Oranjestad

English and French colonists reached Sint Eustatius in 1625, and the French built a fort on the cliff above the bay in 1629. The Dutch built Fort Oranje on the same site in 1636 for the Dutch West India Company, and the island changed hands several times among the Dutch, English and French. Below the fort, Oranjestad grew into the port of an island that produced sugar and cotton but above all became a centre of the North American slave trade. Its free port made it so rich that it was known as "the Golden Rock", and warehouses lined the road along Oranje Bay; by 1780 the island had an estimated 20,000 people, including the enslaved.

On 16 November 1776 the American brig Andrew Doria sailed into the anchorage below the fort flying the Continental Colours and fired a thirteen-gun salute. Governor Johannes de Graaff answered with eleven guns from the fort — the "First Salute" to the flag of the newly declared United States. The ship then bought munitions on the island. In 1781, during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, the British under George Rodney captured and plundered the island, destroying its archives, emptying the warehouses and deporting Jewish heads of families.

The town never recovered its trade. The island's population fell to 2,273 by 1829. On 12 June 1848 free and enslaved Africans gathered outside the lieutenant governor's residence to demand emancipation, and after slavery ended many formerly enslaved workers moved into Oranjestad. In 1939 Franklin Roosevelt presented a plaque commemorating the salute. In 2010 Sint Eustatius became a special municipality of the Netherlands; a later Dutch government intervention set the elected island council aside, elections were finally held in October 2020, and local powers have been handed back in stages.

Oranjestad is English-speaking: English is the language of daily life and, since 2014, the only language of instruction in the island's schools, and a local English-based creole is used informally. Dutch is official, and many islanders also speak Spanish or Papiamento. Christianity shapes the week, with Methodist, Catholic, Seventh-day Adventist, Pentecostal and Anglican congregations; Methodism has the largest following, and the 18th-century Methodist preacher Black Harry is among the island's notable historical figures.

History is the town's identity, and its motto, "The Historic Gem", reflects it. Archaeologists have recorded prehistoric sites, plantations, forts, trading sites and shipwrecks on and around the island, and a research centre has worked on the island since 2004. Excavations at the 18th-century Golden Rock African Burial Ground led to protests in 2021 by residents who said the community had not been involved, and a government commission investigated and reported in 2022.

Statia Day, on 16 November, marks the First Salute and is the island's main celebration. The national parks foundation, based in Lower Town, looks after the Quill, the marine park and a botanical garden, and its staff are a source of local knowledge about the island's nature.

Oranjestad is home to about 1,000 people, and the whole island had about 3,270 residents in January 2025. The town is the island's main commercial and residential centre, with grocery stores, restaurants, bars, a library, schools, a clinic and the government's administrative offices; most of the island's people live in the flat saddle between its two high areas, in the centre of the island.

The government is the largest employer on the island, and the oil terminal owned by GTI Statia is the largest private employer. Tourism, mostly diving, is the other long-running industry. Everyday life is small-scale: islanders know one another, goats, cows and chickens wander the roads, and much depends on the flights and ferries from Sint Maarten.

As Dutch nationals, Statians are citizens of the European Union, and moving to the Netherlands for education, healthcare and work is common. All three islands rely heavily on Dutch state funding, and imported goods are expensive.

Statia eats Caribbean-English home cooking. Goat water, a spiced goat stew, is the classic, alongside johnnycakes, saltfish, pea soup and pumpkin soup, fresh fish and lobster, with pigeon peas and rice on the side. Fish and lobster come from the surrounding waters.

Imported groceries fill most of the gaps, as on the other islands, at a high cost, and regional beers, local rums and fresh juices are the usual drinks. The island has five Chinese restaurants, and one casual place known as Smoke Alley serves large portions of American staples such as cheesesteaks and burgers to the contractors who work on the island.

Eating out is limited and informal in a town of about a thousand people. Upper Town has the grocery stores, restaurants and bars, and most visitors who self-cater shop there.