Saba / History, Population, Politics

History

Saba's mountainous terrain and inaccessible coastline has left it looking wild, unspoilt and enchantingly bypassed by history. Columbus spotted the island in 1493 on his second voyage to the New World but did not land, and there is archaeological evidence that Amerindians were living here as early as the 8th century. In 1640 Dutch settlers arrived from nearby St Eustatius and established a foothold at Fort Bay. Unlike so many Caribbean islands, Saba was unsuitable for the establishment of huge plantations run by slaves but it nevertheless remained a valued prize in the long-running rivalry between English, French and Dutch colonists during the 17th and 18th centuries. The island proved a handy base for pirates – a heritage much loved by the locals - and has only been permanently tied to the Dutch Crown since 1816. 

In the 19th century, Saba survived by sending its men off to work at sea, while the women stayed at home and made lace – a cottage industry that by 1928 was worth $15,000 a year in exports. Modernisation came slowly, and for centuries the only way into the island was by climbing the cliffs at Ladder Bay, where a steep set of 524 steps now offers hikers an invigorating workout. Landing people and supplies on the island was a hazardous business and the only travel between the villages was by using arduous mountain paths. 

The first motor car arrived in 1947, driving along “The Impossible Road” linking Fort Bay and The Bottom that was constructed by hand between 1938 and 1943. For an engaging glimpse of the island before it opened up to the world, pay a visit the Heritage Museum in Philipsburg, St Maarten, where you can see a short black-and-white film made of life here in 1947. 

The first plane landed on Saba in 1959, and by 1963 the road had been extended to Flat Point and the new Juancho E. Yransquin airport, named in honour of the Minister of Finance who helped it come about. The island economy also benefited from the opening of the Saba University School of Medicine in 1992, and what was once a poor and inhospitable rock is now developing a promising future in small-scale tourism thanks to its superlative dive sites, excellent hiking opportunities and uplifting, away-from-it-all ambience. 
 

Population

Saba is home to around 1,600 islanders, plus some 400 students and staff at the Saba University School of Medicine. English is the common language while Dutch is taught in schools and the island's official language. Some locals also speak Papiamento, a Spanish-sounding creole language more commonly used on the Dutch islands of Aruba and Curaçao. The island attracts around 25,000 tourists a year, principally from North America and Europe. 
 

Politics

On 10 October 2010 Saba, along with the Dutch islands of Bonaire and St Eustatius, became a municipality of The Netherlands. Before this the island was part of the Netherlands Antilles, which has now disappeared – the other islands of Aruba, Curaçao and St Maarten chose a path of greater independence and are now autonomous countries within the Kingdom of The Netherlands. 

Saba is run by a democratically elected island council and headed by a Lieutenant-Governor appointed by the Queen of the Netherlands. The island is currently in a transitional phase where the two parties are still working out what this revised status means. Many islanders are concerned about new taxes that have come into force, while to the passing visitor this all just seems little more than the latest twist in a centuries-long and very strange love affair between a lonely Caribbean mountain and a ridiculously flat swathe of Northern Europe. Some travellers are surprised at how “unDutch” the island feels beyond the expected flags and trappings of officialdom (particularly if you also visit ultra-French St Martin or St Barths), and at the way some Sabans seem resentful of what they consider interference from Holland when the island clearly benefits from this relationship. Nothing is fixed and in 2016 the state of this new union will be reviewed.