The SSS islands (), locally also known as the Windward Islands ( or ), is a collective term for the three territories of the

Dutch Caribbean The Dutch Caribbean (historically known as the Dutch West Indies) are the territories, colonies, and countries, former and current, of the Dutch Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean Sea. They are in the north and south-wes ...

(formerly the Netherlands Antilles) that are located within the Leeward Islands group of the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc bet ...

. In order of population size, they are:

Sint Maarten Sint Maarten () is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. With a population of 41,486 as of January 2019 on an area of , it encompasses the southern 44% of the divided island of Saint Martin, while the nort ...

, Sint Eustatius and

Saba Saba may refer to: Places * Saba (island), an island of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea * Şaba (Romanian for Shabo), a town of the Odesa Oblast, Ukraine * Sabá, a municipality in the department of Colón, Honduras * Saba (river), ...

. In some contexts, the term is also used to refer to the entire island of Saint Martin (which also includes the

Collectivity of Saint Martin The Collectivity of Saint Martin (french: Collectivité de Saint-Martin), commonly known as simply Saint Martin (, ), is an overseas collectivity of France in the West Indies in the Caribbean, on – but not identical with – the island of S ...

), alongside Sint Eustatius and Saba. The SSS islands were island territories of the Netherlands Antilles, until its dissolution in 2010. Since then, Sint Maarten is a constituent country of the

Kingdom of the Netherlands , national_anthem = ) , image_map = Kingdom of the Netherlands (orthographic projection).svg , map_width = 250px , image_map2 = File:KonDerNed-10-10-10.png , map_caption2 = Map of the four constituent countries shown to scale , capital = ...

, while Sint Eustatius and Saba are special municipalities of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. "SSS" is an

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

of the islands' names, and is analogous to the ABC, CAS and

BES islands ) , image_map = BES islands location map.svg , map_caption = Location of the Caribbean Netherlands (green and circled). From left to right: Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius , elevation_max_m = 887 , elevation_max_footnotes = , demographic ...

, which are other commonly used subdivisions of the Dutch Caribbean.

History

The island of Saint Martin was split between

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and the

in 1648. The Dutch part, together with Sint Eustatius and Saba, became a single Dutch colony in 1815 as Sint Eustatius and Dependencies (). In 1828, this colony was merged with the colonies

Curaçao and Dependencies The Colony of Curaçao and Dependencies ( nl, Kolonie Curaçao en onderhorigheden; pap, Kolonia di Kòrsou i dependensianan) was a Dutch colony in the Caribbean Sea from 1815 until 1828 and from 1845 until 1954. Between 1936 and 1948, the area wa ...

(the ABC islands) and Surinam, with

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname' ...

as its capital. When this merger was partly reversed in 1845, the Dutch part of the SSS islands became part of Curaçao and Dependencies, with

Willemstad Willemstad ( , ; ; en, William Town, italic=yes) is the capital city of Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea that forms a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was the capital of the Netherlands Antilles pr ...

as its capital. This colony became the Netherlands Antilles in 1954. As part of the Netherlands Antilles, the SSS islands initially formed a single island territory () as the Windward Islands. In 1983, it was split up into three separate island territories, with each a separate island council. After the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on 10 October 2010, Sint Eustatius and Saba became special municipalities of the Netherlands, while Sint Maarten became an independent country within the

Composition

Political sense

Geographical sense

References

Bibliography