Dutch Caribbean

Caribisch deel van het Koninkrijk (Nederlandse Cariben / Nederlandse Caraïben)
Dutch Caribbean
Aruba Curacao Sint Maarten Caribbean Netherlands (from west to east) : Bonaire - Saba - Sint Eustatius

The Dutch Caribbean ( Dutch Nederlandse Caribs or Nederlandse Caraïben , official: Caribisch deel van het Koninkrijk ; English Dutch Caribbean ) includes in the Caribbean located to Kingdom of the Netherlands belonging autonomous countries Aruba , Curacao and Sint Maarten and the (as special municipalities ) to Country Netherlands belonging to islands of Bonaire , Sint Eustatius and Saba . Since 1816 these islands have been in Dutch colonial possession through "final" regulations of the European powers , since 1877 under the name Curaçao en Onderhorigheiden .

The entirety of the Dutch Caribbean is therefore to be distinguished from the Caribbean Netherlands ( Dutch Caribisch Nederland ; English Caribbean Netherlands ), which only includes the three special municipalities of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba.

territory

The Dutch Caribbean includes:

• three "countries":
  • the island of Aruba and its subsidiary islands Palm Island and Renaissance Island (Land of Aruba)
  • the islands of Curaçao and Klein Curaçao (country of Curaçao)
  • the Dutch part of the island of St. Martin and the islets of Guana Key, Cow & Calf, Hen & Chickens, Molly Beday and Pelikan Key (Land Sint Maarten )
• three "special municipalities":
  • the islands of Bonaire and Klein Bonaire (special municipality of Bonaire)
  • the islands of Saba and Green Island (special municipality of Saba)
  • the island of Sint Eustatius (Special parish of Sint Eustatius)

flag	Surname	main place	Coordinates	Area km²	Check- residents	Population density per km²	currency	Current status
	Aruba	Oranjestad	12 ° 31 ′  N , 69 ° 58 ′  W.	180	106,050 (2009)	589 (2009)	Aruba florin	autonomous country in the kingdom since January 1, 1986
	Bonaire	Kralendijk	12 ° 11 ′  N , 68 ° 16 ′  W.	288	12,877 (2009)	45 (2009)	U.S. dollar	Special parish since October 10, 2010
	Curacao	Willemstad	12 ° 11 ′  N , 68 ° 59 ′  W.	444	141,766 (2009)	319 (2009)	Antilles guilder	autonomous country in the kingdom since October 10, 2010
	Saba	The bottom	17 ° 38 ′  N , 63 ° 14 ′  W.	13	1,601 (2009)	123 (2009)	U.S. dollar	Special parish since October 10, 2010
	St. Eustatius	Oranjestad	17 ° 29 ′  N , 62 ° 58 ′  W	21st	2,768 (2009)	132 (2009)	U.S. dollar	Special parish since October 10, 2010
	Sint Maarten	Philipsburg	18 ° 1 ′  N , 63 ° 3 ′  W.	34	40,917 (2009)	1203 (2009)	Antilles guilder	autonomous country in the kingdom since October 10, 2010

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

Geographical location

All islands belong to the Lesser Antilles . Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius, and Saba, also known as the SSS Islands , are among the Leeward Islands in the northeastern Caribbean. Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, also known as the ABC Islands , are among the Leeward Islands in the southern Caribbean.

history

Map from the Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch West-Indië , 1914–1917

The islands first became Dutch through the conquests of the Dutch West India Company in the 17th century, beginning with Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire in 1634. Subsequently, the islands changed their affiliation to Great Britain, France and the Netherlands with varying degrees of frequency.

With the British-Dutch Treaty of 1814 , the islands finally came into Dutch possession in 1816. First, two colonies were established. The colony of Curaçao en Onderhorigheden comprised Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire, the colony of Sint Eustatius en Onderhorigheden comprised Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten and Saba. In 1828 these were merged with the colony of Suriname to form a colony of Gouvernement-Generaal van's rijks West-Indian bezittingen and administered from Paramaribo in Suriname. In 1845 this colony was split up again. The colony of Curaçao en Onderhorigheiden now comprised Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten and Saba.

In 1863 slavery was abolished in the kingdom . On July 1 of this year, 12,000 people were released in the colony.

See also : Dutch West India Company

In 1936 the colony of Curaçao en Onderhorigheden was renamed Gebiedsdeel Curaçao (German part of Curaçao). In 1948 it was renamed again and the colony was henceforth called Nederlandse Antillen ( Netherlands Antilles ).

At the end of 1954, the colony of the Netherlands Antilles received the status of an internally autonomous country of the Kingdom through the Statuut voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden (German: Charter of the Kingdom of the Netherlands , not to be confused with the Basic Law for the Kingdom of the Netherlands ).

At the end of 1985, Aruba left the Netherlands Antilles and became a separate, internally autonomous country of the kingdom ( status aparte , German: separate status). The Dutch Ministry of the Interior has been responsible for relations with other countries since 1998 and has been called the Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties since then .

On October 10, 2010, the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved. The inwardly autonomous countries of Curaçao and Sint Maarten and the special municipalities of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, which belong to the Netherlands, were created. Since then, the entirety of the Dutch Caribbean is officially called Caribisch deel van het Koninkrijk .

languages

The official languages ​​of the Netherlands Antilles have been Dutch , English and Papiamentu since 2007 . Papiamentu is the vernacular language on the Leeward Islands , it is a Creole language based on Portuguese with many Dutch as well as English, French and Spanish influences.

English is the vernacular language on the Leeward Islands . The language of instruction has always been Dutch, but in the 2000s it was decided to introduce Papiamentu and English as the language of instruction in primary schools. Secondary schools continue to use Dutch because they use the same central written final exam as in the Netherlands and because many students go to higher education in the Netherlands after graduation. Since the 2008/09 school year, Dutch has also been taught in primary schools in Curaçao.

The literature is mainly in Dutch and Papiamentu, with a small part also in English and Spanish.

The literacy rate (over 15s can read and write) is 96.7% (2001).

Most spoken language as a percentage of the population

area	Papiamentu	English	Dutch	Spanish	Other
Aruba	69	8th	6th	13	3
Bonaire	75	3	9	12	2
Curacao	81	3	8th	6th	2
Saba	1	88	2	5	4th
St. Eustatius	2	83	4th	6th	6th
Sint Maarten	2	68	4th	13	13
average	65	16	7th	6th	5

(Numbers rounded, sums therefore partly ≠ 100)

Responsibilities

Structure of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Blue background: the Dutch Caribbean

The Kingdom's responsibilities for the entire Dutch Caribbean are foreign affairs , defense and citizenship matters .

There are other joint government and non-governmental organizations for the Dutch Caribbean, such as B. the joint coastguard , the joint nature conservation organization Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance , a joint public prosecutor's office (not responsible for Aruba) and the joint court of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba ( Gemeenschappelijk Hof van Justitie van Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten en van Bonaire, Sint Eustatius en Saba ).

Web links

Commons : Dutch Caribbean  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Government of Aruba website
• Website of the Government of Curacao
• Sint Maarten government website
• Website of the Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland
• NetherlandsNet of the University of Münster
• Dutch Caribbean Digital Platform

literature

• Cornelis Ch. Goslinga: The Dutch in the Caribbean and on the Wild Coast. 1580-1680 . University Press of Florida, Gainesville FL 1971, ISBN 0-8130-0280-X .
• Gert Oostindie, Inge Klinkers: Decolonizing the Caribbean. Dutch Policies in a Comparative Perspective . Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam 2003, ISBN 90-5356-654-6 .
• Gert Oostindie: Paradise overseas. The Dutch Caribbean. Colonialism and its transatlantic legacies . Macmillan, Oxford 2005, ISBN 1-4050-5713-0 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties: Caribisch deel van het Koninkrijk - Onderwerp - Rijksoverheid.nl. In: rijksoverheid.nl. Retrieved January 8, 2017 (nl-NL). 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, the Netherlands Net: Netherlands Net - History - Netherlands Antilles and Surinam - Chronology of Relations. In: uni-muenster.de. www.uni-muenster.de, accessed on January 9, 2017 .  
3. ^ Gert Oostindie, Inge Klinkers: Decolonizing the Caribbean: Dutch Policies in a Comparative Perspective . Amsterdam University Press, 2003, ISBN 978-90-5356-654-1 .
4. ↑ De administratieve Afscheiding tusschen Suriname en Curacao voor honderd jaren. In: uoc.cw. dcdp.uoc.cw, accessed January 9, 2017 . 
5. ↑ Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, NetherlandsNet: NetherlandsNet - History - Development Cooperation - The Netherlands and the slave trade. In: uni-muenster.de. www.uni-muenster.de, accessed on January 9, 2017 . 
6. ^ University of Leiden
7. ↑ Wetten.nl - Regeling - Statuut voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden - BWBR0002154. In: overheid.nl. Wetten.overheid.nl, accessed on January 9, 2017 . 
8. ^ Aruba Overheid: Historie van het Koninkrijk en Aruba. In: overheid.aw. Retrieved January 9, 2017 . 
9. ^ Ministerie van Algemene Zaken: Waaruit confirms the Koninkrijk der Nederlanden? - Vraag en antwoord - Rijksoverheid.nl. In: rijksoverheid.nl. Retrieved January 9, 2017 (nl-NL). 
10. ^ University of Leiden
11. ↑ 2001 census
12. ^ Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties: Verantwoordelijkheden Nederland, Aruba, Curaçao en Sint Maarten - Caribisch deel van het Koninkrijk - Rijksoverheid.nl. In: rijksoverheid.nl. Retrieved January 9, 2017 (nl-NL). 
13. ↑ Operatiegebied - Coast Guard Dutch Caribbean. (No longer available online.) In: kustwacht.org. Archived from the original on May 13, 2016 ; accessed on January 9, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
14. ↑ Over DCNA - Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance. In: dcna.nl. Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance, accessed January 9, 2017 (American English). 
15. ↑ Over het OM - Openbaar Ministerie-Curacao-Sint Maarten-BES Islands. In: openbaarministerie.org. Openbaar Ministerie-Curacao-Sint Maarten-BES Islands, accessed January 9, 2017 . 
16. ↑ Gemeenschappelijk Hof van Justitie. In: openbaarministerie.org. www.rechtspraak.nl, accessed on March 10, 2019 . 

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap