Emancipation Day (Sint Maarten)

Emancipation Day is a public holiday in Sint Maarten on July 1 yearly. The holiday commemorates when slavery was abolished on the island in 1863.

Sint Maarten is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. Indigenous people inhabited the island for centuries before Christopher Columbus arrived on his second voyage in 1493. The Spanish captured the island in 1633 but abandoned it in 1648 due to the lack of economic and strategic value.

The Dutch and the French partitioned the island in 1648 and established settlements after the Spanish left. The border was changed many times until 1815 when the French took 61% of the island while the Dutch took 39%.

The French and Dutch developed new cotton, tobacco, and sugar plantations and imported many African slaves. The harsh working conditions staged rebellions, and in 1848, the French government abolished slavery in their colonies, including the French side of the island. As a result, the slaves on the Dutch side threatened to flee to the French side, which forced the Dutch authorities to free the slaves in Sint Maarten on July 1, 1863.

The following is the list of Emancipation Day in Sint Maarten from 2022 to 2026.

Please check more public holidays in Sint Maarten: