Island territories of the Netherlands Antilles

First-level administrative division in the Netherlands Antilles

(Dutch)

LocationNetherlands AntillesCreated

3 March 1951

Abolished

10 October 2010

Number

1951–1982: 4 island territories
1983–1985: 6 island territories
1986–2010: 5 island territories

AreasMinimum: Saba, 13 km² (5 sq mi)
Maximum: Curaçao, 444 km² (171 sq mi)Government

Executive council

Subdivisions

Cities

The island territories of the Netherlands Antilles (Dutch: eilandgebieden) were the top-level administrative subdivisions of the Netherlands Antilles. The government of each island territory consisted of three major parts:^[1]

The island council (eilandsraad) – the local parliament, elected every four years.
The executive council (bestuurscollege) – the executive board of the island territory, comparable to the Dutch provincial executive and municipal executive.
The lieutenant governor (gezaghebber) – chair of the island council and executive council, appointed by the Crown for a six-year term.

List of island territories

Flag	Timespan			Capital	Area
Flag	1951–1982	1983–1985	1986–2010	Capital	Area
	Aruba		Status aparte since 1986	Oranjestad	180 km² (69 sq mi)
	Bonaire			Kralendijk	294 km² (114 sq mi)
	Curaçao			Willemstad	444 km² (171 sq mi)
	Windward Islands	Saba		The Bottom	13 km² (5.0 sq mi)
		Sint Eustatius		Oranjestad	21 km² (8.1 sq mi)
		Sint Maarten		Philipsburg	34 km² (13 sq mi)

References

^ Helsdingen, W. H. van (1951). "De zelfstandigheid der eilandgebieden in de Nederlandse Antillen" [The autonomy of the island territories in the Netherlands Antilles]. De West-Indische Gids. 32: 193–205. ISSN 0372-7289. JSTOR 41848884. Retrieved 12 March 2021.

Territories of the Caribbean

British West Indies
Danish West Indies
Dutch Caribbean
- Caribbean Netherlands
- Netherlands Antilles
French West Indies
West Indies Federation

West
Indies

Antilles

Greater
Antilles

Cayman Islands
Cuba
Jamaica
Navassa Island
Puerto Rico

Hispaniola	Dominican Republic Haiti

Lesser
Antilles

Leeward
Islands

Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Guadeloupe
- La Désirade
- Les Saintes
- Marie-Galante
Montserrat
Saba^{^*}
Saint Barthélemy
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Sint Eustatius^{^*}

Saint Martin^{^}	Collectivity of Saint Martin Sint Maarten
Virgin Islands	British Virgin Islands U.S. Virgin Islands

Southern
Caribbean

Leeward
Antilles

Insular Venezuela
- Federal Dependencies
- Nueva Esparta

ABC islands	Aruba Bonaire^* Curaçao

Windward
Islands

Dominica
Grenada
- Carriacou and Petite Martinique
Martinique
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Barbados^†
Trinidad and Tobago^†

Lucayan
Archipelago

Bahamas

Turks and Caicos Islands

Caribbean
Sea

Aves Island
San Andrés and Providencia
- Bajo Nuevo Bank^~
- Serranilla Bank^~

Caribbean
continental
zone

Quintana Roo
- Cozumel

Central America	Belize Honduras Bay Islands Izabal Limón Corn Islands North Caribbean Coast South Caribbean Coast Panama
South America	Colombian Caribbean Venezuelan Caribbean

Wider
groupings
may include:

Bermuda^#
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Guatemala
Nicaragua

Yucatán Peninsula	Campeche Petén Yucatán
The Guianas	Amapá French Guiana Venezuelan Guayana Guyana Guayana Esequiba^ǂ Tigri Area^ǂ Suriname

N.B.: Territories in italics are parts of transregional sovereign states or non-sovereign dependencies.

^{^}These three form the SSS islands that with the ABC islands comprise the Dutch Caribbean, of which ^*the BES islands are not direct Kingdom constituents but subsumed with the country of the Netherlands.

^†Physiographically, these continental islands are not part of the volcanic Windward Islands arc, although sometimes grouped with them culturally and politically.

^ǂDisputed territories administered by Guyana. ^~Disputed territories administered by Colombia.

^#Bermuda is an isolated North Atlantic oceanic island, physiographically not part of the Lucayan Archipelago, Antilles, Caribbean Sea nor North American continental nor South American continental islands. It is grouped with the Northern American region, but occasionally also with the Caribbean region culturally.