Background: Once the center of the Caribbean slave trade, the
island of Curacao was hard hit by the abolition of slavery in 1863. Its
prosperity (and that of neighboring Aruba) was restored in the early 20th
century with the construction of oil refineries to service the newly
discovered Venezuelan oil fields. The island of Sint Maarten is shared
with France; its northern portion is named Saint Martin and is part of
Guadeloupe.
Dependency
status: part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; full autonomy in internal affairs
granted in 1954
Government type: parliamentary
Capital: Willemstad
Currency: 1 Netherlands Antillean guilder, gulden, or florin (NAf.) = 100 cents
Geography of the Netherlands Antilles
Location: Caribbean, two island groups in the Caribbean Sea - one includes
Curacao and Bonaire north of Venezuela and the other is east of the Virgin Islands
Geographic coordinates: 12 15 N, 68 45 W
Area:
total: 960 sq km
land: 960 sq km
water: 0 sq km
note: includes Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten (Dutch part
of the island of Saint Martin)
Land boundaries:
total: 10.2 km
border countries: Guadeloupe (Saint Martin) 10.2 km
Coastline: 364 km
Maritime claims:
exclusive fishing zone: 12 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: tropical; ameliorated by northeast trade winds
Terrain: generally hilly, volcanic interiors
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: Mount Scenery 862 m
Natural resources: phosphates (Curacao only), salt (Bonaire only)
Land use:
arable land: 10%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 0%
forests and woodland: 0%
other: 90% (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: Curacao and Bonaire are south of Caribbean hurricane belt and
are rarely threatened; Sint Maarten, Saba, and Sint Eustatius are subject to hurricanes
from July to October
Geography - note: the five islands of the Netherlands Antilles are
divided geographically into the Leeward Islands (northern) group (Saba, Sint
Eustatius, and Sint Maarten) and the Windward Islands (southern) group
(Bonaire and Curacao).
People of the Netherlands Antilles
Population: 219,958 (July 2005 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 25.21%
15-64 years: 66.99%
65 years and over: 7.8%
Population growth rate: 0.97%
Birth rate: 16.55 births/1,000 population
Death rate: 6.41 deaths/1,000 population
Net migration rate: -0.42 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Infant mortality rate: 11.4 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 74.94 years
male: 72.76 years
female: 77.22 years
Total fertility rate: 2.07 children born/woman
Nationality:
noun: Netherlands Antillean(s)
adjective: Netherlands Antillean
Ethnic groups: mixed black 85%, Carib Amerindian, white, East Asian
Religions: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Seventh-Day Adventist
Languages: Dutch (official), Papiamento (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English
dialect) predominates, English widely spoken, Spanish
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98%
male: 98%
female: 99% (1981 est.)
SOURCE: The World Factbook |
