Author: The Publisher

All over the internet you come across the same statement: “In 1939 St. Maarten was declared a duty-free port”. Literally, every wiki site and encyclopedic source online about the history of St. Maarten contains this one line: “In 1939 St. Maarten was declared a duty-free port”. But no clarification is given nor any further background information provided on this historical sentence. Declared a duty-free port by whom? King Willem of Orange-Nassau? Where is the royal decree to that effect? What does this duty-free status mean in practice? Are there really no import duties on St. Maarten? Are there no taxes…