Sheba

History

Christophe Colomb would have seen Sheba the November 13rd 1493 one Saturday, from where the name of the island (of Italian sabato ) but it did not unload there.

In 1632, English unload on the island after having made shipwreck and tell, after being helped, that the island was uninhabited.

A French takes possession of the island in the name of Louis XIII but Dutch colonizes the island starting from 1640 when the Compagnie Dutchwoman of the Western Indies unloads on the Western coast of Sheba of the colonists coming from the island close to Saint Eustace. The campings of origins are always visible in Tent Bay. The Netherlands definitively take Sheba for colony with the assistance of English at the time of the occupation of Napoleon i.

The island is used occasionally as refuge for Pirate S jamaïcains during the 17th century.

With the XVIIe and 18th centuries, the main resources of the island were the production of Sucre and Rhum starting from the Canne with sugar and later the fishing.

At the end of the 19th century, the principal export of Sheba was the Dentelle made by the women. Indeed, in the years 1870, an young girl, Mary Gertrude Hassell Johnson, was sent in a convent of Caracas to study. She returned to Sheba with the art of the lace which she taught with the other women. Today, the traditional reasons left the place to the clothes industries based on orders coming from the the United States of America.

During the 20th century, a staircase of 800 steps is cut in the mountain to connect the only port of the island (Ladder Bay) to The Bottom.

In 1938, Josephus Hassell Lambert, an engineer, built the only road of the island with the assistance of the inhabitants. After five years of work, the first section of the road is open. The last section was completed in 1958.

In 1963, the aerodrome of Sheba, the airport Juancho E. Yrausquin, accommodates its first plane. Its track is one of shortest world and only three models of planes are authorized to use it. In 1972, a pier is built in Ladder Bay which makes it possible from now on the ferries to accost and in particular the connection by vat with Sint-Maarten. These installations make it possible Sheba to more easily accommodate of the tourists coming to make Plongée underwater. The Tourism and the ecotourism constitute one of the main activities of Sheba nowadays.

Since 2006, air links connect Sheba to Sint-Maarten with the company Winair.

Geography

Sheba is smallest of the islands of the Dutch West Indies but it is also the highest top of the Netherlands with 877 meters with the Mont Scenery.

The island is very mountainous and ic Volcan. The coasts consist of cliffs and of rocks and the beaches are rare. There is one port and that only one aerodrome connected to the villages by a single road called The Road.

The vegetation is made of a wet forest made up of tropical trees and ferns. Acajou S pushed on the island until a Cyclone does not break almost all the trees in the years 1960. The mahogany trees are since in the process of disappearance on Sheba. Many visitors compare the forest of Sheba with a fairy-like forest because of moisture and many foams which push on the trees. In reference to this name, a reserve forest door the name of Elfin Forest Reserve .

In the South-west of the island is a coral Récif 4,3 kilometers long included in the marine park of Sheba who makes the turn of the island.

Sheba is located at 17°38' Northern Latitude and 63°13' of Longitude Western.

Population

With the last census of 2004, the island counted 1 424 inhabitants who are distributed in four villes : the capital The Bottom ( the Fund ), Windwardside ( With dimensions windy ), Hell' S Spoils ( the door of the Hell ) and Holy John ( Midsummer's Day ).

Although the official language is the Dutch, the English is taught at the school since 1986 and is usually spoken by the inhabitants who live mainly tourism.

The origins of the inhabitants are very variées : in addition to Dutch, one finds descendants of many European countries and slaves coming from Africa. The low number of inhabitant makes that many people have family ties rather close with most of the population which comprises only few family names.

The catholic religion is represented.

Sheba accommodates the university school of medicine of Sheba which was founded in agreement with the Netherlands by American expatriates. In school period, 300 pupils study in this school (largest of Sheba) which constitutes also the first center of care of the island.

Flag

The colors red, white and blue of the Drapeau refer to the colors of the flags of the Dutch West Indies and the Netherlands.

The white symbolizes peace, the friendship, the purity and peace, the red symbolizes courage, the unit and promptitude and blue symbolize the sea and the paradise.

The yellow star represents Sheba.

See too

colonial Empire Dutch
Company Dutchwoman of the Western Indies

External bonds

official Gate of the government of the Dutch West Indies
Official site of the office of tourism of Sheba
Site of the natural park and the marine park of Sheba

Reference

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