 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 Saint Martin is shared with France; its northern
portion is named Saint-Martin and is part of Guadeloupe, and its
southern portion is named Sint Maarten and is part of the Netherlands
Antilles. |
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There
are two island groups of three islands each;
the Netherlands Leeward and the Netherlands Windward islands.
The
Leeward group, situated north-west of Caracas, Venezuela,
consists of Curaçao, Bonaire, and until 1986 Aruba. The
Windward group lie east of Puerto
Rico and consist of the southern half of St Martin (Sint
Maarten) and all of St Eustatius and Saba. The official language of
the Netherlands Antilles is Dutch, although English and Spanish
are also spoken. Papiamento is a mixture of mostly Dutch, Spanish,
and Portuguese. |
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