1954–2010 Caribbean constituent country of the Netherlands
This article is about the former constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. For the Dutch Caribbean islands in general, see Dutch Caribbean. For the current integral territories of the constituent country of the Netherlands, see Caribbean Netherlands.
The Netherlands Antilles (Dutch: Nederlandse Antillen, pronounced[ˈneːdərlɑntsəʔɑnˈtɪlə(n)]ⓘ; Papiamento: Antia Hulandes)[2] was a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The country consisted of several island territories located in the Caribbean Sea. The islands were also informally known as the Dutch Antilles.[3] The country came into being in 1954 as the autonomous successor of the Dutch colony of Curaçao and Dependencies. The Antilles were dissolved in 2010. The Dutch colony of Surinam, although relatively close by on the continent of South America, did not become part of the Netherlands Antilles but became a separate autonomous country in 1954. All the island territories that belonged to the Netherlands Antilles remain part of the kingdom today, although the legal status of each differs. As a group they are still commonly called the Dutch Caribbean, regardless of their legal status.[4] People from this former territory continue to be called Antilleans (Antillianen) in the Netherlands.[5]
The islands of the Netherlands Antilles are all part of the Lesser Antilles island chain. Within this group, the country was spread over two smaller island groups: a northern group (part of Leeward Islands) and a western group (part of the Leeward Antilles). No part of the country was in the southern Windward Islands.
Islands located in the Leeward Islands
This island subregion was located in the eastern Caribbean Sea, to the east of Puerto Rico. It consisted of three islands, collectively known as the "SSS Islands":
The islands are located approximately 800–900 kilometers (430–490 nautical miles; 500–560 miles) northeast of the ABC Islands.[citation needed]
Islands located in the Leeward Antilles
This island subregion was located in the southern Caribbean Sea off the north coast of Venezuela. There were three islands collectively known as the "ABC Islands":
The Netherlands Antilles have a tropical trade-wind climate, with hot weather all year round. The Leeward islands are subject to hurricanes in the summer months, while those islands located in the Leeward Antilles are warmer and drier.
Spanish explorers discovered both the leeward (Alonso de Ojeda, 1499) and windward (Christopher Columbus, 1493) island groups in the late 16th century. However, the Spanish Crown only founded settlements in the Leeward Islands. In the 17th century the islands were conquered by the Dutch West India Company and colonized by Dutch settlers. From the last quarter of the 17th century, the group consisted of six Dutch islands: Curaçao (settled in 1634), Aruba (settled in 1636), Bonaire (settled in 1636), Sint Eustatius (settled in 1636), Saba (settled in 1640) and Sint Maarten (settled in 1648). In the past, Anguilla (1631–1650), the present-day British Virgin Islands (1612–1672), St. Croix and Tobago had also been Dutch. During the American Revolution Sint Eustatius, along with Curaçao, was a major trade center in the Caribbean, with Sint Eustatius a major source of supplies for the Thirteen Colonies. It had been called "the Golden Rock" because of the number of wealthy merchants and volume of trade there. The British sacked its only town, Oranjestad, in 1781 and the economy of the island never recovered. Unlike many other regions, few immigrants went to the Dutch islands, due to the weak economy. However, with the discovery of oil in Venezuela in the nineteenth century, the Anglo-Dutch Shell Oil Company established refineries in Curaçao, while the U.S. processed Venezuelan crude oil in Aruba. This resulted in booming economies on the two islands, which turned to bust in the 1980s when the oil refineries were closed.[6] The various islands were united as a single country – the Netherlands Antilles – in 1954, under the Dutch crown. The country was dissolved on 10 October 2010.[3]
Curaçao and Sint Maarten became distinct constituent countries alongside Aruba which had become a distinct constituent country in 1986; whereas Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba (the "BES Islands") became special municipalities within the Netherlands proper.[7]
From 1815 onwards Curaçao and Dependencies formed a colony of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In 1865 a government regulation for Curaçao was enacted that allowed for some very limited autonomy for the colony. Although this regulation was replaced by a constitution (Dutch: Staatsregeling) in 1936, the changes to the government structure remained superficial and Curaçao continued to be ruled as a colony.[8]
Slavery was abolished in the islands in 1863, hitting the existing economy hard, particularly on the island of Curaçao. (The King of the Netherlands officially apologising for its part in the trade, at a formal ceremony in 2023.[9])
Economic prosperity (and that of neighboring Aruba) was restored in the early 20th century with the construction of oil refineries to service the newly discovered Venezuelan oil fields.
Colonial rule ended after the conclusion of the Second World War. Queen Wilhelmina had promised in a 1942 speech to offer autonomy to the overseas territories of the Netherlands. During the war, the British and American occupation of the islands – with the consent of the Dutch government – led to increasing demands for autonomy within the population as well.[10]
In May 1948 a new constitution for the territory entered into force, allowing the largest amount of autonomy possible under the Dutch constitution of 1922. Among other things, universal suffrage was introduced. The territory was also renamed "Netherlands Antilles". After the Dutch constitution was revised in 1948, a new interim Constitution of the Netherlands Antilles was enacted in February 1951. Shortly afterwards, on 3 March 1951, the Island Regulation of the Netherlands Antilles (Dutch: Eilandenregeling Nederlandse Antillen or ERNA) was issued by royal decree, giving fairly wide autonomy to the various island territories in the Netherlands Antilles. A consolidated version of this regulation remained in force until the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010.[11][12]
The new constitution was only deemed an interim arrangement, as negotiations for a Charter for the Kingdom were already under way. On 15 December 1954 the Netherlands Antilles, Suriname and the Netherlands acceded as equal partners to an overarching Kingdom of the Netherlands, established by the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands. With this move, the United Nations deemed decolonization of the territory complete and removed the Netherlands Antilles from the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories.[13]
Aruba seceded from the Netherlands Antilles on 1 January 1986, paving the way for a series of referendums among the remaining islands on the future of the Netherlands Antilles. Whereas the ruling parties campaigned for the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, the people voted for a restructuring of the Netherlands Antilles. The coalition campaigning for this option became the Party for the Restructured Antilles, which ruled the Netherlands Antilles for much of the time until its dissolution on 10 October 2010.
Even though the referendums held in the early 1990s resulted in a vote in favour of retaining the Netherlands Antilles, the arrangement continued to be an unhappy one. Between June 2000 and April 2005, each island of the Netherlands Antilles had a new referendum on its future status. The four options that could be voted on were the following:
closer ties with the Netherlands
remaining within the Netherlands Antilles
autonomy as a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands (status aparte)
independence
Of the five islands, Sint Maarten and Curaçao voted for status aparte, Saba and Bonaire voted for closer ties with the Netherlands, and Sint Eustatius voted to stay within the Netherlands Antilles.
On 26 November 2005, a Round Table Conference (RTC) was held between the governments of the Netherlands, Aruba, the Netherlands Antilles, and each island in the Netherlands Antilles. The final statement to emerge from the RTC stated that autonomy for Curaçao and Sint Maarten, plus a new status for Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba (BES) would come into effect by 1 July 2007.[14]
On 12 October 2006, the Netherlands reached an agreement with Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba: this agreement would make these islands special municipalities.[15]
On 3 November 2006, Curaçao and Sint Maarten were granted autonomy in an agreement,[16] but this agreement was rejected by the then island council of Curaçao on 28 November.[17] The Curaçao government was not sufficiently convinced that the agreement would provide enough autonomy for Curaçao.[18] On 9 July 2007 the new island council of Curaçao approved the agreement previously rejected in November 2006.[19] A subsequent referendum approved the agreement as well.
The acts of parliament integrating the "BES" islands (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba) into the Netherlands were given royal assent on 17 May 2010. After ratification by the Netherlands (6 July), the Netherlands Antilles (20 August), and Aruba (4 September), the Kingdom act amending the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands with regard to the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles was signed by the three countries in the closing Round Table Conference on 9 September 2010 in The Hague.
The Island Regulation had divided the Netherlands Antilles into four island territories: Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao (ABC), and the islands in the Leeward Islands. In 1983, the island territory of the Leeward was split up to form the new island territories of Sint Maarten, Saba, and Sint Eustatius (SSS). In 1986, Aruba seceded from the Netherlands Antilles, reducing the number of island territories to five. After the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010, Curaçao and Sint Maarten became autonomous countries within the Kingdom and Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (BES) became special municipalities of the Netherlands.
Current constitutional grouping
The islands of the former country of the Netherlands Antilles are currently divided in two main groups for political and constitutional purposes:
those islands that have the status of constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
those islands that have the status of special municipality of the Netherlands alone, as distinct from the Kingdom in its entirety.
There are also several smaller islands, like Klein Curaçao and Klein Bonaire, that belong to one of the island countries or special municipalities.
Constituent countries
There are three Caribbean islands that are countries (Dutch: landen) within the Kingdom of the Netherlands: Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten. (The Netherlands is the fourth constituent country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.)
The Constitution of the Netherlands Antilles was proclaimed on 29 March 1955 by Order-in-Council for the Kingdom. Together with the Islands Regulation of the Netherlands Antilles it formed the constitutional basis for the Netherlands Antilles. Because the Constitution depended on the Islands Regulation, which gave fairly large autonomy to the different island territories, and the Islands Regulation was older than the Constitution, many scholars describe the Netherlands Antilles as a federal arrangement.[21]
The head of state was the monarch of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, who was represented in the Netherlands Antilles by a governor. The governor and the council of ministers, chaired by a prime minister, formed the government. The Netherlands Antilles had a unicameral legislature called the Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles. Its 22 members were fixed in number for the islands making up the Netherlands Antilles: fourteen for Curaçao, three each for Sint Maarten and Bonaire, and one each for Saba and Sint Eustatius.
Tourism, petroleum transshipment and oil refinement (on Curaçao), as well as offshore finance were the mainstays of this small economy, which was closely tied to the outside world. The islands enjoyed a high per capita income and a well-developed infrastructure as compared with other countries in the region.[22]
Almost all consumer and capital goods were imported, with Venezuela, the United States, and Mexico being the major suppliers, as well as the Dutch government which supports the islands with substantial development aid. Poor soils and inadequate water supplies hampered the development of agriculture. The Antillean guilder had a fixed exchange rate with the United States dollar of 1.79:1.
A large percentage of the Netherlands Antilleans descended from European colonists and African slaves who were brought and traded there from the 17th to 19th centuries. The rest of the population originated from other Caribbean islands as well as Latin America, East Asia and elsewhere in the world. In Curaçao there was a strong Jewish element going back to the 17th century slave trade.[citation needed]
The language Papiamentu was predominant on Curaçao and Bonaire (as well as the neighboring island of Aruba). This creole descended from Portuguese and West African languages with a strong admixture of Dutch, plus subsequent lexical contributions from Spanish and English. An English-based creole dialect, formally known as Netherlands Antilles Creole, was the native dialect of the inhabitants of Sint Eustatius, Saba and Sint Maarten.
After a decades-long debate, English and Papiamentu were made official languages alongside Dutch in early March 2007.[23]
Legislation was produced in Dutch, but parliamentary debate was in Papiamentu or English, depending on the island. Due to a massive influx of immigrants from Spanish-speaking territories such as the Dominican Republic in the Windward Islands, and increased tourism from Venezuela in the Leeward Islands, Spanish had also become increasingly used.
The majority of the population were followers of the Christian faith, with a Protestant majority in Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten, and a Roman Catholic majority in Bonaire, Curaçao and Saba. Curaçao also hosted a sizeable group of followers of the Jewish religion, descendants of a Portuguese group of Sephardic Jews that arrived from Amsterdam and Brazil from 1654. In 1982, there was a population of about 2,000 Muslims, with an Islamic association and a mosque in the capital.[24]
Most Netherlands Antilleans were Dutch citizens and this status permitted and encouraged the young and university-educated to emigrate to the Netherlands. This exodus was considered to be to the islands' detriment, as it created a brain drain. On the other hand, immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, the Anglophone Caribbean and Colombia had increased their presence on these islands in later years.
The origins of the population and location of the islands gave the Netherlands Antilles a mixed culture.
Tourism and overwhelming media presence from the United States increased the regional United States influence. On all the islands, the holiday of Carnival had become an important event after its importation from other Caribbean and Latin American countries in the 1960s. Festivities included "jump-up" parades with beautifully colored costumes, floats, and live bands as well as beauty contests and other competitions. Carnival on the islands also included a middle-of-the-night j'ouvert (juvé) parade that ended at sunrise with the burning of a straw King Momo, cleansing the island of sins and bad luck.
Netherlands Lesser Antilles competed in the Winter Olympics of 1988, notably finishing 29th in the bobsled, ahead of Jamaica who famously competed but finished 30th.
The Netherlands Antilles, though a non-existing entity since 2010, are allowed to field teams at the Chess Olympiad under this name, because the Curaçao Chess Federation remains officially registered as representing the dissolved country in the FIDE Directory.[25]
Miscellaneous topics
Unlike the metropolitan Netherlands, same-sex marriages were not performed in the Netherlands Antilles, but those performed in other jurisdictions were recognised.
The main prison of the Netherlands Antilles was Koraal Specht, later known as Bon Futuro. It was known for ill treatment of prisoners and bad conditions throughout the years.[26]
The late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez claimed that the Netherlands was helping the United States to invade Venezuela due to military games in 2006.[27]
^Albert Gastmann, "Suriname and the Dutch in the Caribbean" in Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, vol. 5, p. 189. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996.
Oostindie, G. and Klinkers, I. (2001) Het Koninkrijk inde Caraïben: een korte geschiedenis van het Nederlandse dekolonisatiebeleid 1940–2000. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
West Bendcity(EN) West Bend, Wisconsin West Bend – Veduta LocalizzazioneStato Stati Uniti Stato federato Wisconsin ConteaWashington AmministrazioneSindacoKristine Deiss TerritorioCoordinate43°25′22″N 88°11′03″W / 43.422778°N 88.184167°W43.422778; -88.184167 (West Bend)Coordinate: 43°25′22″N 88°11′03″W / 43.422778°N 88.184167°W43.422778; -88.184167 (West Bend) Altitudine284 m s.l.m. Superficie38,11 km² Abitanti31&…
Pseudonym used by poets/artists in Wales, Cornwall or Brittany A bardic name (Welsh: enw barddol, Cornish: hanow bardhek) is a pseudonym used in Wales, Cornwall, or Brittany by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement. The Welsh term bardd (poet) originally referred to the Welsh poets of the Middle Ages, who might be itinerant or attached to a noble household. Some of these medieval poets were known by a pseudonym, for example Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr (Cynddelw …
内華達州 美國联邦州State of Nevada 州旗州徽綽號:產銀之州、起戰之州地图中高亮部分为内華達州坐标:35°N-42°N, 114°W-120°W国家 美國建州前內華達领地加入聯邦1864年10月31日(第36个加入联邦)首府卡森城最大城市拉斯维加斯政府 • 州长(英语:List of Governors of {{{Name}}}]]) • 副州长(英语:List of lieutenant governors of {{{Name}}}]])喬·隆巴爾多(R斯塔夫…
Systematic or threatened use of violence to create a general climate of fear For support of terrorism by the United States, see United States and state-sponsored terrorism. The September 11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in human history. Members of the Mississippi branch of the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist terrorist group, who were charged with the conspiracy to murder three civil rights activists in 1964. 1st row: Cecil R. Price, Travis M.…
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: Push It Static-X song – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) 1999 single by Static-XPush ItSingle by Static-Xfrom the album Wisconsin Death Trip ReleasedJune 10, 1999 (1999-06-10…
Cycling race 2005 Tour of SloveniaUCI Europe Tour (2.1 race)Race detailsDates9–12 June 2005Stages4Distance611 km (379.7 mi)Winning time15h 34' 33Results Winner Przemysław Niemiec Second Fortunato Baliani Third Radoslav Rogina Points Ruggero Marzoli Mountains Przemysław Niemiec Youth Janez Brajkovič Team Miche← 2004 2006 → The 2005 Tour of Slovenia (Slovene: Dirka po Sloveniji) was the 12th edition of the Tour of Slovenia, categorized as 2.1 …
Hakuin Ekaku GelarRōshiInformasi pribadiLahirsekitar 1686JepangMeninggalsekitar 1769MazhabRinzai Ini adalah nama Jepang, nama keluarganya adalah Hakuin. Hakuin Ekaku (白隠 慧鶴code: ja is deprecated , 19 Januari 1686 - 18 Januari 1768) adalah salah satu figur paling berpengaruh dalam Buddha Zen Jepang. Biografi Tahun-tahun awal Hakuin lahir pada 1686 di desa kecil Hara,[web 1] di kaki Gunung Fuji. Penulisan Hakuin (2005), The Five Ranks. In: Classics of Buddhism and Zen. The Collect…
Part of the Serer ethnic group The Serer-Laalaa or Laalaa are part of the Serer ethnic group of Senegambia (Senegal and the Gambia). They live in Laa (var : Lâ), the Léhar Region, which comprises eighteen villages north of Thies and whose inhabitants are Serer-Laalaa. Although the people are ethnically Serer, their language Laalaa (or Lehar) is not a dialect of the Serer-Sine language, but—like Saafi, Noon, Ndut and Palor, one of the Cangin languages.[1] Other names Serer-Lehar,…
Costs incurred on combatants The American Revolutionary War inflicted great financial costs on all of the combatants, including the United States, France, Spain and the Kingdom of Great Britain. France and Great Britain spent 1.3 billion livres and 250 million pounds, respectively. The United States spent $400 million in wages for its troops. Spain increased its military spending from 454 million reales in 1778 to over 700 million reales in 1781. Economic warfare and financing The Boston Tea Par…
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (June 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Ethnic group Arabs in Berlinالعرب في برلينTotal populationEstimated at around 135,000[1] (3.5%)Regions with significant populationsBerlin Neukölln, Schöneberg, Gesundbrunnen, Moabit, KreuzbergLanguagesGerman · ArabicReligionP…
Japanese long-distance runner This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (January 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Yuko ArimoriYuko Arimori in November 2008Personal informationFull nameArimori YūkoNationalityJapaneseBorn (1966-12-17) December 17, 1966 (age 57)Okayama, JapanHeight1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)Websiteanimo.aspota…
Gunung MakmurDesaKantor desa Gunung MakmurPeta lokasi Desa Gunung MakmurNegara IndonesiaProvinsiKalimantan SelatanKabupatenTanah LautKecamatanTakisungKode pos70861Kode Kemendagri63.01.01.2005 Luas... km²Jumlah penduduk... jiwaKepadatan... jiwa/km² Gunung Makmur adalah salah satu desa di Kecamatan Takisung,[1] Kabupaten Tanah Laut, Provinsi Kalimantan Selatan, Indonesia. lbsKecamatan Takisung, Kabupaten Tanah Laut, Kalimantan SelatanDesa Batilai Benua Lawas Benua Tengah Gunung Makm…
Disambiguazione – Se stai cercando altri significati, vedi Colli Albani (disambigua). Questa voce o sezione sugli argomenti montagne d'Italia e Lazio non cita le fonti necessarie o quelle presenti sono insufficienti. Puoi migliorare questa voce aggiungendo citazioni da fonti attendibili secondo le linee guida sull'uso delle fonti. Segui i suggerimenti del progetto di riferimento. Colli AlbaniPanorama da ovest dei Colli Albani dalla campagna lanuvinaStato Italia Regione Lazio Pro…
Indian family of infantry arms INSAS redirects here. For the Belgian film school, see INSAS (film school). For India's future soldier program, see F-INSAS. INSAS rifle INSAS rifle in Indian armyTypeAssault rifle Light machine gunPlace of originIndiaService historyIn service1998–presentUsed bySee OperatorsWarsKargil War[1] Nepalese Civil War[2] Naxalite–Maoist insurgency[3] Insurgency in Northeast India[4] Myanmar Civil War[5]Product…
Classification of films based on similarities in narrative elements See also: List of genres § Film and television genres This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (July 2017) (Learn how an…
يفتقر محتوى هذه المقالة إلى الاستشهاد بمصادر. فضلاً، ساهم في تطوير هذه المقالة من خلال إضافة مصادر موثوق بها. أي معلومات غير موثقة يمكن التشكيك بها وإزالتها. (مارس 2016) كأس أفريقيا للأندية البطلة 1988 تفاصيل البطولة المنظم الاتحاد الإفريقي لكرة القدم التاريخ 1988 الفرق 37 ال…
نادي هيبرنيان تأسس عام 6 أغسطس 1875 (1875-08-06) (148 سنة) الملعب إيستر رود البلد المملكة المتحدة الدوري الدوري الإسكتلندي الممتاز الإدارة المالك توم فارمر المدرب جاك روس الموقع الرسمي الموقع الرسمي الطقم الرسمي الطقم الأساسي الطقم الاحتياطي الطقم الثالث تعديل مصدري …