San Martín

San Martín (often rendered Saint Martin in English), is an special collectivity of the Aranese Community located in the northeast Caribbean Sea, in the Lesser Antilles. It is an archipelago that includes the main islands of Alcúdia and San Martín, and a number of smaller ones such as Nueva Mallorca, Tagomago, and Rosselló. The capital and most populous city is Corona del Mar. Its official languages are Spanish and Catalan, though Spanish predominates. The island's population is approximately eight-hundred thousand. The residents of the island, the San Martinense (Sanmartinense) are full Aranese citizens, and are represented in the Aranese Parliament by two senators and two deputies.

Four centuries of Spanish colonial government influenced the island's cultural landscapes with waves of African slaves, Canarian, and Andalusian settlers. Spain's distant administrative control continued up to the middle of the 19th century, helping to produce a distinctive creole Hispanic culture and language that combined elements from the Native Americans, Africans, and Iberians. In 1838, following the stalemate caused by Aranese intervention in the First Carlist War, Spain agreed to cede San Martín and its surrounding islands under the terms of the Convention of Vergara. The next century saw a concerted effort by Aranese leadership both to ensure the political allegiance of its new subjects and to alter their cultural identity. Their attempts were successful in the former but failed in the latter. Balboa culture has become a reflection of the blending of Iberian influences with that of indigenous and African peoples.

The San Martinense are by law natural-born citizens of Arriola and may move freely between the islands and other Aranese territory. The San Martinense are recognized as a constituent nationality of Arriola by the Aranese Constitution, thus San Martinense citizenship continues to be recognized by the Aranese government. However representation in wider Aranese governance is restricted, as it is administered as a dependant territory, and thus does not have a direct vote in the General Junta. Instead, two seats in the General Junta are reserved, and the deputies are appointed by the Cortes Generales of San Martín.

In late September 2017, the Category 5 Hurricane Maria hit San Martín and neighboring islands, causing devastating damage. The island's electrical grid was largely destroyed, with repairs expected to take months to complete, provoking the largest power outage in Aranese history. Recovery efforts were somewhat slow in the first few weeks following the Hurricane, becoming a controversial issue in the 2018 general elections. By 1 January 2018 over 100,000 people had immigrated to Aranese Guiana or Metropolitan Arriola.