The flag of the Netherlands Antilles was white, with a horizontal blue stripe in the center, one-third of the flag's hoist, superimposed on a vertical red stripe of the same width, also centered; six white, five-pointed stars are arranged in a pentagon pattern in the center of the blue band, their points up. It was adopted on 19 November 1959.
The Netherlands Antilles national football team was the national team of the former Netherlands Antilles and was controlled by the Nederlands Antilliaanse Voetbal Unie. The NAVU consisted of Curaçao and Bonaire. Aruba split in 1986 and has its own team.
The Netherlands Antillean guilder is the currency of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, which until 2010 formed the Netherlands Antilles along with Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius. It is subdivided into 100 cents. The guilder was replaced by the United States dollar on 1 January 2011 on Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius. On Curaçao and Sint Maarten, the Netherlands Antillean guilder was proposed to be replaced by a new currency, the Caribbean guilder, but this has been stalled indefinitely by negotiations over the establishment of a separate central bank for Curaçao.
Country Code: +599
International Call Prefix: 00
The Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba serves the three Caribbean countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the three Caribbean special municipalities of the Netherlands. The court primarily hears disputes in first instance and on appeal of these six islands, and is on the same level as similar courts in the Netherlands. Since 2012, the court has also been authorized to hear inquiry procedures originated on Curaçao, of a type that would be heard in the Netherlands by the Enterprise Chamber in Amsterdam.
General elections in the Netherlands Antilles took place on 22 January 2010. Voters elected the 22 members of the Estates, or parliament, of the Netherlands Antilles. It has been the country's last general election, as the Netherlands Antilles have ceased to exist as a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands on 10 October 2010. At the time of the elections, the Netherlands Antilles consisted of the Caribbean islands of Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten.
A constitutional referendum was held in Bonaire on 17 December 2010. The new constitution would make the island a municipality within the Netherlands. Although the results showed 87% had voted against the new status, the referendum had required a 51% turnout and was subsequently declared invalid as the actual turnout was only 35%.
The Caribbean Netherlands are the three special municipalities of the Netherlands that are located in the Caribbean Sea. They consist of the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, although the term "Caribbean Netherlands" is sometimes used to refer to all of the islands in the Dutch Caribbean. In legislation, the three islands are also known as the BES islands. The islands are currently classified as public bodies in the Netherlands and as overseas countries and territories of the European Union; thus, EU law does not automatically apply.
A status referendum was held on the island of Sint Maarten in October 1994. The referendum was the result of a discussion about the future of the Netherlands Antilles, following the secession of Aruba in 1986. While most politicians, including the government of the Netherlands Antilles and the island government campaigned in favour of secession of Sint Maarten to make it form a country of its own within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the option of retaining and restructuring the Netherlands Antilles came out in favour. This resulted in the rise of the Party for the Restructured Antilles.
A status referendum was held on the island of Sint Maarten on 22 June 2000.
A status referendum was held on the island of Curaçao on 8 April 2005. The option of becoming an autonomous area within the Kingdom of the Netherlands was approved by 68% of voters.
A status referendum was held on the island of Saba on 5 November 2004.
A status referendum was held on the island of Sint Eustatius on 8 April 2005.
The Identity card BES is a uniform identity card for residents in the Caribbean Netherlands introduced upon the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010. The cards are machine-readable and have the size of a credit card. The front contains the words Identiteitskaart followed by the island names Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba. The card also contains the coat of arms of the island of issue.
The Dutch Caribbean are the territories, colonies, and countries, both former and current, of the Dutch Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands that are located in the Lesser Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea.
An island council was the governing body of an island territory, an administrative level of the Netherlands Antilles until its dissolution.
