Dutch Caribbean
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Location of the Dutch Caribbean islands
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| Area | 999 km2 (386 sq mi) |
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| Population (2010) | 315,339 |
| GDP (Nominal) | US$ 8.911 billion |
| GDP per Capita (Nominal) | US$ 29,240 |
| Density | 305/km2 (790/sq mi) |
| Languages | Dutch, English, Papiamento |
| Government | 3 countries 3 special municipalities |
The Dutch Caribbean refers to territories, colonies, and countries, both former and current, of the Dutch Empire and Kingdom of the Netherlands that are located in the Lesser Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea.
Current territories comprise the islands of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba. The contemporary term is sometimes also used for the Caribbean Netherlands, an entity since 2010 the 3 islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, which are special municipalities of the Netherlands.
All of the islands in the Dutch Caribbean were, at some point in their history, part of the colony of Curaçao and Dependencies (1815–1954); and then the constituent country of the Netherlands Antilles (1954−2010). The autonomy of the Netherlands Antilles island areas was specified in the Islands Regulation of the Netherlands Antilles.
The former Dutch colony of Suriname was not considered part of Dutch Caribbean, although it was on the southern Caribbean in Northeastern South America.
The island of Aruba seceded from the Netherlands Antilles in 1986 to become a separate constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, leaving only five island territories within the Netherlands Antilles. This situation remained until the complete dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles as a unified political entity in 2010. In that year Curaçao and Sint Maarten became autonomous constituent countries within the Kingdom (like Aruba); while Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba became special municipalities of the Netherlands proper.
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