The bottom

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The bottom
Residents 462 (2001)
Coordinates 17 ° 38 ′  N , 63 ° 15 ′  W Coordinates: 17 ° 38 ′  N , 63 ° 15 ′  W
height 220  m NAP
Saba School of Medicine.jpg
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The Bottom (originally Dutch Botte ) is the main town on the island of Saba . Since October 10, 2010 Saba is a special municipality in the Netherlands. The island was previously part of the Netherlands Antilles .

The place is in the interior of the mountainous island, about 220 meters above sea level, at the foot of the Mount Scenery volcano . At 877 meters, this is the highest mountain in the Kingdom of the Netherlands .

history

Botte was founded by Zeeland colonists who had previously settled in Fort Bay from around 1640 , which was destroyed by a landslide in 1651, which forced the settlers to move into the interior of the island. With the settlement of English, Irish and Scottish seamen, pirates and African slaves, English became the dominant language on Saba in the following centuries, which ultimately led to the name being changed.

The original name of the place describes its location, but by no means the current English name "The Bottom" ( German  floor, lowest part ), which is merely a corruption of the former Dutch name "Botte" (an old Dutch word for "bowl" or "bowl") ", Also" sink "), which the first Zeeland settlers gave to the place surrounded by high cliffs.

Leverock

Some sources claim that the “official” name of the place is “Leverock City”, “Leverock Town”, “Leverick Town”, “Leverock” or the like, depending on the source. Depending on the source, this is due either to the Leverock family (or Leverick), which are represented in the village with a large number of people, or to the person of Moses Leverock (1814–1875), who was governor of the from 1863 to 1875 Island was.

The historian J. Hartog, who specializes in the Netherlands Antilles, writes: As far back as people can remember, the capital of Saba has been called "The Bottom". [...] In 1868 some of the leading citizens decided to immortalize his name by linking it with the capital. On Christmas morning in 1868 they gathered in the home of Richard Simpson and officially decided to name The Bottom "Town of Leverock" or "Leverock's Town".

However, neither the island government of Saba nor the Dutch government confirm an official renaming. In official documents, the place is referred to as "The Bottom".

population

At the last census in 2001, the place had 462 inhabitants. At that time, 1349 people lived on the entire island.

Infrastructure and administration

The administration and the governor ( Gezaghebber ) of the island reside in The Bottom . There is also a police station and medical center in The Bottom.

The Bottom has three churches: the 18th-century Anglican Christ Church , the 1877 Roman Catholic Sacred Heart Church, and Wesleyan Holiness Church , which formed during the 20th century through the merger of the Apostolic Faith Church , the Pilgrim Holiness Church and the Wesleyan Methodist Church originated.

In 1935, the Wilhelminapark, named after the Queen at the time , was created in The Bottom , a small green area with an octagonal bandstand.

Since 1992, the Saba University School of Medicine , a College of Medicine .

The Bottom is connected by three winding mountain roads to the island's only port in Fort Bay (southwest), Wells Bay (north) and the village of St. Johns further east and the commercial center of Windwardside Island .

In The Bottom is the Major Osmar Ralph Simmons Museum .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johannes Hartog: History of Saba. Van Guilder NV, Saba 1975, pp. 18, 75, 76 (English).
  2. ^ Johannes Hartog: History of Saba. Van Guilder NV, Saba 1975, Chapter 10: "Town of Leverock", p. 47 f. (English).
  3. ↑ a b About Saba - Location. Public Entity Saba, accessed October 30, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Saba. (No longer available online.) Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland, archived from the original on November 7, 2017 ; accessed on October 30, 2017 (English). 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rijksdienstcn.com
  5. ↑ Francis Vierbergen (ed.): Geo data 2001 Saba & Sint Eustatius - Socio-economic aspects placed in a spatial context . Central Bureau of Statistics, Willemstad May 2007, p. 17 , Table 1: Population by gender, sex ratio and zone, Saba (English, online [PDF; 1,2 MB ; accessed on October 30, 2017]).
  6. ^ Saba - Locations. Korps Politie Caribisch Nederland, accessed October 30, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Welcome to Saba Healthcare Foundation. Saba Health Care Foundation (SHCF), accessed October 30, 2017 .
  8. ^ Information About Saba. Churches. In: sabatourism.com. Saba Tourist Bureau, accessed October 30, 2017 .
  9. ^ About Saba University. Saba University School of Medicine, accessed October 30, 2017 .
  10. ^ The Major Osmar Ralph Simmons Museum. In: Saba Guide - Information about the Dutch Caribbean Island. Archived from the original on November 2, 2013 ; accessed on October 30, 2017 (English).