I would have paid just to see the look on your face when you read the title of this article. You probably thought: “Huh? What on earth is he talking about?” Exactly. That confusion is precisely what I wanted to provoke. Now that I have your attention, let me build further on that provocative question.
On October 10, 2010 — better known as 10-10-10 — the country known as the Netherlands Antilles was officially dissolved. In its place, two new autonomous countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands were created: Curaçao and Sint Maarten. At the same time, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba became special municipalities of the Netherlands — officially public bodies — better known today as the BES islands.
So yes, you could say the title above is incorrect and that the Netherlands Antilles no longer exist.
Since the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, these islands, together with Aruba, are often referred to as the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. The BES islands fall under the term Caribbean Netherlands. The word “Caribbean” naturally refers to their location in the Caribbean region, distinguishing them from the European part of the Kingdom.
What is important to understand, however, is that “Caribbean” is not part of the official names of the islands themselves. At the same time, the word “Antilles” is increasingly avoided. People now prefer to speak about the “former” Netherlands Antilles, as if the term “Antilles” itself lost its meaning once the country disappeared.
Well, I have news for you: the Antilles are also a geographical concept.
The Antilles form a vast island chain that begins near Cuba and stretches in a long arc through the Caribbean Sea all the way toward the Venezuelan islands such as Isla Margarita and Los Roques. The name was already used by the first European colonizers. It appears to be derived from the Spanish words “ante” (before) and “islas” (islands). Another term often used historically was the West Indies, though I will leave that aside for now.
Traditionally, the region is divided into the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles.
The Greater Antilles include Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola — the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic — and Puerto Rico.
The Lesser Antilles include islands such as Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Trinidad and Tobago, and also the six islands of the Dutch Kingdom.
That means all of these islands are Antillean islands, and their inhabitants are Antilleans.
This reminds me of a friend who went to study in Puerto Rico during the 1980s. A fellow student there, hearing her accent, asked: “¿De dónde vienes?” — “Where are you from?”
My friend answered: “Soy antillana.” — “I am Antillean.”
The other student immediately replied: “Yo también soy antillano.” — “I am Antillean too.”
For her, it was a striking moment. It was the first time she truly realized that the word “Antilles” was not exclusively tied to her former country, the Netherlands Antilles, but referred to a much broader geographical reality.
I hope this helps convince you that the Antilles still exist, that you still live on an Antillean island, and that you can still rightfully call yourself Antillean.
But I can already hear some people saying: “The Antilles may still exist, but the Netherlands Antilles do not.”
And that is correct. The country called the Netherlands Antilles no longer exists. But the words that made up that name can still be used as a geographical description.
Even during colonial times, Antillean islands were often identified according to the kingdom or colonial sphere to which they belonged. People spoke of the French Antilles, the Spanish Antilles, and also the Dutch Antilles. These were not always official country names, but rather descriptions indicating which kingdom or colonial power those islands belonged to.
According to the Charter of the Kingdom, the Kingdom of the Netherlands consists of the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten. Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten are therefore Antillean islands within the Kingdom.
In that sense, one could still speak about the Antilles of the Kingdom of the Netherlands — or simply the Dutch Antilles — not as an official country name, but as a geographical designation.
Can you follow that reasoning?
Etienne Ys
Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles, former Member of Parliament, former Minister of Finance and writer