The Netherlands Antilles 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. 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. People from this former territory continue to be called Antilleans in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands Antilles was a constituent country in the Caribbean Sea. It consisted of two island groups, the ABC islands Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba just north of Venezuela, and the SSS islands east of the Virgin Islands.
The ABC islands is the physical group of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, the three westernmost islands of the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. These have a shared political history and a status of Dutch underlying ownership, since the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 ceded them back to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as Curaçao and Dependencies from 1815. They are a short distance north of the Falcón State, Venezuela. Aruba and Curaçao are autonomous, self governing constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, while Bonaire is a special municipality of the Netherlands. Territories of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the countries, and its special municipalities, are outside the European Union; citizens have Dutch nationality and the former colonial power benefits from preferential trade, mineral and natural resource rights, particularly offshore.
The SSS islands, locally also known as the Windward Islands, is a collective term for the three territories of the Dutch Caribbean that are located within the Leeward Islands group of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. In order of population size, they are: Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius, and Saba. In some contexts, the term is also used to refer to the entire island of Saint Martin, alongside Sint Eustatius and Saba.
The Netherlands Antilles national football team was the national team of the former Netherlands Antilles from 1958 to 2010. It was controlled by the Nederlands Antilliaanse Voetbal Unie. The NAVU consisted of Curaçao and Bonaire. Aruba split in 1986 and has its own team.
Frits M. de los Santos Goedgedrag is a Dutch Antillean politician who was the first governor of Curaçao following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles. During his tenure, he oversaw the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles and Curaçao becoming a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The Scout and Guide movement in the Dutch Caribbean is served by
The Netherlands Antilles was an autonomous Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was dissolved on 10 October 2010.
The Catholic Church in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
The Netherlands Antilles participated at the Olympic Games from 1952 until 2008. As a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, it supported the Netherlands' boycott of the 1956 Games and also joined the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics. The Netherlands Antilles participated in the Winter Olympic Games twice.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Netherlands Antilles:
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.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands, commonly known simply as the Netherlands, is a sovereign state consisting of a collection of constituent territories united under the monarch of the Netherlands, who functions as head of state. The realm is not a federation; it is a unitary monarchy with its largest subdivision, the eponymous Netherlands, predominantly located in Northwestern Europe and with several smaller island territories located in the Caribbean.
The following is an alphabetical list of topics related to the former nation of the Netherlands Antilles.
The Caribbean Netherlands is a geographic region of the Netherlands located outside of Europe, in the Caribbean, consisting of three so-called special municipalities. These are the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, as they are also known in legislation, or the BES islands for short. The islands are officially classified as public bodies in the Netherlands and as overseas territories of the European Union; as such, European Union law does not automatically apply to them.
A common visa exists since the end of 2010 for the territories of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the Caribbean Netherlands which form together the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. The visa is not valid for the European part of the Netherlands, which is part of the Schengen Area.
An island council was the governing body of an island territory, an administrative level of the Netherlands Antilles until its dissolution.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba since 10 October 2012, the effective date of legislation passed by the States General of the Netherlands enabling same-sex couples to marry.
The Sint Eustatius national football team is the national association football team of the Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius. It is a not member of the Caribbean Football Union, CONCACAF, or FIFA and therefore cannot compete in tournaments sanctioned by these organizations. It is under the auspices of the Statia Football Association.
