Netherlands Antilles
Netherlands Antilles | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1954–2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Motto: Latin: Libertate unanimus Dutch: In vrijheid verenigd "Unified in freedom" | |||||||||||||||||||
| Anthem: Wilhelmus (Dutch) "William" (1954–1964) Tera di solo y suave biento (Papiamento) "Land of Sun and Gentle Breeze" (1964–2000) Anthem of the Netherlands Antilles (2000–2010) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Willemstad | ||||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Dutch English Papiamento | ||||||||||||||||||
| Demonyms | Netherlands Antillean Dutch Antillean | ||||||||||||||||||
| Government | Parliamentary constitutional monarchy | ||||||||||||||||||
| Monarchs | |||||||||||||||||||
• 1954–1980 | Juliana | ||||||||||||||||||
• 1980–2010 | Beatrix | ||||||||||||||||||
| Governor | |||||||||||||||||||
• 1951–1956 (first) | Teun Struycken | ||||||||||||||||||
• 2002–2010 (last) | Frits Goedgedrag | ||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||||||||||||
• 1951–1954 (first) | Moises Frumencio da Costa Gomez | ||||||||||||||||||
• 2006–2010 (last) | Emily de Jongh-Elhage | ||||||||||||||||||
| Legislature | Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles | ||||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||||
| 15 December 1954 | |||||||||||||||||||
• Secession of Aruba | 1 January 1986 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 10 October 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Currency | Netherlands Antillean guilder | ||||||||||||||||||
| Calling code | 599 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | AN | ||||||||||||||||||
| Internet TLD | .an | ||||||||||||||||||
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The Netherlands Antilles (Dutch: Nederlandse Antillen, pronounced [ˈneːdərlɑntsə ʔɑnˈtɪlə(n)] ⓘ; Papiamento: Antia Hulandes), also known as the Dutch Antilles, was a constituent Caribbean country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisting of the islands of Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten in the Lesser Antilles, and Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao in the Leeward Antilles. The country came into being in 1954 as the autonomous successor of the Dutch colony of Curaçao and Dependencies, and it was dissolved in 2010, when Aruba (in 1986), Sint Maarten and Curaçao gained the status of constituent countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Bonaire gained the status of special municipalities of the Netherlands as the Caribbean Netherlands. The neighboring Dutch colony of Surinam, in continental South America, did not become part of the Netherlands Antilles but became a separate sovereign country in 1954. All the territories that formerly belonged to the Netherlands Antilles remain part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands today, although the legal status of each island differs. As a group they are still commonly called the Dutch Caribbean, regardless of their legal status.