Kingdom of the Netherlands

Prehistory and statute 1954

Since the 17th century, the Netherlands had colonies in other parts of the world. After the Second World War, a rapid decolonization of most of these territories took place. Under political pressure from the United Nations and the United States, the Netherlands released the country of Indonesia into sovereignty as a separate state. A loose Dutch Indonesian Union still existed until 1954, but it broke up over the dispute over New Guinea. New Guinea remained under Dutch administration for a few more years. Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles also remained Dutch.

With the Netherlands Antilles and Suriname it was possible to reach an agreement on a new construction of the kingdom. Autonomy and equal rights for the overseas territories were guaranteed. In 1954, relations between the Netherlands, Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles and New Guinea were regulated by the entry into force of the Statute of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles became countries of the Kingdom and were granted internal autonomy.

In 1962, New Guinea came under United Nations administration and was handed over to Indonesia in 1963. Suriname seceded from the Kingdom on 25 November 1975 and became an independent republic. From that date, the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisted of only two countries.

In 1986 Aruba, until then a part of the Netherlands Antilles, got the status of a separate country within the Kingdom. Since then, the Kingdom consisted of three countries until 2010. When Aruba received its "status aparte", the statute of the kingdom provided that it should leave the kingdom in 1992 and thus become independent. However, this plan was dropped.

On 10 October 2010, the rest of the Netherlands Antilles was finally dissolved, making Curaçao and Sint Maarten autonomous countries within the Kingdom, and the islands of Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius joined the Netherlands as special municipalities.

Reform from 2010

In earlier years, the Kingdom Statute was increasingly felt to be out of date. It was therefore to be redesigned. Referendums had been held on all the islands of the Netherlands Antilles. The island territories of Sint Maarten and Curaçao wanted to obtain a status aparte (a special status) like Aruba and thus become independent countries within the Kingdom. The populations of Bonaire and Saba were in favour of annexation to the European Netherlands (and would thus become EU citizens), whereas only the population of the island of St. Eustatius wanted to remain part of the Netherlands Antilles.

On 15 December 2008, Kingdom Day, an agreement on the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles was signed during a round table conference in Curaçao. The final restructuring was finally implemented on 10 October 2010 and the State Union of the Netherlands Antilles was abolished. Curaçao and Sint Maarten have since belonged to the Kingdom as new autonomous countries, comparable to the status of Aruba.

The islands of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba received a new status as "special municipalities" (bijzondere gemeenten) within the Netherlands, without belonging to a Dutch province. Each of these three islands has a gezaghebber (comparable to a mayor), a bestuurscollege and an eilandsraad. These three islands are often collectively called BES-eilanden, after the initial letters. Officially, however, the term Caribbean Netherlands (Caribisch Nederland) is used; this is not to be confused with the Dutch Caribbean, by which all islands are meant (the three countries as well as the BES-eilanden).

The BES-eilanden initially retained Antillian laws, but must gradually adopt Dutch laws. This is a contentious issue, especially on issues such as gay marriage or euthanasia. In 2011, Dutch education laws were adopted, although the foreign language German, for example, was replaced by Spanish. Already since 2008 there is the Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland, which represents the Dutch state on these islands. It reports to the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations.

The kingdom has a total population of around 16.87 million people and a population density of 397 inhabitants/km². In the European part, the population density is only slightly higher with 399 inhabitants/km².

The European Netherlands borders Germany and Belgium. Of the Caribbean islands, only Sint Maarten has a border with another state: more precisely, this country is located on the island of St. Martin, which is also home to a French overseas territory, Saint-Martin

Geographically, the islands in the Caribbean are divided into two groups:

• The so-called ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao) are located off the South American coast, opposite Venezuela. They belong to the Leeward Islands, which in turn are part of the Lesser Antilles.
• The so-called SSS islands (Sint Eustatius, Saba, Sint Maarten) lie further north and also belong to the Lesser Antilles, but to the Windward Islands.

The highest elevation in the Kingdom is the volcano Mount Scenery on Saba, one of the BES islands, at 887 metres. In the European Netherlands, the Vaalserberg (323 metres) is the highest.

Throughout the Kingdom, Dutch is the official language. In the Caribbean, Papiamento (also: Papiamentu) is often spoken. This is a creole language that originated from Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and other influences.