Known as St. Barths, this elegant island, frequently visited by the rich and famous, has become a Caribbean Saint - Tropez, with luxurious ports full of elegant boats and expensive restaurants (map)

This little island of international renown and only 25 square kilometers (Manhattan is twice as large), white beaches and sloped hills, is from some time, a place that never stops attracting the rich and the famous. As a result, houses in this place are amongst the most wanted in the world. As in St-Tropez, in the southern coast of France, prices in St. Barths, as is commonly called, are highly expensive. Is a private refuge for music and movie stars, like Madonna, Steven Seagal, Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone, as well as members of royalty, top models, and many multimillionaires.

Part of its charm, lies on an exquisite mixture of Caribbean essence with French elegance. Notwithstanding the small size, there is a great diversity of breathtaking landscapes: hidden beaches and coves; lagoons and mangrove swamps; cliffs - a little size Pyrenees, covered by exuberant tropical vegetation.

The fragrance of the island, is also typically French: the aroma of the baguettes coming from the boulangeries; the smoke of Gauloises and Gitanes flowing in the air of the cafes. However, the sweet aroma of the recently cut sugar cane, that of burning coal, species and many other typical Caribbean odors, are not present. But St. Bartholomew is in the middle of the Caribbean, with a burning sunshine, the refreshing trade winds, and the mosquitoes.

The French Pioneers and The Pirates
Christopher Columbus took a glimpse of this island, for the first time, in 1496, and named it after his younger brother Bartolome. In 1523, the place appeared as a diminutive point in the map, with the name of Saint Bartolome.

In a sea full of islands, little St. Bartolome was unnoticed even for the Caribbean Indians, who hardly stops there. In 1648, a group of French colonists arrived from St. Kitts, though, not many days after, were annihilated by the ferocious Caribbean Indians passing by.  Years latter a new group, formed by huguenots coming from Bretagne and Normandy, arrived with the help of French pirates, establishing the first European settlement on the island.
A secure port and strategic location, transformed St. Barthélémy in a perfect den for pirates, dedicated to capture and sack Spanish galleons, carrying gold that passed next to the coasts.

The rocky and arid hills, plus the lack of water, made impossible the existence of sugar cane plantations. For sometime the island produced cotton and tobacco, but there were no slaves. Their inhabitants were dedicated to small-scale agriculture. A report from the French Government of that time, described the people of St. Barthélémy, as “good, very poor, honest, highly ignorant, and incline to argue”.

Sold to the Swedes
In 1784, the government of Louis XVI gave the island to king Gustav III of Sweden, in exchange of commercial rights at the port of Gotenborg. With the arrival of the Swedes the capital change its name to Gustavia, and the port was declared a free zone.

During the years of the French Revolution (1789-1795), St. Barthélémy avoided the terror that seized the neighboring French islands, and that almost provoked their dissolution: Martinique, Guadeloupe and St. Martin. Far from the bad times affecting these places, the island flourished. The local Administration worked to organize the population, not as Swedes, but as inhabitants of St. Barths, with their own traditions and a common legacy. Around the port, streets were outlined and paved, warehouses were built, and the island, that in 1806 had already 6000 people, becomes a prosperous commercial center. However, all this wealth collapsed with the earthquakes, fires and hurricanes that devastated the island along the XIX century. In 1878, France bought Sweden his former colony, where around 1000 descendants of the first French colonists were still living.

An Island Happy of being French
At present, both St. Barths and St. Martin, 24 km. far away, depend from the Guadeloupe Administration, forming part of the Overseas French Department. Both islands have their own major. Candidates are usually conservatives, because independence is not an attractive idea for the islanders. (It’s good that a country like France takes care of us), says an employee of a shop in Gustavia, adding: Independence? Never mention. Only crazy people want independence.

In St. Barthélémy there is no unemployment, and enough jobs for fishermen, traders, builders and working class. All of them know how to enjoy a peaceful life, therefore it is enough time for windsurfing, fishing or drinking a cup of coffee at Le Select of Gustavia. Prosperity means crime is at a very low point.