ÃŽle Tintamarre

Tintamarre is an uninhabited island three kilometers north-east front of St. Martin in the Caribbean. She belongs to the French overseas territory of Saint- Martin and is part of the French Antilles.

Description

The island is a sedimentary plateau of limestone, which rises in the north and northeast up to 30 feet from the water and forms a steep wall. To the south and south-west, where the coral reef Les Cayes forms a shallow lagoon, the plateau falls on the other hand gently down to sea level. To the west, ie towards the Quartier d' Orléans to Saint Martin, is a beach that is frequented by excursionists. Behind the beach are the remains of an airstrip that had been created by the founder of the Compagnie Aerienne Rémy de Haenen Antillaise. Since the construction of the runway at Grand-Case Saint -Martin air traffic is set to Tintamarre however. The island is covered to 2 /3 full with dry forests, the rest with Xerophile savanna vegetation consisting of low bushes, which the island's interior, make except for goats, lizards, crabs, and the Ocean's Köhler and wood turtles, difficult to access. Among the birds that nest on Tintamarre, including the splendid tropic birds.

History

In the history Tintamarres different phases must be distinguished. For 40 years the island was in British hands. Then she moved to France and began a period of intensive agricultural use, under the French Governor Auguste Descoudrelles, the island from 1763 - reached a climax under management in 1785. At times, lived up to 150 people on Tintamarre. In the first half of the 19th century, the island came under the influence of the Dutch family van Romondt whose last representative, Diederik Christian van Romondt, from 1902 Tintamarre virtually ruled like a king. Since the partition treaty of Saint- Martin between Holland and France on 23 March was not mentioned in 1648 Tintamarre, van Romondt claimed it as a Dutch possession, led a Dutch money, cattle breeding, and got out of Europe a number of marriage applications adventurous ladies who are in the role of an island queen would have fallen. 1931 sold van Romondt Tintamarre finally to Louis Constant Fleming, a dealer from Marigot. After the war, the island prospered as a flight base, at that time had about 20 inhabitants. A hurricane destroyed 1 September 1950, however, the aircraft based and the remaining radicals of the facilities were razed by more hurricanes in the years 1956 and 1960 the ground.

Current usage

The entire island, including a 100 -meter wide sea area around the coast around, is now a nature reserve Réserve naturelle marine de Saint -Martin. Therefore, the area is protected by strict regulations. At the same time, however, an active use for tourism purposes takes place. The beaches are accessible for day trippers to the island several footpaths have been created to explore. The building abandoned farms can be visited, where cotton was grown in the 19th century. To find are also remains of a railway line that served the mining of gypsum and guano.