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The confusing terms date from the days of sail, when they described an island's geographical location in relation to its home country's preferred outbound and inbound Caribbean trading routes. The ABCs, lying within plain view (on a clear day) of South America, are the Dutch Leewards. From the early days of European exploration and settlement in the Caribbean, the Dutch were involved as brokers and traders. The extensive fleets of the Dutch West India Company looted the Spanish New World armadas with as much enthusiasm as the next man-of-war, and the emerging French and British colonies depended on Dutch ships for supplies and exports. Although the Dutch are credited with introducing the sugar industry to the region, they didn't choose their possessions with an eye to sugar growing but as trading posts. Hence, they took control of arid, mountainous Sint Maarten, two tiny volcanic blips known as Sint Eustatius (shortened to Statia in local parlance), Saba, and the ABCs, three low, wind-blasted, cactus-strewn islets dose to South America and the Dutch colonies in Brazil. Before long the calculated gamble paid off, and the islands of Sint Eustatius and Curacao boasted two of the richest mercantile ports during the 17th and 18th centuries. Like other Caribbean islands, the Netherlands Antilles changed hands on several occasions. The bulging warehouses of Sint Eustatius were ransacked almost two dozen times. In an unusually pragmatic arrangement the island of Sint Maarten/St. Martin was divided between Dutch and French colonists in 1648. Despite frequent incursions by both sides and the occasional pesky British intervention, Dutch Sint Maarten and French St.Martin continue to occupy the 37-square-mile (96-sq-km) island, the smallest in the world shared by two sovereign states. The Dutch secured the six Netherlands Antilles islands under the Treaty of Paris in 1816, but by then the sugar boom was over and by the mid-19th century the Caribbean trade had dried up. The discovery of oil in South America brought renewed prosperity to the ABCs in the 1920s, when North American and European oil companies built vast refineries on Aruba and Curacao. The capital of Curacao, Willemstad, became the administrative capital of the Netherlands Antilles and seat of the Staten (parliament), which was granted autonomy within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1954. The collapse of the local oil industry in the nmi-1980s was a time of major upheaval for the ABCs and forced the islands to rely on tourism- Aruba's festering resentment at Curacao's domination m the Staten hardened into demands for independence, and the island was granted autonomy in 1986. Although Aruba is no longer one of the Netherlands Antilles, it remains within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Aruba is now the tourism leader in the Dutch Leewards. Its hotel-lined shores, casinos, busy cruise-ship terminals are the envy of the Curacaoans, whose tourist Industry is taking longer to develop. Quiet Bonaire has built up a reputation as one of the world top diving destinations. Meanwhile, 500 miles to the north, tourism is also the mainstay of the Dutch Windward Islands. Sint Maarten flourishes as free enclave in the old Dutch West India Company tradition. Sint Eustatius and Saba maintain a more low-key approach. With few beaches, their rustic charm endears them to visitors in search of peace and quiet. Although Dutch street names abound and the official currency of the Netherlands Antilles is the Netherlands Antilles guilder (Aruba has its own Aruban florin), English is the most widely spoken language in the Dutch Windwards. In the Dutch Leewards you'll hear Papiamiento, a linguistic curiosity derived from Dutch, Spanish, French, Portuguese, African, and English tongues in the 17th century. Papamiento is unintelligible to all but the islanders. If you have noteworthy cultural information on any Caribbean island, we would like to hear from you. Maybe you are an expert in geography, or knowledgeable on architecture, or specialize in Caribbean anthropology, or train tropical parrots, etc., send us an email. Share your knowledge and talents by sending your edited copy and permission so that we can include this on the Caribbean Cultural Center website. Please, no copyrighted material. |
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