Aruba, officially known as the Country of Aruba, is a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, situated in the south of the Caribbean Sea. Aruba is located approximately 29 kilometres (18 mi) north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná and 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Curaçao.
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.
Bonaire is a Caribbean island in the Leeward Antilles, and is a special municipality of the Netherlands. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west (leeward) coast of the island. Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao form the ABC islands, 80 km off the coast of Venezuela. Unlike much of the Caribbean region, the ABC islands lie outside Hurricane Alley. The islands have an arid climate that attracts visitors seeking warm, sunny weather all year round. Bonaire is a popular snorkeling and scuba diving destination because of its multiple shore diving sites and easy access to the island's fringing reefs.
Klein Bonaire is a small uninhabited islet off the west coast of the Caribbean island of Bonaire, and is part of the Dutch special municipality of Bonaire.
Saba is a Caribbean island and the smallest special municipality of the Netherlands. It consists largely of the active volcano Mount Scenery, which at 887 metres (2,910 ft) is the highest point of the entire Kingdom of the Netherlands. The island lies in the northern Leeward Islands portion of the West Indies, southeast of the Virgin Islands. Together with Bonaire and Sint Eustatius it forms the BES islands, also known as the Caribbean Netherlands.
Sint Eustatius, known locally as Statia, is an island in the Caribbean. It is a special municipality of the Netherlands.
Kralendijk is the capital city and main port of the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean Netherlands. The language spoken in the town is Papiamentu, but Dutch and English are widely used. As of 2017, the town had a population of 10,620. In Papiamentu, the town is often called Playa or "beach".
De Hoge Veluwe National Park is a Dutch national park in the province of Gelderland near the cities of Ede, Wageningen, Arnhem and Apeldoorn. It is approximately 55 km2 in area, consisting of heathlands, sand dunes, and woodlands. It is situated in the Veluwe, the area of the largest terminal moraine in the Netherlands. Most of the landscape of the park and the Veluwe was created during the last ice age. The alternating sand dune areas and heathlands may have been caused by human utilization of the surrounding lands. The park forms one of the largest continuous nature reserves in the Netherlands.
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.
The Nationale Postcode Loterij is the biggest charity lottery in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1989 by Novamedia, a marketing agency that sets up and runs charity lotteries. Forty percent of the proceeds of this lottery are donated amongst 81 charities, which, in 2010 amounted to over 270 million euros.
The sport of association football in the island of Bonaire is run by the Bonaire Football Federation. The association administers the men's national team, the women's national team, as well as the Bonaire League.
Washington Slagbaai National Park is a national park and ecological reserve on the northwestern part of the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean Netherlands. The 5,643 hectares (21.79 sq mi) park covering approximately a fifth of the island of Bonaire is managed by STINAPA Bonaire, a non-profit foundation, on behalf of the Bonaire government. Established in 1969, Washington Slagbaai National Park was the first nature reserve to be established in the former Netherlands Antilles.
The Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) is a regional partnership of conservation organisations, including the national parks on the six islands of the Dutch Caribbean and is intended to support and strengthen the nature on the islands.
Caribbean Research and Management of Biodiversity Foundation is a research organization in Curaçao, former Netherlands Antilles. It is situated in Piscadera Bay, 25 metres (82 ft) from the Caribbean Sea. Its education and research programs include the ecological aspects of fisheries and coral reef sciences.
Evelina Betancourt-Anthony is an Aruban-born Bonairean health administrator and politician. From 1 December 2015 she has served as the Deputy Lieutenant Governor of the island and in the absence of the Island Governor fills the duties of that office.
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 Bonaire National Marine Park or BNMP is one of the oldest marine reserves in the world. It includes the sea around Bonaire and Klein Bonaire from the high water line to a depth of sixty meters. The park was established in 1979 and covers 2700 hectares and includes a coral reef, seagrass, and mangrove vegetation. The Lac Bay lagoon is also part of the underwater park.
"Golden Rock" is the regional anthem of Sint Eustatius, which was established by the Island Council on July 29, 2004, and was officially ratified on October 8, 2010. The anthem was composed by Pieter A. van den Heuvel.
Mount Brandaris, or Brandaris, is a hill that is the highest point on the island of Bonaire, a special municipality of the Netherlands in the southern Caribbean Sea.
