Saint Barthélemy

Columbus reached the island in 1493 and named it for Bartholomew the Apostle, honouring his own brother Bartolomeo at the same time. Too dry and rocky for plantations, it was settled by the French from 1648 — a first group of only 50 to 60 people — who lived by fishing, salt, and subsistence farming. Because there was little plantation agriculture, slavery played only a minor role, and the island retained a large population of white, French-descended smallholders with their own customs and dress.

In 1784 France ceded Saint Barthélemy to Sweden in exchange for trading rights in Gothenburg. Sweden made Gustavia — named for King Gustav III — a free port and ran the island for nearly a century before a referendum in 1877 led to its sale back to France in 1878. It was then administered as a dependency of Guadeloupe.

Organised tourism began in the 1960s and grew from the 1970s, once the landing strip was in place; David Rockefeller and a wider jet-set crowd followed, and the island settled into a deliberately low-density, high-spending model — about 25 hotels, most of them with 15 rooms or fewer. Residents voted in a 2003 referendum to separate from Guadeloupe, and on 22 February 2007 Saint Barthélemy was detached from it, becoming its own French overseas collectivity with fiscal autonomy from 15 July that year. On 1 January 2012 it moved from EU outermost-region status to that of an EU overseas country and territory. Hurricane Irma battered the island in September 2017, and it rebuilt quickly and upmarket.

French is the language of administration and daily life, and the island is Catholic and culturally very French. The permanent population — about 10,700 at the 2023 census — includes old "Saint-Barth" families descended from Norman, Breton, Poitevin, Saintongeais and Angevin settlers, among whom an old French patois lingers on the leeward side of the island, alongside metropolitan French residents and a large Portuguese community and West Indian workforce.

Sailing and fishing are the heritage, and the calendar turns on the harbour and the regattas — the Bucket, Les Voiles de Saint-Barth — as well as Carnival, the January music festival, and the December Gustavialoppet, the "Swedish marathon" that keeps up the link with Piteå, Gustavia's twin town in Sweden. The culture of the visitor economy is understated wealth: beach clubs, villas, and long lunches rather than nightlife spectacle.

About 10,700 people live on the island, with tiny Gustavia as the capital and port. The economy is luxury tourism — villas and small hotels — the free port, and construction. Income per head is one of the highest in the Caribbean, more than double that of mainland France, and property prices match it.

Most of the food is imported from the United States or France, and fresh water comes from desalination and household rainwater cisterns. Getting around means a small car or scooter on steep, narrow roads. Crime is close to nonexistent, and life outside the high season is quiet and village-like.

French bistro and fine dining set the tone, with excellent seafood — spiny lobster, mahi-mahi, snapper — and imported French produce, cheese, and wine. Creole cooking appears in accras, boudin, and colombo curry. The beach clubs range from the see-and-be-seen to the more natural settings at Saline and Gouverneur.

Fresh baguettes and pastries are a daily fixture, rosé is drunk by the case in season, and the ti-punch — rum, cane syrup, and lime — is the standard aperitif.

Gustavia is a compact, red-roofed harbour town with a Swedish-era street grid (a few signs still bilingual in Swedish), the remains of three Swedish forts (Karl, Oscar, and Gustav), the Wall House museum, and the boutiques along the quay. The beaches, small but choice, are the other draw: wild, undeveloped Anse du Gouverneur and Anse de Grande Saline, with no buildings or facilities; lively St Jean, beside the end of the runway, where departing aircraft pass just above the sand; calm Flamands; and Colombier, reached only by trail or boat.

The short, steep landing at Gustaf III Airport is a spectacle in its own right. The old fishing village of Corossol keeps some traditional life, the island's marine reserve — five zones around the coast, taking in Grand Cul-de-Sac and Colombier — protects reefs, seagrass and sea turtles, and the spring regattas fill the harbour with classic and racing yachts.