5 Top Things About St Martin’s Island in Bangladesh
St Martin’s is a small island. The island is spread over three square kilometers area. Research by the Bangladesh Department of Environment says that there are various ecosystems on the island including mangroves, lagoons, coral-rich areas, and rocky regions. Many species reside on this island. This post is all about Saint Martin’s Island Bangladesh.
1. Where is St Martin?
Located about nine kilometers south of Bangladesh’s southernmost point, which is near Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf, Saint Martin’s Island Bangladesh is a small coral island in the Bay of Bengal. It is close to Myanmar. In Bangladesh, this is the only coral island. The size of the island is only three square kilometers with around 3,700 residents. They mainly do fishing, grow rice, farm coconuts, and harvest seaweed which they export to Myanmar after drying them. Recently the island was in the headlines. It was due to some allegations that the BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Part) was going to give the island to the US for building an army base. In the exchange, the BNP was expecting to get help in winning elections. However, these claims were denied by the US State Department. They said that they support fair elections and respect Bangladesh’s sovereignty.
2. St Martin’s and its History
St Martin’s island is referred to as ‘Narikel Jinjira’ which means coconut island in the Bengali language. This is because many coconut trees are there on the Island. Cinnamon Island or ‘Daruchini Dwip’ are other names for the Island.
Originally, the island was part of the Teknaf peninsula, but when a part of the peninsula was submerged, it became separated from the mainland of Bangladesh and turned into an island. The island has a long history. In the eighteenth century, Arabian merchants first settled there and named it ‘Jazira’. The Island was included as a part of British India in 1900 by the British land survey team. They named it after Saint Martin who was a Christian priest.
3. Maritime Boundary Issue With Myanmar
There were still issues with defining the maritime boundary around the island even after the agreement. Bangladeshi fishermen used to receive detentions and warnings from Myanmar’s navy. Since the unclear maritime boundary created tensions, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in 2012 made a decision that St. Martin’s Island belongs to Bangladesh, and it made a major impact on the situation.
4. Rohingya Influx into Bangladesh
In 2017, over 700,000 Rohingya Muslims were forced to flee to Bangladesh by a military crackdown. Many of them are living in the Kutupalong refugee camp in St Martin Cox’s Bazar Bangladesh. It is the largest refugee camp in the world.
5. Geographical Significance of St Martin’s Island
The island has attracted the attention of major countries like the US and China since it’s close to the Bay of Bengal and near the maritime border with Myanmar, and its strategic location can benefit them in strengthening their presence in Bangladesh. It has been affecting Bangladesh’s politics since when the country became independent in 1971.
For years, there have been rumors that the US wants to take control of the small island, but the US has always denied this. A report in The Print says that the island is important because having a military base there means control over the Strait of Malacca, which is a major route that China mainly uses for transportation.
Bangladesh claimed that the US was trying to take control of St Martin’s Island after they heard some reports that weren’t confirmed yet. The reports said that the US was unhappy with Bangladesh getting close to China. Thus the US wanted to reduce China’s influence in the region. Thus the Bangladesh Saint Martin has always been a matter of geopolitical interests and territorial disputes.
