From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The
Caribbean Netherlands
(
Dutch
:
Caribisch Nederland
) is the part of the
Netherlands
that is in the
Caribbean
. The rest of the country is in
Europe
. The Caribbean Netherlands is made up of three
special municipalities
(
bijzondere gemeenten
): the islands of
Bonaire
,
Sint Eustatius
and
Saba
. They are also called the
BES islands
.
The Caribbean Netherlands does not include the other Dutch countries in the Caribbean (
Aruba
,
Curacao
and
Sint Maarten
). Those are three of the four
countries that make up
the
Kingdom of the Netherlands
.
[4]
The fourth country is the Netherlands proper. The islands of the Caribbean Netherlands are fully part of the Netherlands proper. They were made a part of the Netherlands when the
Netherlands Antilles
was dissolved (broken apart) on 10 October 2010.
[5]
Although the islands are now part of the Netherlands, they are not yet part of the
European Union
. They will instead remain
overseas territories
[6]
until at least 2015.
[7]
They are different to other municipalities in the Netherlands. Unlike normal municipalities, they do not form part of a
Dutch province
.
[8]
Bonaire is located east of Aruba and Curacao, close to the coast of
Venezuela
. Sint Eustatius and Saba are located south of Sint Maarten and northwest of
Saint Kitts and Nevis
. The BES islands have a total population of 21,000 and a total area of 328 square kilometres (127 sq mi).
Outlying territories of
European
countries
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Denmark
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France
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Italy
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Netherlands
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Norway
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Portugal
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Spain
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United Kingdom
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