)

, image_map = BES islands location map.svg , map_caption = Location of the Caribbean Netherlands (green and circled). From left to right:

Bonaire Bonaire (; , ; pap, Boneiru, , almost pronounced ) is a Dutch island in the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west ( leeward) coast of the island. Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao form the ABC i ...

, Saba, and

Sint Eustatius Sint Eustatius (, ), also known locally as Statia (), is an island in the Caribbean. It is a special municipality (officially " public body") of the Netherlands. The island lies in the northern Leeward Islands portion of the West Indies, so ...

, elevation_max_m = 887 , elevation_max_footnotes =
, demographics_type1 = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 = , demographics1_info2 = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Netherlands , subdivision_type1 = Special municipalities , subdivision_name1 = , established_title = Incorporated into the Netherlands , established_date = 10 October 2010 , government_footnotes = , leader_title1 = Monarch , leader_name1 = Willem-Alexander , leader_title2 = Lt. Governors , leader_name2 = , leader_title3=National Rep. , leader_name3=Jan Helmond , area_total_km2 = , area_footnotes = , population_total = , population_as_of = , population_footnotes = , population_density_km2 = 77 , timezone = AST , utc_offset = −4 , coordinates = , area_code_type = , area_code = , blank_name_sec1 = Currency , blank_info_sec1 = ($) ( USD) , blank_name_sec2 = Internet TLD , blank_info_sec2 = , iso_code = BQ, NL-BQ1, NL-BQ2, NL-BQ3 , population_estimate_year = 2020 , population_estimate = 25,987, area_km2=322 , official_languages = Dutch , recognised_regional_languages= The Caribbean Netherlands (, ) are the three special municipalities of the Netherlands that are located in the Caribbean Sea. They consist of the islands of

and Saba,"Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba" is the listed English name for the territorial grouping in the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 3166-1, where the English spelling was corrected with the release o
ISO 3166-1 Newsletter VI-9
. although the term "Caribbean Netherlands" is sometimes used to refer to all of the islands in the Dutch Caribbean. In legislation, the three islands are also known as Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba or the BES islands (an acronym of their names). The islands are currently classified as ''

public bodies A statutory corporation is a government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, thus, they are statutes owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government to the (in ...

'' in the Netherlands and as

overseas countries and territories The special territories of members of the European Economic Area (EEA) are the 32 special territories of EU member states and EFTA member states which, for historical, geographical, or political reasons, enjoy special status within or outsid ...

of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

; thus,

EU law European Union law is a system of rules operating within the member states of the European Union (EU). Since the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community following World War II, the EU has developed the aim to "promote peace, its value ...

does not automatically apply. Bonaire (including the islet of

Klein Bonaire Klein Bonaire ( Dutch for "Little Bonaire") is a small uninhabited islet off the west coast of the Caribbean island of Bonaire, and is part of the Dutch special municipality of Bonaire. Geography The Klein Bonaire islet, which sits within t ...

) is one of the Leeward Antilles and is located close to the coast of

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

. Sint Eustatius and Saba are in the main

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 ...

group and are located south of

Sint Maarten Sint Maarten () is a Countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, 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 divid ...

and northwest of

Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis (), officially the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, is an island country and microstate consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain ...

. The Caribbean Netherlands has a population of 25,157 as of January 2019.

Legal status

The three islands gained their current status following the

dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles The Netherlands Antilles was an autonomous Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was dissolved on 10 October 2010. After dissolution, the "BES islands" of the Dutch Caribbean—Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba—becam ...

on 10 October 2010. At the same time, the islands of

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coas ...

and

became autonomous countries ( nl, landen) within 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 = ...

. The island of Aruba is also a constituent country of the Kingdom located in the Caribbean. The term " Dutch Caribbean" may refer to the three special municipalities (e.g. for stamps), but may also refer to all of the Caribbean islands within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The population of the Caribbean Netherlands is . Their total area is . These figures are not consistent with the table below. In 2012, the islands of the Caribbean Netherlands voted for the first time, due to being special municipalities of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the

2012 Dutch general election Early general elections were held in the Netherlands on 12 September 2012 after Prime Minister Mark Rutte handed in his government's resignation to Queen Beatrix on 23 April. The 150 seats of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands wer ...

Administration

The special municipalities ( nl, bijzondere gemeenten) carry many of the functions normally performed by Dutch municipalities. The executive power rests with the Governing Council headed by an Island governor. The main democratic body is the

island council An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be ca ...

. Dutch citizens of these three islands are entitled to vote in Dutch national elections and (as all Dutch nationals) in European elections. Officially the islands are classed in Dutch law as being (literally translated as "public bodies") and not (

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

). Unlike normal municipalities, they do not form part of a

Dutch province There are twelve provinces of the Netherlands (), representing the administrative layer between the national government and the local municipalities, with responsibility for matters of subnational or regional importance. The most populous provi ...

and the powers normally exercised by provincial councils within municipalities are divided between the island governments themselves and the central government by means of the National Office for the Caribbean Netherlands. For this reason, they are called "special" municipalities. Many Dutch laws make special provisions for the Caribbean Netherlands. For example,

social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

is not on the same level as it is in the European Netherlands. AgeSexPyramid 2022 Caribisch Nederland

National Office

The ''National Office for the Caribbean Netherlands'' ( nl, Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland) is responsible for taxation, policing, immigration, transport infrastructure, health, education, and social security in the islands and provides these services on behalf of the Government of the Netherlands. This agency was established as the Regional Service Center in 2008 and became the National Office for the Caribbean Netherlands on 1 September 2010. The current director is Jan Helmond. The ''Representative for the public bodies of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba'' represents the Government of the Netherlands on the islands and also performs tasks similar to a King's Commissioner. The current representative is Gilbert Isabella.

Relationship with the European Union

The islands do not form part of the

and instead constitute "overseas countries and territories" (OCT status) of the Union, to which special provisions apply.Per the Annex II of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The

Lisbon Treaty The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by the EU member st ...

introduced a procedure where the European Council may change the status of an overseas territory of Denmark, France, or the Netherlands regarding the application of the EU treaties to that territory.Now contained in Article 355(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. In June 2008, the Dutch government published a survey of the legal and economic impacts by a switched status from OCT to outermost region (OMR). The position of the islands was reviewed after a five-year transitional period, which began with the

in October 2010. The review was conducted as part of the planned review of the Dutch "Act for the

Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba" ( nl, "Wet openbare lichamen Bonaire, Sint Eustatius en Saba (WolBES)"), where the islands have been granted the option to become an OMR – and thus a direct part of the European Union. In October 2015, the review concluded the present legal structures for governance and integration with European Netherlands was not working well within the framework of WolBES, but no recommendations were made in regards of whether a switch from OCT to OMR status would help improve this situation.

Foreign Policy and Defence

The Kingdom of the Netherlands has overarching responsibility for foreign relations, defence and Dutch nationality law in the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom. Units of the

Netherlands Armed Forces The Netherlands Armed Forces ( nl, Nederlandse krijgsmacht) are the military services of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The core of the armed forces consists of the four service branches: the Royal Netherlands Navy (), the Royal Netherlands A ...

deployed in the Caribbean include: * 32 Infantry Company of the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps on Aruba; * a Marine Corps detachment on St Maarten; * a Fast Raiding Interception and Special Forces Craft (FRISC) troop (fast boats) on Curaçao and Aruba; * a company of the

Royal Netherlands Army The Royal Netherlands Army ( nl, Koninklijke Landmacht) is the land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the was raised – making the Dut ...

on Curaçao on a rotational basis; * a guardship, normally a Holland-class offshore patrol vessel, from the Royal Netherlands Navy on station on a rotational basis; * the Royal Netherlands Navy support vessel HNLMS Pelikaan; * Arumil (Aruban) and Curmil (Curaçaoan) militia elements; * a Netherlands Armed Forces

Royal Marechaussee The Royal Netherlands Marechaussee ( nl, Koninklijke Marechaussee, abbreviated to KMar) is the national gendarmerie force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, performing military and civilian police duties. It is also one of the two national poli ...

brigade. Additionally, the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard is funded by the four countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Coast Guard is managed by the Ministry of Defence and is directed by the commander of the Royal Netherlands Navy in the Caribbean.

Geography

The Caribbean Netherlands form part of the

. Within this island group: * Bonaire is part of the ABC islands within the Leeward Antilles island chain off the

n coast. The Leeward Antilles have a mixed volcanic and coral origin. * Saba and Sint Eustatius are part of the

SSS islands The SSS islands (), locally also known as the Windward Islands ( or ), is a collective term for the three territories of the Dutch Caribbean (formerly the Netherlands Antilles) that are located within the Leeward Islands group of the Lesser Anti ...

. They are located east of

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

and the

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geology, geologically and biogeography, biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Ric ...

. Although in the English language they are usually described as being part of the Leeward Islands, in French, Spanish, Dutch and the English spoken locally, they are considered to be part of the

Windward Islands french: Îles du Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean Sea Nor ...

. The Windward Islands are all of volcanic origin and hilly, leaving little ground suitable for

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

. The highest point is Mount Scenery, , on Saba (also the highest point in all the

). File:Caribbean Netherlands map.png, Map showing Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba File:The Netherlands (incl. BES) in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.svg, Relative distance between mainland Netherlands in Europe and the Caribbean Netherlands File:Kingdom of the Netherlands location tree.svg, The Caribbean BES islands are subdivisions of the country of the Netherlands and are therefore referred to as the "Caribbean Netherlands."

Climate

The islands of the Caribbean Netherlands enjoy a

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologica ...

with warm weather all year round. The Leeward Antilles are warmer and drier than the Windward islands. In summer, the Windward Islands can be subject to

hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm, storm system characterized by a Low-pressure area, low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, Beaufort scale, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms tha ...

Currency

Until 1 January 2011, the three islands used the

Netherlands Antillean guilder The Netherlands Antillean guilder ( nl, gulden) is the currency of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, which until 2010 formed the Netherlands Antilles along with Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius. It is subdivided into 100 ''cents'' (Dutch plural form: ...

; after that all three switched to the U.S. dollar, rather than the

euro The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

(which is used in the European Netherlands) or the

Caribbean guilder The Caribbean guilder ( nl, Caribische gulden) is a proposed new currency of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, the Caribbean islands which became "landen" (constituent countries) within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, following the dissolution of the N ...

(which is being adopted by the other two former Antillean islands of

and

Communications

The telephone

country code Country codes are short alphabetic or numeric geographical codes ( geocodes) developed to represent countries and dependent areas, for use in data processing and communications. Several different systems have been developed to do this. The term ' ...

remains 599, that of the former Netherlands Antilles, and is shared with Curaçao. The International Organization for Standardization has assigned the

ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), to represent countries, dependent territories, and special are ...

country code ISO 3166-2:BQ for these islands. The

IANA The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is a standards organization that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System (DNS), media types, and other Interne ...

has not established a root zone for the

.bq .bq is designated—but not in use—as the Internet country code top-level domain ( ccTLD) for '' Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba'' (the Caribbean Netherlands) following the assignment on December 15, 2010, by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency ...

Internet

ccTLD A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and al ...

and whether it will be used is unknown.

Notes

References

External links

Official website of the National Office for the Caribbean Netherlands

Official website of the government of Bonaire

Official website of the government of Saba

Official website of the government of St. Eustatius
{{Authority control . Integral overseas territories Islands of the Netherlands Leeward Islands (Caribbean) Subdivisions of the Netherlands Municipalities of the Netherlands established in 2010 2010s establishments in the Caribbean 2010 establishments in North America