Netherlands Antilles
The Netherlands Antilles was once the centre of the Caribbean slave trade but was hard hit by the abolition of slavery in 1863. Netherlands Antilles has all you could ask for in a Caribbean holiday. The popular tourist areas are around Willemstad , on Curaçoa, and Sint Maarten, where fine dining, a festive night life and picture-perfect beaches make for comfortably enthralling visits. The islands of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba are spread out through the Caribbean . Aruba , Bonaire and Curacao , also known as the ABC islands, are located just of the Venezuelan coast in the south of the Caribbean Sea . Aruba lays the closest to the coast, just 25 km. The island is independent now, but it’s still considered as one of the ABC islands in the Dutch Leewards.
Curacao is 35 miles from Venezuela , so on clear days you can see the continent. It is the political, cultural and population centre of the Dutch islands. Bonaire is a little bit further out the coast. Bonaire is known for two attractions. It’s a paradise for divers and its bird life. So Bonaire should be visitied by nature lovers.
Two of the “S” islands of the Dutch West Indies, St. Eustatius and Saba are thimble-size islands south of St. Martin (Sint Maarten). St. Martin is is half Dutch and half French. The Windward or SSS-islands lay about 550 miles more to the north. The lay in the north eastern part of the Caribbean ring, very close to the British island of Anguilla and the French St. Bartolomy . All these islands are located very close to each other.
Related Travel Information
Political status
France and the Netherlands agreed to divide the island on November 11, 1648.
Sint Maarten is part of the Netherlands Antilles, which is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands though not in the European Union. Its currency is the Antillean Guilder. A proposed restructuring of the Netherlands Antilles would see Sint Maarten become an independent component of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its own right.
Saint-Martin is part of Guadeloupe, which is an overseas department of France and therefore in the European Union. The official currency in Saint-Martin is the Euro. In 2003 the population of the French part
Saint Martin is a tropical island in the northeast Caribbean, approximately 150 miles east of Puerto Rico. The 88 km² (38 square-mile) island is divided roughly in half between France and the Netherlands: the southern, Dutch half is called Sint Maarten and is part of the Netherlands Antilles; the northern, French half is called Saint-Martin and is part of the French overseas department of Guadeloupe. Collectively, the two territories are known as, "St.-Martin/St. Maarten", "St. Martins", or simply, "SXM". (SXM is the IATA identifier for Princess Juliana International Airport, the island's main airport.)
The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico) is a self-governing unincorporated organized territory of the United States located east of the Dominican Republic in the northeastern Caribbean.
Puerto Rico, the smallest of the Greater Antilles, includes the main island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller islands and keys, which include Mona, Vieques, and Culebra. Of the latter three, only Culebra and Vieques are inhabited year-round. Mona is not inhabitated year long except for employees of the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources. People can visit the island for hiking and camping by getting the
Antigua and Barbuda
Aruba is a lively island with high-rise resorts and posh casinos lining its white-sand beaches. There is no wrong time to visit Aruba . Temperatures are consistently mild, there is no rainy season, the island lies completely outside the hurricane belt, and the sea temperature hovers around 82 all year long. You'll find plenty of things to do, too: sunbathing, world-class windsurfing and waterskiing by day, and discos, cabarets, dinner shows and high-stakes gambling at night.
Aruba was acquired by the Dutch in the 17th century. However, it's no longer officially a member of the Netherlands Antilles group. Since
History of Trinidad and Tobago
Prior to European contact, the island of Trinidad was occupied by various Amerindian tribes including the Arawak-speaking Nepoya and Suppoya and the Carib speaking Yao. Tobago was inhabited by Island Caribs (Kalinago). The aboriginal name for Trinidad was Kairi or Iere which is usually said to mean The Land of the Hummingbird, although others have reported that it simply meant island. Christopher Columbus discovered the island of Trinidad on July 31, 1498 and named it Trinidad after the Holy Trinity; Tobago was named Bella Forma by him, but this later became Tobago (probably derived from tobacco).
The
