The five Caribbean islands that comprised the Netherland Antilles have had a change in status, thus resulting in a dissolution of the Netherland Antilles. The islands of Curacao and St Maarten have become autonomous "countries" within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. (Similar in status to Aruba, which changed in 1986.) Three other islands, Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba, are now considered autonomous special municipalities of The Netherlands. The change took place on Sunday October 10, 2010 following a referendum - none of the islands voted for independence.
There is thus now the concern that the Netherland Antilles (known as AHO in Olympic code) will no longer be able to participate in the Olympic Games as an entity. The island territory earned one Olympic medal in the Seoul 1988 Summer Games.
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This also created a new elevation highpoint for the Netherlands since Mt. Scenery on Saba is now part of the Netherlands proper.
Awrighty! Very interesting news.
HOW SAD TO SEE THE ALREADY FAR TOO FRAGMENTED POLITICAL ENTITIES OF THE CARIBBEAN FURTHER DISSOLVE.WHEN WILL THAT REGION WAKE UP AND REALIZE THAT THERE IS STRENGTH IN UNITY—- AND A HOST OF OTHER BLESSINGS! WHAT IS NEEDED OF COURSE IS A FEDERATION OF THE CARIBBEAN THAT WOULD INCLUDE EVERYTHING FROM CUBA TO BARBADOS AND FROM BERMUDA TO TRINIDAD.
The Antilles, great and small are evolving their own ways of unity.
There’s no need to rush such a thing.
The British Lesser Antilles already have had a common currency and a common Supreme Court.
There is nothing wrong that is not more than balanced by a right if a country finds itself to be small.
A country defines itself through a process that combines ecological awareness with ethnic ethos. I use the word ethnic, talking about these islands, while thinking about their particular insular character evolved over the last 5 centuries. No island is like another, precisely. Each has had its hard and soft rules of surviving and prospering. Outsiders, if they do more than lay on the beach or snorkel, should definitely respect that.