Saint Martin
French half of divided island demonstrates niche partitioning with Dutch Sint Maarten: shared tourism ecosystem with 85% labor force in tourism, EU territory using euro.
Saint Martin (French Collectivity) represents one half of the world's most remarkable political symbiosis—a 87 km² island divided since 1648 between France and the Netherlands without border controls, functioning as a single tourism ecosystem despite separate currencies, legal systems, and sovereignty. This northern 60% of the island operates as fully-privileged EU territory using the euro, distinct from the Dutch south's casinos and Antillean Guilder. Tourism engages 85% of the labor force and draws over one million visitors annually through cruise ships and stayover guests. By 2024, tourism capacity eclipsed both pre-Hurricane Irma and pre-pandemic levels, partially due to vacation rental construction. The French side is known for beaches, upscale shopping, and fine dining—a niche-partitioning strategy complementing rather than competing with the Dutch side's nightlife focus. Yet this mutualistic division creates shared vulnerability: Hurricane Irma's 2017 devastation affected both territories equally, and 80-85% food import dependency from the United States leaves the entire island exposed to supply chain disruption. The dual-currency system (euro north, guilder south, dollar accepted everywhere) adds transactional friction that somehow enhances rather than diminishes the tourist experience. This is competitive coexistence made physical: two sovereignties occupying the same ecological niche by specializing into complementary sub-niches.