopted in 1794. Saint-Martin became an overseas collectivity on 15 July 2007, separating from Guadeloupe, but the tricolor stayed as the official flag.
The Dutch side adopted a flag of its own on 13 June 1985, while it was still an island territory of the Netherlands Antilles and pressing for more autonomy. That process finished on 10 October 2010, when Sint Maarten became a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The flag carried over into the new status unchanged.
What the two flags show
The Sint Maarten flag has two equal horizontal bands, red above blue, with a white triangle at the hoist. Red is for solidarity and courage, white for purity and faith, and blue for peace and the assurance of pardon.
Inside the triangle is the coat of arms. The shield carries the courthouse in Philipsburg at the center, the island's native orange-yellow sage to one side and the border monument to the other. Above the shield a brown pelican flies in front of a rising sun, and a scroll below reads Semper progrediens, always progressing.
The French side has two flags in practice. The official one is the French tricolor, blue, white, and red in vertical stripes; those colors come out of the Revolution, blue and red for Paris, white for the monarchy. Alongside it the collectivity flies a white flag bearing its own emblem, adopted in 2010, on which a pelican in flight carries flowers over the sea, the salt pans, and a dry stone wall left from the plantation era, with the border obelisk on its wing.
Where each flag flies
On the French side the flag of France is the only official one, and it appears on government buildings and at official events, with the emblem flag beside it at collectivity functions. On the Dutch side the Sint Maarten flag goes up at ceremonies, public holidays, and government functions, a habit dating from its adoption in 1985.
Both sides keep to the usual protocols on handling and display, particularly around Constitution Day in Sint Maarten and Bastille Day in Saint-Martin. Cultural organizations produce their own variants for festivals, and the flags turn up at Carnival in Sint Maarten and on Sint Maarten Day, which both halves of the island mark on 11 November, as well as on souvenirs and in local art and music.
Shared colors across the Caribbean
Red, white, and blue recur across Caribbean flags, a legacy of the powers that once governed the region. The French tricolor appears wherever French influence reached, and Sint Maarten's design belongs to a group of flags that came out of decolonization with themes of liberation and autonomy. Nearby flags, including those of Sint Eustatius and Saint Kitts and Nevis, draw on the same mix of European heraldry, local culture, and natural motifs such as stars and plants.
References
[1] Government of Sint Maarten. (n.d.). Sint Maarten Official Website
[2] French Government. (n.d.). Official Portal of the French Republic
[3] Caribbean History Archives. (n.d.). Historical Records of Saint Martin and Caribbean Flags
[4] Vexillology Association. (n.d.). Caribbean Flag Studies
[5] Treaty of Concordia Historical Documents. (n.d.). Saint Martin Division Records