| Bodyclass: | geography |
| Dutch Caribbean | |
| Label1: | Area |
| Data1: | 980km2[1] |
| Label2: | Population |
| Data2: | 337,617 |
| Label3: | GDP (Nominal) |
| Data3: | US$8.911 billion[2] |
| Label4: | GDP per Capita (Nominal) |
| Data4: | US$29,240 |
| Label5: | Density |
| Data5: | 343/km2 |
| Label6: | Languages |
| Data6: | Dutch, English, Papiamento |
| Label7: | Government |
| Data7: | 3 constituent countries 3 special municipalities |
The Dutch Caribbean (historically known as the Dutch West Indies) are the New World territories, colonies, and countries (former and current) of the Dutch Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea, mainly the northern and southwestern regions of the Lesser Antilles archipelago.
Currently, it comprises the constituent countries of Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten (the 'CAS' islands) and the special municipalities of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (BES islands).[1] The term "Dutch Caribbean" is sometimes also used for the Caribbean Netherlands, an entity consisting of the three special municipalities forming part of the constituent country of the Netherlands since 2010.[3] [4] The Dutch Caribbean had a population of 337,617 as of January 2019.[1]
The islands of the Dutch Caribbean were, formerly, part of Curaçao and Dependencies (1815–1828), or Sint Eustatius and Dependencies (1815–1828), which were merged with the colony of Suriname (not actually considered part of the "Dutch Caribbean", although it is located on the Caribbean coast of northeastern South America). Until 1845, they were governed from Paramaribo, Suriname, at which point all the islands, again, became part of Curaçao and Dependencies.
In 1954, the islands became the land (Dutch for "country") of Netherlands Antilles, lasting until 2010. The autonomy of the Netherlands Antilles' island territories was stipulated in the Islands Regulation of the Netherlands Antilles. Initially, the Netherlands Antilles consisted of four island territories—Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao and the SSS islands. The latter split into the Island Territories of Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten, in 1983.
The island of Aruba seceded from the Netherlands Antilles in 1986 to become a separate constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, leaving five island territories within the Netherlands Antilles. This arrangement lasted until the complete dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, as a unified political entity, in 2010; that year, Curaçao and Sint Maarten became autonomous constituent countries within the Kingdom (like Aruba). Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba became special municipalities of the Netherlands proper (located on the European mainland), a member state of the European Union.
Geographically, the six entities of the Dutch Caribbean are clustered into two vastly separated areas of the Caribbean:
Politically, each (six) entity of the Dutch Caribbean currently has one of two relationships with the Netherlands:
Three Caribbean polities are landen (Dutch for "countries") within the Kingdom of the Netherlands: Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten. The Netherlands is the fourth and largest constituent country in the Kingdom.
Sint Maarten comprises the southern half of the island of Saint Martin. The northern half of the island (the Collectivity of Saint Martin) is an overseas territory of France. Aruba and Curaçao are located in the far south of the Caribbean, roughly 30 kilometres and 65 kilometres from the coast of Venezuela, respectively.
See main article: Caribbean Netherlands.
The three Caribbean islands that are special municipalities of the Netherlands alone are Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba. Abbreviated collectively, these are also known as the "BES islands", or the Caribbean Netherlands. Bonaire is located in the far south of the Caribbean, being about 80 kilometres north of the coast of Venezuela; Saba is located about 50 kilometres south of Sint Maarten, and boasts the highest mountain in the Netherlands, Mount Scenery, at 880 m (2,887') above sea level). Sint Eustatius is located directly north of Saint Kitts.
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The islands have also been informally grouped in the following ways.
The populations of the Dutch Caribbean descend from a diverse array of ethnic groups (Europeans, Africans, Indigenous, Latin-Americans, Jews, Levantine Arabs, Asians etc.), having been home to numerous people groups, languages and cultures over time.[5]
The Dutch Caribbean is generally ethnically mixed, but the ethnic makeup of each island varies. People from Aruba have higher degrees of European and Indigenous ancestry (mestizos) on average,[6] while people from the other islands (Curaçao, Bonaire, Sint Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius) tend to have higher degrees of African ancestry on average.[7]
Inhabitants of the Dutch Caribbean are multi-lingual, often speaking 3 to 4 languages at high degrees of fluency.[8]
Papiamento, a Portuguese-based creole, is the pre-dominant language on Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. It is a Portuguese-based creole with heavy influence from Spanish, Dutch, West-African languages and Native languages. There are 2 dialects of the language, Papiamento (Aruba) and Papiamentu (Curaçao and Bonaire). It is an official language on Aruba and Curaçao and is used in almost all aspects of life on the ABC Islands.[9]
English pre-dominates on Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius. English is also widely known and spoken on Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao (especially on Aruba).
Spanish is widely known and spoken on Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao due to proximity, historical and cultural connections to Venezuela and Colombia. Many Spanish-speaking immigrants from Latin-America also reside on the islands.
Dutch is not the common or native language on any of the Dutch Caribbean islands, although most inhabitants do know and can speak Dutch quite well. Dutch is used in government documents, jobs and education. Dutch usage on the islands also varies, with Dutch generally having a larger and more significant presence on Curaçao and Bonaire.
Other languages such as Portuguese, Haitian Creole, French, Sranan Tongo, German, Chinese, Tagalog are also spoken by smaller communities on the islands.
